Transfer Case Grinding

[THISISWEIRD]

Hopefully, a quick question from the noob.

I've got a 91' blazer and I'm having some problems getting the transfer case to come out of 4 Lo. It's griding. If I give it a quick hard shift, it comes out without too much of a fuss, but I can't help thinking somethings wrong. It acts fine once in gear.

Is it the linkage or some easy fix or is there more too it?

Another note, I have stock 3.08 gears running 33's. I'm going to be putting some money into it the truck soon. Should I switch gears? Seems to be getting into OD fine and nothing is really wrong, but seems the general consensus is it will eventually eat my tranny.

I feel stupid asking all of these question, but I know so little compared to the folks here. As always, thanks for your time.

best,
John

 

[Mudstud]

Can't comment on your shifting problem but I would recommend a $4o tranny cooler ASAP.

 

[RustBuket]

Is the tranny in neutral? Cause it should be.

 

[THISISWEIRD]

Tranny is in neutral. I have a cooler and a trans temp gauge. I never see more than 170 on the tranny. That's pretty good, right?

 

[MetalCore_Blazer393]

my 87 blazer does the exact same thing, i noticed it when i let a friend drive it so i thought he screwed somthin up but when i went and did it i shifted from 4L and it grinded its way to 4H and from 4H to 2h its fine but mine also slides out of 4H to 2H just from drivin around and all the gears work great just shiftin the transfer case is arkward. so if u fix it let me know how! lol

 

[dendeanda]

My '85 blazer 208 transfer case was doing both of the things you guys say yours was doing. I first noticed that it would disengage by itself from 4H to 2H while driving on bumpy terrain. I had to use a bungee cord or some kind of leverage to keep it engaged. I was told that this could be caused by bad mounts or the shifting fork in the case going bad. To fix this, some people cut the body metal to make room for the shifter to stay engaged due to the case sitting lower than it should cuz of bad mounts. I noticed my mounts were in great condition. Then I noticed while shifting from 4L to N to 4H, it would grind pretty bad but would run smooth while engaged. Next i notice a bad vibration coming from under the truck when I would drive and had touble diserning whether it was unbalanced tires or something in the drive train. Then disaster. When i would shift the tranny into drive on a normal 2H drive, nothing would happen. When I would get the truck moving i had all kinds of racket coming from the t case. I thought my tranny was going bad, but it was really the transfer case. I had to get a new one. Now, the 4H stays engaged VERY well and no more grinding while shifting.
Turned out that the pump in the case seized up and was starving the case of oil. You cant ever really tell when your pump is going bad unfortunately.
My recommendations are to check your mounts, check the fluid level, and check your linkage. If anything else, overhaul your transfer case. That never hurts PLUS you can check to see if anything is wrong inside. Good luck!