I postes this in the wrong section earlier so i am reposting it.



Hi i have a 93 Dakota 5.2L v8 4x4 which i just recently purchased. The owner claims it was not taken out of 4x4 in years. I got it home in 2wd drive fine and then I tried putting it back into 4x4.

Thats when the issues started. I replaced the shifter linkage and now it wont stay in 2 or 4. It comes out on its own.

Also on the dash it looks like im in 2nd gear when jn drive and neutral when in reverse on the dash. It has scratching noises coming from underneath when i try to park it when the 4x4 isnt levered just right. I am not sure whats going on, i would like ro get it fixed if possible and cheap.

 

On the dash - there's two possibilities.

1) The PRNDL can be simply adjusted to reflect the actual gear.

2) At the age, the bushings in the shift linkage may be worn causing the linkage to not reflect the proper position of the transmission shift pawl. So the PRNDL shows where the linkage is, but the action is because the linkage isn't shifting the transmission properly.

For both of these, it'd be a lot quicker to obtain the FSM. However, that's all the same, 1987 to 1996, and the 1995 and 1996 FSMs are linked to in the FAQ post in the stickies at the top of the subforum. (I'd grab the 1996; it's a monolithic PDF and easier to navigate between sections, instead of each section is its own PDF that the 1995 is ... )

As to the shifter linkage for the 4x4 ... I'd triple check the adjustments in the FSM; again, even though the transfer case is a different part number, I THINK it's the same adjustments (But! I could be wrong on that ... ideally, grab a 1993 FSM to verify for your truck.)

RwP

 

matched tires front and back? If not that can mess with 4wd..... as can mismatched front and rear gearing