Rebuilt T case shifter wont move

[94HDJEighty]

Hello everyone, after many years of reading forums and faqs on Cruisers and other Toyotas I finally made an account because I'm stumped.

I recently purchased my dream 80 series off an old friend. It's 1HD-T and H151f swapped, from what I can tell it has an HF2A T case with the short rear housing. He installed a part time kit, Aisin manual hubs and reduction gears from Cruiser Teq I believe. Truck also has factory PTO winch installed on t case.

The problem I'm having is the T case shifter literally won't budge at all. I tried to put it in 4 low and its almost like its seized in place. The cruiser
sat 90% finish since 2021 and I trust that he more than likely did the work correctly because rebuilds transmissions a lot and has all the correct tools to do the work.

Things I've tried:
- Lubing the shift fork arm on top of the case
- Actuated center diff on and off with 9v battery.
(it works fine and the light comes on the dash when its locked but something electronic is causing it not to actuate when I press the button. a problem for another time)
- Greased shifter housing bushings
- Drove truck back and forth in 1st and reverse in 2wd and 4wd seeing if it freed up
- Actuating T case PTO attachment on and off to see if it would free up the gears.
-Put fresh gear oil in it (even though it had clean gear oil from 2021

I've been trying to avoid splitting the case because it drives fine in 2 high/4 high with zero noise and no issues at all. I literally just cant move the shifter.

If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears. I'm starting to lean towards needing the case looked at but want to know if theres anything else I can check/try before going that route.

Any advice is appreciated and thanks in advance.

 

[Fj80oregon]

Have you disconnected the linkage and tried moving under the rig? Moving the shifter with the linkage disconnected?

 

[NeverFinis]

Did you take the shifter housing apart and clean and regrease?

 

[94HDJEighty]

Have you disconnected the linkage and tried moving under the rig? Moving the shifter with the linkage disconnected?

I tried to move it without the linkage. The actual arm on the t case. I currently have the linkage disconnected from the shifter.

Did you take the shifter housing apart and clean and regrease?

View attachment 4209034

I greased the inner bushings on the shifter housing even though moved perfectly fine before I started trying to figure this out. I physically cant move the shift arm on the t case side. I read somewhere about detent springs being an issue. does anyone know about those?

 

[jonheld]

PLEASE DISREGARD

If the linkage is disconnected from the shifter, you should be able to manually shift between H-N-L by moving the arm on the transfer case, assuming there is no load on the driveline. If it can move, then the issue is with the shifter itself, which is very common.

The transfer case shifter is mounted to the top of the transmission with 4 bolts and can be removed.
The main issue is the pivot pin can seize to the housing.
On my 91 I had to put the housing in a vise with a length of pipe over the shifter and work it back and forth while spraying penetrating fluid. Eventually it will free up. The pin can be driven out, cleaned up and properly lubed with moly grease.

On my LX450 I had a similar issue. Once cleaned and lubed, the shifter should flop around easily with the linkage disconnected.
You should be able to shift with 2 fingers.

 

[NeverFinis]

To followup...

One can disassemble the shifter and clean and regrease as they can get extremely stiff with age.

I bought an early shifter for my LS swap, and it was frozen when it arrived.

No amount of external penetrating fluid worked to free it up. It had to be disassembled.

 

[94HDJEighty]

PLEASE DISREGARD

If the linkage is disconnected from the shifter, you should be able to manually shift between H-N-L by moving the arm on the transfer case, assuming there is no load on the driveline. If it can move, then the issue is with the shifter itself, which is very common.

The transfer case shifter is mounted to the top of the transmission with 4 bolts and can be removed.
The main issue is the pivot pin can seize to the housing.
On my 91 I had to put the housing in a vise with a length of pipe over the shifter and work it back and forth while spraying penetrating fluid. Eventually it will free up. The pin can be driven out, cleaned up and properly lubed with moly grease.

On my LX450 I had a similar issue. Once cleaned and lubed, the shifter should flop around easily with the linkage disconnected.
You should be able to shift with 2 fingers.

That's exactly my issue. I cant move the arm on the t case itself. I don't think there is any load on the gears because I've been driving it around back and forth and trying to get it to move.

I'm starting to think the shift arm missed the shift fork on assembly which sucks. it drives fine, no noise but the t case arm is stiff.

the shifter housing itself in the truck moves incredibly freely when disconnected from the linkage.

 

[jonheld]

That's exactly my issue. I cant move the arm on the t case itself. I don't think there is any load on the gears because I've been driving it around back and forth and trying to get it to move.

I'm starting to think the shift arm missed the shift fork on assembly which sucks. it drives fine, no noise but the t case arm is stiff.

the shifter housing itself in the truck moves incredibly freely when disconnected from the linkage.

With the handbrake fully on, shift the transmission into neutral, NOT PARK. Engine on/off makes no difference. You want to be sure there's no load on the driveline.
You should be able to easily rotate the driveshafts back and forth until the play is taken up.
Then see if you can shift the transfer case by hand.
If not, then it's time to drop the transfer case and inspect the internals.