How hot/warm should the 2 gear shifter levers get?
 

Normal gear selection lever 1-5 and R seems warm toward the bottom.
With new transmission fluid it seems a bit less warm than before after a long highway trip in 2H at steady 57 miles per hour.

But the little lever for 2H, 4H, 4L, maybe I just started checking it, but it seems very hot! yikes! Same conditiosn as above, 2H, long trip of a few hours, steady 57 miles per hour.

background:
They said they changed the transfer case gear oil.
Oh, I do not know how often if ever that my Dad popped it into 4H and 4L.
Maybe never! Under the truck, I can see that one zerk for that little component that comes out the right side of the transmission.
Uh, that is connected to the 4H selector somehow, correct or incorrect?
Zerk looks clean but that little component is very rusted.
It has 2 little boots, 1 is kinda slick with oil, 1 is accordion and seems OK.
(I really need a hardcopy repair manual. The pdf is a pain to navigate..)
Anyway, I couldn't resist the other day and went ahead after the fluid change and popped her in 4H and did a little back and forth. and then in 4L.
No unusual noise. Seemed OK. Went back into 2H fine. test complete.

Any comments from the helpful dudes?

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1990 4Runner V6 M/T
Cup holder.
Mossy Oak steering wheel cover.
new floor mats! :D

Mine gets hot

Drain the transfer case and refill. See if that helps.

Yep, the shifters get pretty hot. They come directly out of the gear boxes. One thing that helps a little is to run synthetic gear oil (GL4 in the tranny and either GL4 or GL5 in the t-case). It'll drop operating temps maybe 10-20F:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/index.sh...ntheticGearOil
Synth. oil takes my shifter from being nearly hot enough to burn my hand down to where I can hold onto the base of the lever for an extended period of time.

that's what shift knobs are for!!! naw, just kiddin with ya...mine does the same for both shifters...it's just normal.

Whew, thanks.
 

OK. Thanks for calming me down.

Now I am settling into a more relaxed relationship with this mature lady of a vehicle.

I actually did a bit of 4Wd action today.
We are building a house and started clearing the access road of cacti and cedar. I am sure it wasn't needed but I decided to pop her in 4H and cruise around a bit.

Thanks guys.