Next was addressing 4wd shifter. I could not for the life of me get it into 4 low, couldn't figure out how to do it, and so I got to reading and found a common issue with a bushing in the shifter deteriorating to nothing. Sure enough, mine was missing entirely, and only some chunks of the old one remained.
I needed to remove the shifter, which shouldn't have been a big deal.. but I guess I didn't read enough because I made quite the mistake.
It turns out that those "studs" aren't actually studs. So, when I removed the shifter, I noticed one dropped down a little bit. As quick and gently as I could I put nuts onto two of them, but when I touched the third one it just dropped and I heard a splash. Dropped a bolt right into the top of the transfer case.
So, getrag trans as far as I know, I don't know who to blame for this design. But I do blame myself as well.
Guess which one fell.
I eventually got the bolt out, but talk about stress lol. I tried from the top with magnets to no avail. I removed the drain and fill bolts and searched around in there with magnets to no avail. Finally, I removed an inspection cover on the transfer case and it was sitting there right at the bottom. What a roller coaster, I was sure I was going to have to pull the t case.
Of course I didn't have that gasket, and i went and tried to make a new gasket from felpro material I got from the store, but on a sunday without a punch I couldn't get the holes right without having burrs. I tried drilling them, then tried sandwiching the gasket between two boards and drilling through everything, still didn't really work. In the end I took the advice of people who have done this exact thing and just cleaned everything really well an used black permatex. A week later it is still bone dry so I would say that was successful.
First look at where the bushing used to be, you can see chunks of red in this picture as well as the one showing the studs.
New bushing:
The 97-99 gen 2.5 (blister fenders) are plagued with this bushing. Years prior were a white poly bushing which didn't break down in this same way. Those shifters are interchangeable, but I got the new bushing for 9$ off amayama. Disassembly of the shifter itself was pretty straight foreward, but I had to bring it to a machine shop and borrow a press to get the pin that holds the bushing out.
After all that, shifting in the t case feels good as new, very crisp.. and I still didn't know how to get into 4 low. If you look at the shift lever, seems to be a magical step to get into 4llc (4 low lock)
Turns out you have to push the lever down about an inch, and them move it frontwards.
I also broke the cup holder basically immediately, but was able to find a new OEM one and put it in the other with some gaskets, plastic clips, etc. Things I knew I would need to replace doing the shifter and clips I expected to break doing the stereo.
I also was given this cup holder that just slides into the seats, which I use now.
Untitled by
Travis Perkins, on Flickr
And finally I installed a 400w oil pan heater. I am going to get a timer so it turns on an hour and a half before I typically start it.
Out on the lake after all the assembly!
Next to do is install a cell phone booster that I got for Christmas.
