Ok- so I have a 96 D1 with a 5 speed,

last night it was running perfectly fine.

now, it seems like there is an extremely large noise coming from the transfer case, and the whole truck is vibrating heavily.

obviously i did not drive the truck in this condition.

it does move forward if you put it in gear and go, but it SEEMS to behave like its in low even though the shifter looks to be back and the dash light is not illuminated.

what could this be?

Mechanic had noticed a "grinding" noise a few month ago coming from the tcase when in neutral, but it was faint and didnt seem to be increasing

 

Check the fluid level in your transfer case, sounds like it is toast.

Sweet blog, I never knew...

 

Yes when was the last time you cracked it open and checked the fluid level?

 

a tech claimed the fluid was clear and full less than a month ago

 

Did you drain it and see if there were metal bits on the drain plug? Metal sludge is normal but not chunks.

 

i'm assuming a little must have been drained in order to figure out it was clear

 

now seems to be operating normally, but still not allowing the dash light to come on and making a loud racket...

i looked underneath and there is fluid around it, but its hard to tell if its from that or the small oil leak i have.

 

Did you get underneath and take a look at the front driveshaft and makes sure it looks OK where it connects to the transfer case. Also I think you are going to have to drain your fluid and see if there are any metal bits in the gear oil.

 

Do not drive it.
If you drain your gear oil, you will most likely find metal and then you are in the market for another t/case.