Can't shift into 4H 89 YJ Manual

Limpinlobster

Limpinlobster

Member
The quest to get the YJ trail ready continues. I know it's been sitting for a long time, possibly a year and a half. We yanked pretty hard on the transfer case lever, but can't get it into 4H. We tried going slow, up to 25 mph, in gear, and out of gear. Can someone please give us some advice on where to start. Thanks in advance.
 
try placing a wrench around the nut where shifter linkage is attached to on the case and shift it manually that way. might be able to get better leverage with a wrench directly to the case then using the lever in the cab. if it shifts fine with the wrench then your problem is in the linkage somewhere.

if it still wont shift try rolling in reverse a little, stop, and then try the wrench. might need a piece of tubing slipped over the wrench to get a good amount of leverage on it.
 
BlackDiamondBound said:
try placing a wrench around the nut where shifter linkage is attached to on the case and shift it manually that way. might be able to get better leverage with a wrench directly to the case then using the lever in the cab. if it shifts fine with the wrench then your problem is in the linkage somewhere.

if it still wont shift try rolling in reverse a little, stop, and then try the wrench. might need a piece of tubing slipped over the wrench to get a good amount of leverage on it.
Click to expand...

Thanks again BlackDiamond, I'll give it a try.
 
oh and disconnect the linkage on the transfer case side, otherwise you will you will be fighting the linkage with the wrench. a flat head screw driver will pop the plastic clip off to disconnect the linkage. let us know how it goes
 
My 90YJ did the same thing and it turned out to be the linkage. .soaked it with chain wax ...works great now.:D

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Update, we gave everything a try you guys recommended and we finally got it to go into 4. Thanks for the help everyone. We loosened and reset this in the picture as well. As soon as we did this, we were able to go into 4wd. Could someone shed some light on what this is?

image-3313300346.jpg
 
Well thats different. That doesnt look stock. What case do you have 231? Id is on that red tag. Looks like someone took out the stock bolt and put that one in. Inside the case there are shift forks thay connect to rod. I think its called a shift fork rod or something, anyway where you see that bolt is where one end of the rod sits. if thats not stock then it could be a clue to why its hard to shift. Is it still hard to shift with the wrench? Maybe its an older design im not familiar with, but that bolt going into the housing should be more like a cup that the shift fork sits in.
 
I see what someone did. They are using that bolt to adjust the hight of the rod inside i bet cause they lost the stock piece. thats a sketchy piece to play around with without taking the case apart. Could you get it back into 2wd and 4 after adjusting it
 
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