I drive a 2002 4runner with 4.88 diffs and arb locker in the rear. On Saturday i broke the passenger side cv when coming down on a rock. After being recovered and driving home i replaced the CV and drove around for a bit. Then came home and hooked my winch cable to a tree to unspool it(winch gears ate themselves), i did this in reverse and 4 wheel drive. After doing this the vehicle would not disengage 4WD. The light just keeps blinking no matter what i do, drive in circles, reverse, reverse in circles, nothing. I heard some loud violent clunks coming from some where, when turning and reversing, so i pulled the replaced CV after some grueling struggles, the inside splines on the CV had been twisted on the shaft(explains why it was so hard to remove). They twisted in reverse. Put another CV back in and hope that it will disengage and not clunk. NOPE, i drove in circles and watched the transmission and transfer case after hearing the clunk again, it did it while i was watching and the transfer case appeared to "jump" with a loud clunk. I pulled back into my driveway and said ill just remove the front drive shaft and see if i can drive, after struggling with the drive shaft, i attempt to put it in drive, and it makes a GRRGRGHHEHGRG sound (like the gears are not meshing), and will not go into drive or reverse. I scream and cuss and throw a TBF(total bitch fit) and then push the truck to its now resting place. With the 4wd light still blinking. If you have any idea on what it is please help me. If you made it through all of this thank you for reading this really long post.

-Wyo

 

drain your trans case and look for large amounts of metal

 

Like stated above, check the t-case for metal in the oil. I suspect a blown planetary gear set in the t-case.

 

Interesting you think it's a blown planetary gear. The problem was fixed back in July and that's exactly what it was. But it couldn't found from the oil. It ended up ruining the transmission as well. The truck currently has a new tranny and a 30k transfer case!

 

Check the vacuum lines on the front diff to make sure they are still working okay. Rotate the pinion also to see if its the front diff that is having issues.

 

Manual trans? I would really recommend draining the fluids from the front diff, trans and t-case to check for metal...

 

While you are at it, just for ,kicks... Check the rear diff oil too. I have replaced many locking rear diffs on these things for grenaded ring/pinions. People go out and do funky ˟˟˟˟ sometimes, and they do blow...

 

well i am glad you got it fixed nothing worse then a toyota being sidelined!! Was there any other signs that is was not working other then the pop sound cause mine used to do that and I changed out the whole front end. I have yet to touch the t-case but its not shifting correctly now or better yet wont let me leave 4wheel drive for a while. I wonder if maybe something is wrong in there? well glad you got answers and we didnt help (way to late)