98 4.0l 4wd acting up!!

speedfreak87 · #1 10-29-2011, 01:02 PM

98 Ranger, 4.0l, auto trans, manual hubs (yay) xlt etc.

Today it decided to snow before I could test out the 4wd to make sure it works, and sure enough, it's not... Anyway, not sure wtf it is as I'm limited knowledge with 4wd. I'll start here, This past spring when everything was thawing out, i got the blinking 4hi/4lo lights, came to this wonder site and found that is caused by a faulty shift motor. So I ordered one from rockauto but by the time it got to me, the lights stopped blinking.. Went to a little mud hole just to see, and sure enough, everything worked fine. being I live in NJ, and there is really no place to use my 4wd (and my mud hole got shut down) I haven't use 4wd all summer. so I never replaced the motor. Today, with the snow I decided I wanted to drive around, well I damn near got stuck! knowing that is not how my ranger acts in the snow, I clicked 4hi, sounded like everything was fine, but it was still slipping and sliding.. ( I used 4wd a lot last winter with NO issues at all) Went to a local school parking lot, and messed around a little bit, put it in 4lo and it clicked, there was some grinding when it would go into gear, but then nothing. then it started going back and forth between 4hi/4lo.. SO I decided it was best I go home and park it before I ended up stuck someplace. Now I know I never put the new motor in and before I do it, is there ANYTHING else it could be? I'm hoping the motor does the trick but if it doesn't, I need to fix it. I searched the forum and didn't find anything to answer my question. oh and yes, the hubs were locked.

It's 6:30pm and I just went out to check it again, thinking maybe I'm losing my mind, it sounds like the motor is trying to engage the t-case, but it's just not going in. Could the motor be to weak to engage it?

speedfreak87 · #2 10-30-2011, 05:10 AM

Anyone?

djfllmn · #3 10-30-2011, 05:12 AM

well since you already have a motor put that in and see if that solves it

Redneckstone · #4 10-30-2011, 05:25 AM

put the motor in

naturecakezzz · #5 10-30-2011, 05:31 AM

If the light on the dash is going on, your motor is working, but like you said 4low ain't engaging so change the motor... Did you lock the hubs?

speedfreak87 · #6 10-30-2011, 05:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by naturecakezzz

If the light on the dash is going on, your motor is working, but like you said 4low ain't engaging so change the motor... Did you lock the hubs?

Yeah, hubs were locked. I'll change it out. but since the lights go on, would the motor still be going bad? can it be to weak to change the selector? and would it throw a code? I did try 4lo and at one point it was trying to switch back to 4hi on it's own.

djfllmn · #7 10-30-2011, 05:43 AM

a new switch prolly couldnt hurt either

speedfreak87 · #8 10-31-2011, 05:53 AM

Replaced the transfer case motor, and nothing. same fucking thing.. I get the clicking when I switch (inside the cab), and it sounds like it wants to go into gear, but nothing. I dd a shift on the fly and there was some grinding as it was trying to switch into 4hi.

speedfreak87 · #9 10-31-2011, 08:44 PM

(update) when I got to work today I had my co worker see if he could see the axles spining after I locked the hubs. He couldn't tell but it's not a big deal. Put it in 4h, and you can hear the motor activate, but get nothing. so I put it in 4lo and same thing, hear the motor, well I did it a couple of times and got nothing, so then in 4lo, ,I floored it. heard a rather loud bang, and then the 4wd seemed have been working, went in and out.. took it out of 4wd, floord it and the rear tires spun, put it in 4lo floored it and the truck lunged, with no spinning, it acted as though it was in 4wd.. I took it to a gravel lot at work, ran it a couple times in each 4hi/4lo and it was working, popped it out a couple of times and back in, seemed to have worked, although a little slow going into gear.. I'll still check it out this weekend, and pull the hubs and clean/re-oil them..Could the tcase just have been frozen???

speedfreak87 · #10 11-04-2011, 11:06 AM

I think I found the issue.. I put the truck up on stands, grabbed the front drives shaft and it spun freely as it should have, key on engine off, put it in 4h and the drive shaft didn't move just like it was suppose to do, so I was able to rule out the t-case and it had the new t-case motor so all that stuff was working. Next thing to do was to service the AVM/Rugged ridge manual hubs. Pulled the drivers side off and it was ok, little dry, but clean.. went over to the pass side and tried pulling that, it gave me some resistance, not good.. finally got it off and this is what I found..
axle

AVM hub..

Bone dry with what looks like dirt, but is more the likely rust. interesting.. cleaned everything out, oiled it up put it back together, and nothing.. it goes into lock, but doesn't do anything.. crap.. popped it back off and put the driver side hub on the pass side, worked fine, locked, spun the axle etc.. that rules out the axle.. so it's the hub. done, wasted.. needs replacement. lol! I'll put some new ones in and see if there is anything else wrong with the system, which there doesn't seem to be..