You might want to try a wrench rather than a socket. Even a plain ol crescent wrench. Since depth is the limitation. With a wrench you can attack it from the side along the case.

 

yeah mine are all too damn small to get around it and the one i do have that fits is way too damn big to get up in there. lol

So i started looking into my actuators, I found a video of dude cleaning his back actuator (since it cant be replaced without opening the tcase)// I popped the cover and cleaned all the gunk out and was wondering if the gear needs to be in a certain place to hit the connectors properly if so where?

 

update: after cleaning the actuator and re installing the flashing lights constantly being on have gone away. Still having an issue with getting into 4wd. but now the lights are gone when 4wd is not engaged

 

Cleaning those contact traces is what got my 4wd functioning again.

you asked if the was a particular alignment of the gear, yes there is, but you have to figure out we’re your transfer case is in the range.

if you think about it, there are really only 2 positions for the actuator, in or out which corresponds to 2wd or 4wd. Although I don’t remember which direction is which, but you have a 50/50 shot as long as you line up the contacts.

 

I'm having the same issue with a 2002 4 Runner Limited project i bought last weekend. I knew going into it that it was stuck in 4WD, and I believe I traced it to a back sensor. However, I believe that someone has already torn apart the actuator and it may be out of time. Is there a way to manually put the tcase into 2wd without the electric actuator? I tried to lightly rotate the gear by hand and seemed to get a lot of spring tension.

 

if you look on the passenger side of your actuator right above your drive shaft youll see 3 small 8mm bolts on the actuator if you take them off and pull that small gear out you can take the actuator of the tcase

 

2002 4runner sport auto with same deal here.
just got this new to me knowing that it had this issue.
Haven't been in here since days I had my 98 4unner 5spd/4x/engage LT/sc but rolled that, saved many of the fun parts so here I am.
stuck in 4x. Had it in lift at mech testing it pretty much knowing this would happen.
I'm guessing it's the front add system but figured I'd start with transfer case stuff anyways..
So after trying battery disconnect/4x fuse pull I moved on to extracting the 2 bottom switches(t.case). I pulled those, tested continuity(looked ok) cleaned them up with mag spray and reinstalled. Same problem.
So I removed the front case and here I found a lot of corrosion. So I'll clean this up. Figuring I'll pull the gear out and clean that up and behind it of course.
Now it's stuck in 4x so question is I put gear back in as I took it out I figure?
I know the nob on top is there to align with the 'traces' from watching a video guy did in the front diff actuator.
So after verifying placement of gear clocking I'll assume reinstall cleaned up parts and then see what happens.
*Ed. I did read above that I GTA figure which if the 2 ranges it's in so 50/50 shot there...
Or do I need to jump the gearing 1st?
I know if this clean up doesn't work it's either I need to then check the top 2 switches; or the switches show continuity out of the case but not working installed 'under load'; lastly move on to the front add actuator.
Thanks for any pointers

 

This vid brakes down the gear/sensor setting for reinstall pretty well.
basically take pic before removal of gear and replace same way so matches up with what the truck is in currently.

Surprised he wasn't able to salvage his unit after cleaning it up.
So on mine I'm going to sand the black corrosion off the (traces) and ive read about adding sodder to them and sanding down flush...then I believe I'll need to add dialectic grease to them prior to install and grease up the gear.

 

So just to finalize my experience: I cleaned up all the actuator traces via mag spray and light sanding then added sodder to worn down areas and sanded that down. Greased up the gear(lithium), greased up the contact points(dialectic) and put it back on in same position I removed it in.(Had taken a picture after removing black cover-3 mm bolts, gear still in). Mine was stuck in center lock fyi.
started it and center lock lights still flashing. Hit center lock button but nothing. Put into N then engaged 4low and moved it R then D and back then N and took out of 4wd(transfer case lever) back to 2wd(lever back) and then was all good.
I'll probably need to rebuild the front actuators at some point too before any big trips just bc 250k miles.

 

See below...

 

Did you remove this gear and re-install? If you were able to remove the gear, you should be able to take the housing off of the transfer case and exercise the 4x4 rod in and out into 2wd position right? I didn't think we could remove that gear on 01-02 4runners....without issues...

 

No I didn't need to/or attempt to remove the gear/rod. I just put the actuator back on same way as I removed it. I had taken pictures before removal for reference of the clocking. So once the traces were reestablished(cleaning& sodder) it was able to work and come out of center lock.