So you think that the reduction gears in the transfer case below the shifter are the cause as to why it will not down shift and why it grids em a little going up thru the gears or would this be the case only in 4x4? I suspect if I am reading you correctly that it is the cause because the transmission fluid was clean and had no metal in it at all. Like I said when I changed the transfer case oil I noticed right away that when the truck was cold it would then free wheel easy but before I changed it when all those tiny metal fragments were in the oil it would act like the brake was on when you tried to free wheel. Once warm up that went away.

I actually wasted my money and put Amsoil synthetic gear lube in the tranny and transfer case. The tranny oil being the expensive stuff is fine but now that I need a new transfer case I actually wasted 45 bucks on the oil I dumped in the old one.

Do those reduction gears in the transfer case slow the motor or slow the transmission shaft down so it can shift smoothly? Are those reduction gears different than synchronizers? Also does the transfer case reduction gears have synchronizers as well for shifting?

I may seem slow to understand about this and I am because I am not educated on how stick shifts and the manual transmission gears and transfer case reduction gears work together when shifting.