My brother needs some advise on his truck. He posted in the 73 to 79 section but I thought it might be good to link it here to see if anybody locally had any suggestions.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=437646

 

Looks like he has received some good advice over there.

 

I figured he would get good advise but I wanted to give you guys a heads up in case he needed any help locally.

How far back should the shifter be when in 4hi? It was only moving about 2 inches and felt like it was barely in gear. Is this normal or another sign that he needs to change the gear oil?

All in all though the truck did great. I was the one driving. I was playing hooky from work just so I could go out and play in the snow. It was alot of fun watching all the people with their little front drive "Jap Craps" spinning their tires while I just motored on like it was dry pavement.

 

Changing the oil in the t-case is a good idea if you don't know how long it's been since it was done. As well as the differentials and tranny. Bleading the brakes to replace the old brake fluid and flushing and replacing the coolant. If it has power steering that fluid can be changed also.

I don't have any first hand knowledge on your truck. But I can give you some general information. First get a good Cliltons or Hays manuel for your truck if you don't have one. It will give you a lot of info and help you ID which t-case you have and what type of oil to use. The book should give you some info on the T-case shifter. The ones on my BII's have an adjustment and my books tell me how to make adjustments. The ones on my Early Bronco were a bit more difficult and I remember there were places that would rebuild them. If the book does not give instructions on how to clean and adjust the t-case shifter then maybe someone over in the 73-79 section can help.

I have driven many manuel shift t-case vehicles over the years and have found that many have a certian way they like to work. Just takes practice to get used to them. Most are easier if the truck is very slowly moving. The problem I have found is you get into patchy or a high traction section and binding occurs. If this happens it is difficult to shift back out of 4wd. Backing up some times will do this. Unlocking the front hubs will also help if you need to. Some trucks came with full time 4wd. I think that was because some folks did not want to mess with shifting. And if you leave it in 4wd with the front hubs in on dry high traction surfaces damage can be caused to your t-case.

Before I leave for an off highway trip I like to crawl under the truck and check things out. I look for leaks. Check fluid levels. Put greese in any zerts I can find. Grab and try to move the driveshafts to check the slip yokes and u-joints. A good way to check the front axle u-joints is to use a big screw driver and lock the hubs in. Then stick the screw driver in the opening where the u-joint is then move it one direction and then the other and look for any play or looseness in the u-joint.