I'm new to the site and i recently got a deal on a 88 eddie bauer bronco II. Interior is mint and the paint just needs a good buffing. Guy sold it to me for $600 because it needed a new brake line section. Well i fixed the brake line situation but i am having a little trouble with the push button four wheel drive panel. I can't get either low range or 4x4 to engage. The lights arent working either. I checked the fuses and everything was okay. The only other thing i could think of is the transfer case motor. Has anyone else had this problem? I am worried because even if the transfer case motor is bad that wouldnt cause the buttons to not light up would it? This is a really great little truck and i like it alot i just want to be able to use the 4wd when needed. Also, it has the automatic transmission and i'm not sure if it is currently engaged in 4wd but when i put it in gear like Reverse or Drive, there is a click, then it shifts into gear pretty hard. After that it drives fine and shifts fine with no problems. When this first happened my initial thought was that the truck is stuck in 4wd. i have driven it and everything seems well other than not being able to switch between 2wd and 4wd and then the hard shifting and click when the gears are engaged. Thanks for any help.

 

Several possibilities, but a dirty shift motor is probably near the top of the list. The indicator lights are connected to the motor and turn on after the shift is made. If the shift motor fails to shift, then the lights won't come on. This is a fairly common issue. Search around for "cleaning shift motor" and you should find several ideas. Ken00 has posted some information in the tech info post at the top of the BII forum.

 

great man thanks, i'll try that.

 

Welcome to FTE!!

 

thanks, seems like a really helpful place

 

the guy i bought it from said the 4wd worked when he parked it. He parked it a year ago. I tuned it all up when i bought it but i didnt do anything with the transfer case motor. Any chance that the motor might have locked up from corrosion or something like that since it sat in the weather for a year? I don't really see anything else that could go wrong with it from sitting

 

Sitting unused is probably the main cause of the shift motor freezing up. This applies even if the vehicle is driven, but the user never uses 4WD.

 

well i climbed up under it while ago and took off the transer case motor. I tapped around the cylindrical part with a hammer and then kept it hooked up. Turned on the bronco, and now my buttons and everything works. The motor has a female triangle slot while the transfer case has the mail end. Well i took a marker and marked when the triangle was pointing at 2wd, 4low and 4high. Hit the buttons a few times and it always went back to the proper mark. So i put it all back together and now i am happy to say my 4 wheel drive works. Only thing i see different which i don't think will be an issue is, on my visor it says its in 4low when the low light is on. Well for some reason for it to be in 4 low the low light and the 4high lights are glowing. So when both buttons are lit up its in 4low, when just the 4x4 button is lit up its in 4high and when you push the 4high button again it goes back to 2wd. Other than that all is well i suppose. Though i will let you guys know that i had my entire bronco on jackstands so that i could see that all 4 wheels were spinning when needed and when i took it down and looked underneath, there were a few little clumps of black grease. I looked up and noticed that it was coming from the seal where the front of the driveshaft connects to the tranny. Is this something to be overly concerned about?

 

Does this mean you still have the stock CV style driveshaft (CV joints on both ends)? If so, just like the CV joints on front axleshafts of FWD cars, those CV joints are going to fail (if they haven't already) when they dry out and get water/grit in there. If you're reasonably certain that this is a new thing, you could replace the grease boot and hope you're ok. If you decide you need to replace the shaft (can't get the CV joints by themselves), then you can either get a rebuilt CV shaft, or get a traditional u-joint (double or single cardan depending on what you're going to do with it) shaft made. Any driveline shop should be able to help you out with this one.

 

yea it has a weird looking drive shaft, It doesnt have u-joints on either end and yea it does look like a big cv joint. It's really skinny on each end and it doesnt look like it would be strong enough for any kind of off roading. I am more or less restoring this bronco. Not going to do any serious offroading or anything like that in it. Probably light work like camping and stuff. Surely this shaft will be okay for that right? So you think i just need a new grease boot? It didnt start doing this until i got to playin around with the 4wd.

 

Only if you are absolutely certain that the joint inside is in top condition. How many miles does this thing have on it? If there's any doubt of the condition of the joint, you might be better off replacing the shaft. The stock style shaft is probably adequate for what you want to do, but consider price. When I replaced mine a few years ago, it cost about twice as much to replace with a rebuilt stock shaft as to have a new single cardan u-joint shaft made.

 

it's an 88 with 82k original miles on it. I am just wondering why it only spit grease when i engaged it into 4wd

 

This guy has great replacement drive shafts he puts full size bronco ujoint in and great prices he makes all of them in his shop give him a call for replacement
http://www.mountaindriveline.com/partsdeptbroncomtn.htm
also you need that 12 point socket to get off the bolts they are sealed with lock tight (PITA)

 

thanks for the link man, any idea what they cost?

 

What should the factory driveshaft look like? For some reason i think i have a different type one on mine.