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i understand the concerns relating to remoteness. however, if the issue is just the actuating mechanism, then being able to operate it directly, by hand, if necessary, is going to resolve that problem.
@mollusc He is currently on the road, he is concerned about the weather over the one pass and would prefer to over that before the rain/slush starts tomorrow.
@acg you will likely have to go through this fun process to remove the console to get access to the Hi/lo lever and disconnect the cable. But you might be able to get at from underneath and behind, still checking on that.
Pulling the center console really isn't all that bad, annoying yes but not difficult. Especially if someone has drilled out the rivets already to retrofit the CDL linkage already. PO of mine swapped in a D1 shifter in mine (I have a 99) and I just had mine apart due to a broken Hi/Low linkage failure. I can have everything out and back together in under an hour or so.
Most of the time I have problems to get the transfer case from Lo to N with the transmission in neutral. I roll slowly in D to get the transfer case into N and then shift the transmission into N and get into Hi.
@Discorama We tried everything, I tested on my 04 to confirm then had him try. It appears to be a bad cable at this point.
He is in Whitehorse now, a 7 hour drive to cover 100 miles, at the local freightliner dealer who are a customer of his,they are going to put up on the hoist and assist.
First off, thanks again to Richard for being my wingman via InReach. I am back in Whitehorse, Yukon. I made the call to do the low gear crawl back from Skagway, AK as I concerned about the White Pass conditions . White Pass is the border between the US and Canada. The conditions up north can turn bad quickly. The US and Canada border stations are actually located 10 km away from this pass border for this same reason. I also have my 15 year old first born and mama in Vancouver was getting concerned.
I contemplated tearing into the console while in Skagway. However, my concern is staying a day or two longer, then running foul of the bad weather if I can't fix the truck. My hunch is a jammed up cable. Here is the detailed info now that I can camp myself at a Starbucks in Whitehorse.
Original problem: The interlock solenoid nipple slipped outside of the low-side “ear” of the triangular plate as you can see in the pic below.
I was able to depress the nipple. My 15 yr old son up in the idling truck, under Neutral, trying to move the CDL from low to high. It would not budge much. I was only able to get the nipple under the low "ear" as you can see in the circled pic below.
I made the call to remove the cable linkage.
Here is the current situation (please see 3rd pic below). I was able to move the triangle plate by a few millimeters to the inside part of the ear (low side). I am now figuring I have to reconnect the linkage back (i.e., align the two arrows so that I can re-insert the pin-clip). My idea is once I am able reconnect the linkage, I can then drive the truck slowly, neutral, then try and pop the diff lever back to high.
The problem is .... the diff lever in the center console will not move. The CDL lever in the center console is now stuck in high position. It will move right to left (ie, non-CDL high to CDL high respectively. In other words, I can't close the gap distance between the hole (of the triangle plate) and the shift linkage end (as shown by the arrows in the above 3rd pic.
Here is a video of the stuck position of the CDL lever. It is stuck in VERY VERY bottom right corner (high non-CDL). I will move right and left (from high non-CDL to high CDL respectively). However, the lever (or linkage) appears jammed up, not being able to move up and down (from high to low):
I am posting as much details as I can for everyone's future reference. Is there anything I can do to move the cable linkage? Do I have to tear up the center console to take a look? I am hoping for some specific direction before I take it to the shop. This is a small town with no LR knowledge. They will need some direction. I am trying my best to learn, but not an expert.....
@acg I think you will need to get at the back portion where the cable connects to level that engages the gears. It is at the top left rear of transfer case so not easy to get at you may be able to get at it without disassembling the console by going over the transfer case from the back, or from underneath with a good sturdy tool you might get the cable to move enough to get it in to high
Last edited by Richard Gallant; Aug 21, 2019 at 04:18 PM.
Just an Update ACG is back on the road in hi, it appears the cable is compromised. The mechanic was able to get at the lever from underneath on the hoist, remove the cable and put the disco into hi.
