Yep, I'm another statistic.. driving through some snow banks here in Halifax, Nova Scotia and stopped on the other side when it cleared a bit and shifted from 4lo going back to 2wd and.... ping.... loose t-case shifter. Yep, lever just flops from full forward to full aft position with zero resistance almost feeling as if something broke!
Jeep was dead in the water with the t-case in neutral and no forward or reverse gears... cleared some snow and crawled under to see WTF was going on and found my shifter cable linkage had separated from the transfer case lever!!! WTF!!!

Good thing I had a friend with me as I got him to run the shifter and I put the cable back over the t-case lever to get it back into 2wd.... If you haven't seen the set up it's not pretty.... plastic cover in the cable with slots in it to go over the lever assy with a grooved (ball effect) end and all that holds them together is a single C-clip!

SO I immediately called 4 dealerships and quickly found out that not only did they not have any but there aren't any available in CANADA!!!! I mean cummon!!! $1.20 clip and none even in the country!!! SO I have 5 on order and my linkage is being held together with lock wire for now.

What I'm wondering is has anyone modified this set up to say drilling a small hole in the lever pin and putting a washer and cotter pin set up or do I just live with the cheesy (fromage) set up!?

If anything, I hope this will help someone if it ever happens to you.
Might even help with not having to get towed somewhere for it to be fixed not knowing it's a simple C-clip that's come off and have it cost you $$$$.
For a buck, buy a few and throw them in the glove box!

Anyway.. thought I'd share.

 

There have have been a few of these failues. Were you moving at all when shifting back? If not that is likely the cause of the failure. It does sound like a weak point, though some have suggested it is designed as such to prohibit damage to internal components.

 

I haven't even looked at mine yet. Is that clevis pin removable? It would make it a snap to clamp in a vise, center punch it and drill a hole through it. I'm not certain though, that I would drill a large enough hole for a cotter pin. That could weaken the clevis to the point that it could fail altogether. A hole small enough to safety wire a flat washer into place there would probably be better.

 

Thanks for the heads up, as also being a canuck I should get a couple c-clips on order and keep em in the glove box ehh

 

Nope... wasn't moving. Put the transmission in neutral and proceeded to shift it back to 2wd as usual... absolutely no warning or indicators... felt like normal operation until.... SNAP! Design flaw I think but nice when it works.... could've been worse... ALOT worse!

Nope the clevis isn't removeable it's a swagged/riveted/pressed on pin on the t-case lever unfortunately. Probably have to leave it well enough alone and stock up on the clips, pain in the ass but cheaper than weakening the pin assy and having that fail... you're right.

Yes my fellow Cannucker.... buy some extras and throw em in the glove box.... might not ever need them but for the dollar and change they cost and piece of mind if it does fail.... stock up on a few, I am!

 

juuust wondering,** but is it possible that the gears were not properly lined up since you weren't moving, and tried to push/pull the level into 2wd and broke the linkage that way? to get in and out of 4lo you need to be moving in neutral, correct? so that kinda makes sense to me

sorry about your issues tho, it's no fun when anything breaks.

 

No worries... I'm by no means a 4wd expert as this is my first Jeep but I was under the impression that you could shift between 4wd Hi and 2wd and vica versa while moving but when shifting into and out of 4 lo you have to be stopped? I dunno.... I could be wrong though

As I said before nothing felt irregular or bound up and nothing did break... it just came off without warning.... PING!

I'm wondering if anyone out there has their cable link just hanging on the t-case by a thread with the clip gone already just waiting for it to go PING on them.... a quick simple look may be in order for some piece of mind then... just a suggestion. I know before I go off road again I'll be checking the connection and my C clip stock

Just hopes this helps someone.... even if it's finding out that I'm shifting it improperly

 

no sir, to "properly" get in and out of 4lo you must be moving in neutral so the gears line up properly and make the right connection to proceed into 2wd. but i'm no expert either. good luck with that

 

OK so by "moving in neutral" do you mean coasting a bit just to have things line up easier?

Like if I have it in 4 Hi and want to go into 4 Lo do I bump the jeep a bit on the gas and slide the manual transmission into neutral then pull back on the t-case shifter then or let the jeep roll in a crawl in 1st gear and slide the t-case lever into neutral then 4lo, does the clutch in or clutch out play a part?

Seriously.... I'm not being sarcastic I don't know what you mean by "moving in neutral" which component do you want in neutral the transmission or t-case or both?

Man I'm really feeling new at this LOL

Oh and feel free to post up some pics of your rig... by the small avatar and the list of mods in your sig it sounds exactly what I'd like to do to mine... same colour and all lol! What gears are you running just curious... I have the 2 door X as well with 3.21's... again a victim of my inexperience..... looking back... I'd have made sure thay came with 4.10's!

 

That is right. The Jeep should always be moving when shifting between 4wd and 2wd. For 2wd to 4hi (below 50mph), just through it into gear. From 4hi to 4lo, you should put the tranny in N before shifting to 4lo, but you should be coasting 2-3mph also.