hi all, My truck which is a 98 ranger 4x4, with the electronic 4wd shift on the console, a week or so ago i put it into 4wd low and i couldn't get it back in to 2wd, the strange thing is that it went into low range but did not lock the front wheel's in, after reading the tech article on here i took the motor loose from the transfer case and saw that the pointer was pointing to 4 low, I turned on the motor and it would not move ( the pointer ) so i manually turned it back to 2 high, do you think that the motor is bad or is it the electronic shifter on the dash ? I couldn't turn the shifter dial that is on the motor part to line back up with the pointer on the transfer case, so instead of cutting the brown wire i just turned the motor abit so that i could get one bolt back into the transfer case to hold it on, will this hurt my truck driving it like this ? I have to go up north soon to pick up a boat, and i can't afford a new motor right now, which by the way my local ford dealer want's a little over 400.00 for. Where can i get one cheaper ? I don't want to replace it with one from a junk yard cause i am afraid i will run into the same thing again soon, cause my truck only has 104,000 miles on it. Is it safe to drive it like this for a while ?? Thank you all

 

ford is the only place for the motor as far as i know. junk yard is your only other hope. as for the hubs not locking its because of a bad vacume. i wouldnt think it would hurt to drive with the shifter motor off but i wouldnt suggest it. try tapping to motor with a hammer to free it up. dont smack it just tap it. also is your 4x4 lights flashing???

 

Yes,, both 4 high and 4 low light's will flash 3 time's then go out. Ihave tryed smacking it with a rubber mallet but didn't have any luck. Thank's for your thought's

 

k thats the code for bad motor. it might be the moduale telling the vacume to not work due to the code. i would call and find out how much a junkyard wants for one or try ebay. they can be found for around 100 bucks usually, compared to the 400 from a dealer thats not to bad.

 

Thank you,,, at least now i know what it is,didn't want to have to go through the process of elimination with those part's,,,, to expensive. Appreciate your help