Yes, the spare 4WD shifter was in pretty good shape already, so I went ahead and glass bead blasted it and painted it before trying to install it. Then, I found out that the spare wouldn't bolt up to the 46RE. Now, I'm refurbishing the original 4WD shifter. I'll post a photo when I'm done.

It appears that the bracket used to bolt the shifter to the transmission is the issue. I suspect that the bolt spacing is different between the 46RE, 47RE AND 48RE transmissions, in addition to the manual transmission variants, too. The parts manual seems to elude to those differences with numerous part numbers for the shifters. Seems like the Chrysler engineers didn't have their act together when designing this setup for future ease of use/maintenance.

 

I'm curious-- do you feel you were just getting chain slap or was it actually skipping/jumping?

I've heard of stretched chains but never personally encountered one --- they're pretty heavy duty.

Did you open up the case and replace the chain? If so, did this resolve the issue?

 

I believe my chain was actually skipping teeth.... It sounded terrible. Never did address the issue though, I bought another truck, as the opportunity was too good to pass up, took the old one off the road, and later sold it. (it was REALLY rusty.....)

 

I had some time to get back to working on my transfer case shifter today. Listed below is the refurbished 4WD shifter.


Took it completely apart, glass bead blasted it, painted it and put it back together.

Luckily, I had the spare 4WD shifter, so I removed the plastic gate from the spare and installed it onto my original 4WD shifter.

The center pivot that allows the shifter to move from neutral and then 4 Lo had seized up pretty badly. There are two plastic bushings in the pivot area (where the spring is) and one of the bushings was completely worn out. I used a bushing from the spare shifter, greased it well and put it all back together. Now it shifts as it should.

 

I've re-installed/bolted the 4WD shifter back on the truck are re-connected the linkage. I went ahead and jacked the truck up in the front and back and put the truck on 4 jack stands to test 4WD. It now appears that when I shift into 4 Hi or 4 Lo, 4WD works from the transfer case perspective. The front drive shaft turns when shifted into 4 Hi and 4 Lo, but the front wheels do not turn at all. Before I re-installed the transfer case into the truck with the newly rebuilt transmission, I changed out a very rusty vacuum switch on top of the transfer case for a new one (I think its a Dorman), in addition to replacing the OEM metal vacuum lines with new Dodge metal vacuum lines, along with a new set of plastic OEM vacuum lines. I have vacuum on the black line just before the vacuum pod on the front differential when in 4 Hi or 4 Lo, but not on the red line. I'm guessing that the new vacuum switch on the transfer case is either faulty or I've got it connected incorrectly, however, I thought it would only connect one way. Anyone have thoughts on how to rectify this issue?

 

One line (inboard port on the vacuum pot) will have vacuum t-case is in some flavor of 4x4, the other line will have vacuum when the trans is in 2wd. I don't remember which color goes where...... Easy to test though. Just make sure vacuum switches when you change drive modes.

 

Traced it down to the CAD vacuum pod. The rod was stuck and wouldn't move. Once I got it apart and played with it, it started to move. Went ahead and replaced it with a new unit. Now all is well and all 4WD functions are working as they should.