98 4.0l 4wd acting up!!

[speedfreak87]

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?

 

[stegomon]

you could have one manual hub that is not working.....me i hate that....

 

[speedfreak87]

is there an easy fix? or just buy new ones?

 

[speedfreak87]

If the t-case motor was weak, would it give me the "warning" flashes stating there was an issue?

 

[speedfreak87]

Anyone?

 

[speedfreak87]

Replaced the motor, and same shit. I get the clicking in the cab from whatever clicks (4x4computer?) and shift on the fly into 4hi produced a slight grinding noise that didn't go away. 4hi never engaged but sounds like it wants to! I'm at a loss right now, I NEED this truck do get to work when it snows.

 

[triumphrider-1]

Are your hubs the factory vacuum, or are they an aftermarket kit?

 

[speedfreak87]

I have the rugged ridge/avm manuals. only thing I can think of (it the hubs aren't working) is the last time I have my tires balanced the tech knocked off the hub and din't put it back on right, but I doubt it's that. (I used 4wd since then, but i'll be checking them this weekend) But this morning I didn't even lock the hubs, it sounds like it's not even engaging into 4h. it wants to, but it's not going into gear it seems.

 

[triumphrider-1]

Could be that the shift motor is gunked up from mud, etc.

Maybe pull it and clean it out, could also inspect the gears while its off to make sure everything looks ok.
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/TCaseshiftmotor.htm

 

[speedfreak87]

It's a brand new motor.

 

[triumphrider-1]

So you said....

The grinding tells me that something isn't lined up well enough, or that the gear is wore a bit. Did you happen to see the condition of the inside of the t-case when you changed the motor?

 

[speedfreak87]

Nope, it's sealed, just have the triangle shaft that connects it the tcase motor.

 

[triumphrider-1]

When you shifted into 4x, were you rolling or stopped? Did you try both?

 

[speedfreak87]

I tried it every which way but upside down.. I went to work yesterday, got into the underground parking and locked up the hubs, switched into 4hi, truck didn't seem to act any different, the switched to 4lo, got all the clicking from inside the cab, but heard nothing from the t-case. wen to turn and the truck bucked a little.. hmm.. dry+4lo+turn= bucking? only when I turned to the left. turn to the right it was normal. In the snow, nothing was happening. at one point it felt like 4wd was engaged as the truck wasn't fish tailing, but then it would fish tail.. I know the tcase doesn't make a lot of noise when it goes into gear, but it should make SOME noise, no? Now when I put it into 4hi last night, and this morning, and drove down the street, I could hear a grinding sound, not like a gear trying to engage, but a metal on metal (think two metal plates rubbing together) while in motion, stop the truck and the noise stops.

I've been reading on here something about disconnecting the negative bat cable for 10-15 minutes and letting it relearn, would that do anything? or that's not how the 4wd system works on this thing? stupid question, but I know nothing about this crap.

Also, would an obdII scanner pick up any codes that say, the lights aren't spitting out?

 

[triumphrider-1]

Removing the battery cable works for the ecm, but the t-case really doesn't have a computer (just switches and relays, that I know of).

The scanner won't pick anything up. The blinking of the 4x indicator lights is the trouble code readout, but I don't know those.


I think I know the sound your talking about. On my truck its coming from the front axle though.

I would probably look at getting all the tires off the ground slightly (and safely), engage the 4x, and poke around to see if you could see/hear exactly what its doing. I'm thinking its in the t-case, but am not positive. May want to get some more thoughts/opinions from others.