Afer being pulled out in reverse, my transfer case will not shift into high at all. It will shift into neutral and back into 4low only. I took the shifter out and everything looked normal, accept that the piston on the left (4low) will not slide all the way forward. All wires and vac lines look fine. I tried everthing I could think of without taking to much apart. What do I do next?

It's quite possible to have the splines lined up so they don't slip into high, particularly if the truck isn't moving. Moving the truck a little, or having it gently rolling while you try to engage high gives the splines a chance to line up and slip into high range.

Not only have I tried this, I also tried hot-rodding 1st gear to pop something loose...nothing. I tried the same in Reverse...nothing. I tried to put it in high while rolling backwards down a hill...nothing. I even resorted to tapping the shifter whith a hammer while trying to pull it down and over toward high gear, this seemed to move it a hair more, but no significant progress has been made.

Thanks for your response, any other ideas?

Spent a little while looking at the pages of the factory manual for the 97 and cogitating over it. Couple of things do come to mind.

First is the little sockets the shift lever engages in. I remember on mine noticing that they had interlocking teeth, and that one of the shafts could rotate, as well as sliding fore and aft. I never went beyond observing this interesting phenomina, but in your case, I'd be awfully inclined to pull the lever out for an inspection of this and to see if perhaps yours are interlocked.

The other thing has to do with the internals of the transfer case. It's a planetary gear reduction, and if I'm following it correctly, the sleeve slides backwards onto a spring loaded hub for low, and forward into the planetary spline piece for hi range. If the teeth on the sleeve or the planetary spline piece were bent or damaged, it wouldn't be able to move forward into the hi range, but would freely be able to move between low and neutral.

Now I think your ear could tell you something by the sounds you hear trying to engage hi when rolling or with the engine running and engaged. If you can grind things in the transfer case, then you've got teeth hitting each other. That would lead me to believe the problem is with the teeth on the sleeve and or planetary spline piece. If you can't get the teeth to hit and grind at all, you've got something blocking the motion, and that would have me suspecting something like the interlocking sockets being bound up or out of position.

You say you were in reverse when you got pulled out. Could you elaborate on the story so we can better understand things? As in running engine or not, manual transmission or auto, strange noises during the event, etc.

I kind of agree on the interlock thing. With the shifter removed, I would try to move the 2wd/4wd shift rail back and forth and then try the hi/N/lo rail again while pulling 2wd/4wd either direction. The other thing I'd try is removing the shift detent springs and balls and trying again. This is stuff you should be able to do outside w/o pulling the t-case. You'll probably need a FSM to figure out what bolt/where to remove though.

Also, if there is gear grinding sounds when you try to shift back to 4-hi, then its probably not the shifters and probably has something to do with the shift collars inside. You could have broken a shift fork or something and its not sliding the collar evenly and therefore doesn't want to engage...?

One great resource to call would be Marlin @ Marlin Crawler. He may have heard of something like this happening before. I remember reading about something similar with the (v6?) transmissions that if they get jarred at a certain point they can get stuck in a gear (reverse?). I think usually that happened when the tranny was out and set on end though. Your jerk in reverse maybe could have done something similar.

I inspected the sockets you spoke of. I noticed the interlocking teeth, but did not detect any unwanted rotation happening. I am not able to make any grinding noises, so I guess my next step is to determine weather something is bound up or miss-aligned or ?

The next easy step I think I will try is to disconnect the front drive line to possibly relieve pressure, then drive around to try to free something up.

If this doen't work, I guess it's time to pull the t case. Do you know where I can easily locate a manual for the transfer case? What model do I have in my '93 T100?

When I got pulled out my truck was running the whole time. I believe I had it in reverse the whole time either with my foot on the clutch or trying to gas it in reverse in sync with my buddy who was trying to tug me out of the mud I was high-centered in. I did not notice any strange noises.

Thanks again for your insight!

I tried moving the rails with the shifer removed, via prying, tapping and prying etc. etc.

Where do I find the shift detent springs and balls? What is a FSM?

I will look up Marlin.

Thanks for the tips and Info!

FSM = Factory Service Manual
Here's a link to a '93 mini-truck FSM online:
http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-buchanan/93fsm/
Most of your truck should be the same (including the t-case).

Also jacking a front tire should relieve any bind with an open diff. No need to remove the driveline.

Ok, I've got the t-case on the workbench. It still won't shift out of low. Are there any precautions I should take when spliting the case? Do you know where I can find a diagram of internal parts?

Thanks again, you have been helpful.

Gabe

Sorry, nevermind I found it on the previous link you gave me.

Gabe