So I went camping and crawling this weekend up in Medano pass in Colorado. I was in 4lo most of the weekend and when I was getting ready to turn back onto the main road, I couldn't shift my transfer case out of 4hi. It shifts fine into 4LO, N, and 4HI, but it will not move over to the left and forward to go into 2wd... any suggestions?
BTW, this is a 98 5speed V6 runner...

 

hope you didnt drive on the pavement with 4wd.

try doing it in reverse.

 

I had no choice but to drive on the pavement in 4wd. Its not going to hurt it as long as I dont take sharp turns, however I was 150 miles from home w/ no way to get there had I not done it.
And I did try it in reverse... no dice.

 

are you in Neutral?

Is your 4wd push button or the J pattern?

 

The j pattern...

 

it just wont go up?

try doing it while moving. Search on the forum, maybe its been covered before

 

Man mine does that too. I get on level ground with engine warm go back and forth a few times then just use my open hand and kinda hit it with a glancing blow.

 

It usually takes some coaxing, but, this sounds different... :/

 

mine takes some coaxing but nothing that bad....

 

yeah i could get it in before it wasn't a problem, but Im pulling it left w/ all my might and it wont slide to the gate to move it forward into 2hi...

 

Hmmm, would be a good time to have manual hubs eh?

Try spinning the tires in mud to relive any bind, then with the tranny in N and no brake on shift it into 2H, maybe even while coasting a little.

If that don't work, look for a dried clump of mud or a stick obstructing the shift linkage underneath.

Lamm

 

if you really cant shift out of 4WD and you need to drive on the pavement, there is a light blue plug on the passenger side of the transfer case. it sends the signal to the ADD stuff whenever you engage 4WD with the stick.

there are two wires, just cut one of them. it will interrupt the signal. 4HI will be 2WD, and 4LO will be 2LO.

if you want, you can hook up a switch connecting the wire you cut so you can use 2LO in the future when the stick works again...

 

System sounds bound. Reverse driving usually does it for me. If you can find a gravel road, drive on it for a while, make turns, reverse...let the tension in the system release.

If not, you could always raise the vehicle (all 4 whls) and shift out...

Hope that it gets done.

uber.

 

:bigclap:

 

If the lever won't even move to the left, it sounds like shifter problem not a transfer case / binding problem. Check under the truck for sticks etc, then start taking the console and shifters apart.

 

turn your car off and leave the trans in neutral and then try and shift it out of 4hi.

 

Ok so here is the diagnosis. I took my interior apart and the covers off of the shifters. Then took the 4 bolts off of the mount for the transfercase. When I took these bolts off, I found the tension spring was rotated and blocking the path for the shifter to move forward.
Hence why i couldn't shift out of 4wd. So the spring is on order w/ toyota and will be in on tuesday. In the meantime Im driving around w/o the spring... the shifter stays in place and no issues.
It looks like the spring wore down over the years so I wonder if all those other people that are having trouble with shifting in and out of 4wd have a worn down spring.

Thanks everyone for the replies! The hints are appreciated. And I just might have to try that 2wd lo trick.

 

COOL yeah some one said some thing about a spring. Suppose to be an easy fix. THX 4 ^ date

 

Yeah its 11 bucks from yota. Ill post pics when I put er in...