92 has vacuum engagement problems, want to swap it to cable controlled. 2 questions, first how do you remove the vacuum canister, and will it leak without it. And once i am hooked up to cable, which do I engage first, 4 wheel stick on floor or cable to front axle, do I disengage in reverse order? Thanks in advance.

 

I'm not familiar with the CAD (vacuum) setup. But on the non-CAD, it's a solid rod, not a cable, and it leads to the transfer case only. On the non-CAD, like my 1996, there is no vacuum line or anything but the driveshaft going to the front axle.

 

Now is this engagement for a locking front diff?

 

It is not to hard to take off the CAD. 4 bolts if I remember right. But yes it will leak out, and installing a cable will not be easy to do and keep it sealed. One option is to somehow permanently keep the CAD always engaged. Like stated before the 94-up are full time axles.

They do sell kits to engage the CAD by cable. But they don't have one for our axle. You can try to buy one for a Jeep or something similar to the actuator size and make it fit.

As for the order it wouldn't matter which is first.

Next option is to find a 94-96 axle and swap it in.

Or find a new or good used CAD actuator and replace yours. But most people say they can't find any new ones for some reason.

 

new ones are available at the dealer (i've orderd a few recently).
as for switching to cable. would be difficult and time consuming. i would just fix the cad or swap axles or lock it in place. you know the drill.