OK, so the saga continues....
My girlfriend just got home from work (see that? She woke me from a dead sleep to come get her, I flat-towed the truck home and got her on her way, and I've been screwing around with this ever since... And now she's home from work already...)
Anyway... So, after drawing her pictures and trying and trying and trying to get her to explain what the hell she did to this thing... Here's the further information I have been able to gather.
The truck WAS, in fact, in 4-Hi when she got in it -- as I had recalled. I left it that way knowing I would need it in the morning to drive her to work. Instead, she took it the way it was.... And then tried to SHIFT to 4WD. Except, she was already IN 4WD. So she didn't move it "toward the radio" -- she moved it toward her LEG AND toward the radio. GRRRRRRRRR. Oh, and did I mention she did this while she was driving down the street???
OK, so at this point, here's what I believe to be the case. The transfer case lever is stuck between the 4-Hi position and the 4-Lo position. When the auto-shifter is in Neutral, the t-case shifter is just about even with it, and it has about 1/4-inch of play front and back, but about 2 inches of play side to side.
Any words of wisdom now that we know she was moving (over 10MPH) while trying to shift from Hi to Lo?? I've been leaning on the stick and can't get it to do anything....
From where she was when I first arrived on the scene, I would bet she was probably in the 30 to 40MPH range when she attempted this. She did mention that she was in neutral, but honestly, I think that was more of a lie to cover up than what actually happened....
So what do you think?