Recently acquired an 1985 4runner. Total off road crawler. Anyways, it has a toyota doubler in it. It worked great for a day or so but now when I shift the front case (H-N-L) into low I get no drive. No bad noises or anything. Shifter feels like it shifts in fine but I get nothing. High range is fine. The other case works as it should.

I'm not experienced with toyota doublers so I'm hoping someone with experience can point me to the problem.

 

Sounds like it is not shifting all the way......just going from high to neutral. Only way I can see it not working is if the counter shaft is missing all its teeth on the low side. Drain the oil out of the front box and see what it looks like

 

I "think" it's possible for the pin holding the shift fork to the shift rod to shear or fall out. If that was the case, the shift lever would feel normal, the shift rod would hit the detents but the fork wouldn't move the gear. Maybe??

 

Possible, but if the pin came out it wouldn't shift into high either from neutral. I think if it was in neutral it wouldn't go either way?

 

It definitely has drive in high, just no low. I'll drain the oil when I can. Between work and temps in the teens getting anything done is slow

 

If it is easy to get to the shifter on the t-case, you can remove the 4 bolts and pull the shifter up and should be able to look straight down into the case and see the shift collar and fork. I'd still drain the oil first. So not start it with the shifter off. At that point you may be able to shift the collar with a couple of screwdrivers to see what's going on

 

That was my next question. I will do that. I pulled the shifter boot off but didn't pull the shifter cause I didn't know if anything was to be gained by doing it and it was f****ng cold out

 

Ok all, I drained the fluid and it was very thick and very sparkly, lol, but no chunks of metal. Volume seemed correct. Pulled shifter off and cycled the shift rail/ fork and all appears well. Guess I'm gonna pull the cases and tear into it. Replaced fluid and went for a test ride and no change.

Pics are of shift rail all the way forward and all the way back.

 

Pull the sheet metal plate off and get a better look. You can take a screwdriver, put it in the hole of the shift rod and pull the collar forward to see how it moves. By the looks of the questionable oil, that may be part of the problem. Getting some clean oil in there will help with the shifting

 

Any more on this?? curious minds want to know

 

My apologies. No progress. It still works fine with just high range and we've been hit with a winter storm the last few days. 10-12in snow, temps in the teens, and 30-40mph winds. I know it needs fixed and it will in due time but finding the inspiration to go work on anything outside is difficult right now.

I'm fairly certain it is the gear on the countershaft. But that's just an educated guess based on studying the assembly diagram. It appeared to be that the shift fork and rod were functioning correctly when I looked at it before. What else could it be that would still allow the high range to function correctly?

Where would I find a new gear? I've looked at various sites but nobody seems to sell just the gear.....

 

Also, I have put on 12-15 miles wheeling around the mountain I live on with new fluid in the tcase and no change. What's odd is that when I engage the low range I get nothing. Not the slightest grab or noise of a skipping/stripped gear. No response of any form. Identical to trying to drive with tcase in neutral.

 

Before a tear down, you have to drain the oil and remove the shifter. I'd start with that and look further inside after removing the sheetmetal shim under the shifter

 

You can't tear it down with the fluid in it? Who would have guessed.

Not my first transfer case, just my first toyota one.

On a serious note though, the sheet metal plate just pops up and out? Mine is in fairly snug and I wasn't sure how it was attached....

I'll update when I know more.

 

Yeah a little silly, but I was trying to get you to have a better look inside to see what you were going after. Yeah the sheet metal piece is like a slinger of sorts to keep a lot of the oil from working its way up and leaking, just another gasket on the other side. You said you had drained the oil before and did not find any chunks, so it has me wondering

 

It's supposed to warm up in a few days here and I'll be home then also as I'm working out of state at moment. I pulled on that metal piece when I had the shifter off before and it didn't budge. I figured it was pressed in or something. Now that I know it's supposed to lift out I'll use a little more force. I hope it's just a shifting issue and not a gear.

Pic of the Runner

 

I was able to get the shifter off as well as the metal plate below it. I didn't drain the fluid. It all looks alright to me still. No obvious carnage. Question. Which gears should be able to free spin with the shifter in each of the positions?


Range box in low

Range box in high

 

Seems like a gear or the teeth have to be missing. With all the metal sludge you had in it who knows what happened.

 

That's why I suggested looking in with the oil drained. However, he said he had drained the oil before and it was sludgy but did not mention any chunky material. Do you have a strong telescopic magnet you can go inside with?

Edit: Looking at the pic further, I'm wondering if the shifter is making full contact inside the fork. I think I see a shiny spot where the shifter may be partially coming out of the fork and not pushing the slider all the way back?? AND the gear at the top looks like it may have a couple of chipped teeth. Shoot us a pic of the end of the shifter that sits inside

 

Hard to tell for sure but the parts look pretty beat in the pics. My shifters are out of my cases right now. If I remember, I'll take a look tomorrow.