4WD selector won't lock in

[rbonnett]

'72 SIII 88"
The 4WD selector does not lock into place when I push it down. It does depress all the way down, I believe. The spring is not fully compressed when it stops traveling, but of course pops right back up as the spring expands. If I remove the spring, I can depress the selector quite easily - there's basically no resistance. It does stay down, but I can pull it up, again quite easily, without cycling in and out of low range.

The front output is working; I disconnected the rear prop shaft and merrily drove around with no apparent issues. No unusual noises, etc. It can take 2 or 3 cycles of depressing and then raising the selector (without the spring) before the front output engages.

Comparing with the pictures in Hayne's and the Green Bible, there's nothing obvious to me missing or odd looking externally at least.

Any advice on what this might be? Am I about to rent a hoist to pull the transmission :(

Thanks in advance

[alaskajosh]

From your description of the problem I don't know if this will be helpful or not:
Depressing the knob only comes into play when in high range. If you want to be in 4wd in low range forget about the knob... if you are in low range you are in 4wd.


Good luck and kind regards, Josh

[Moose]

I had this happen with my Series 3 many years ago. Try holding the yellow knob down (put your spring back on), then move the Hi/Low lever back into low, then forward into high again. The yellow knob should stay down now. When mine exhibited this problem, I think it was just from lack of use so something was sticking. The problem correct it's self after a bit of use.

Brett