Axle/diff/tcase question

[Kyleinreallife]

Also, what position is your tcase in there? When mine is in 2wd the arm on the tcase faces downward with the standard linkage


87' XJ Wagoneer I-6 AW4 NP242

[DirtyComanche]

20 minutes ago, Kyleinreallife said:

Got it. What do you mean “physical gate from 4hi-neutral”? And did you use 1/4” or 3/16” for your replacement tcase arm?


87' XJ Wagoneer I-6 AW4 NP242

 

If you undo the shift linkage and move the shifter handle there is no resistance, the only place there is resistance, or the position of the shifter is held by the shifter assembly (not the tcase) is when you hit the notch at the back of 4HI and have to move it over.  Thus it is the only 'gate' in the shifter, as opposed to many other shifters that have detent pins, stops, etc throughout the travel; with a shifter like that the throw ratios are much more critical as you have maintain alignment between those points and the points on the tcase.  I guess to be more technical there's the extreme ends of the travel past 2HI and 4LO as well, but they don't really count, you have some cushion there if things aren't perfect.

 

It's a piece of 1/4" flat bar as that worked nicely with the thickness of the stepped portion on the stud of the tcase (I just drilled two holes and filed it out to make the correct slotted shape to interface with it).  I don't remember if that was 1/4"x1.5" or if it was slightly narrower, either way adjustment can be made with a grinder.

[DirtyComanche]

2 minutes ago, Kyleinreallife said:

Also, what position is your tcase in there? When mine is in 2wd the arm on the tcase faces downward with the standard linkage


87' XJ Wagoneer I-6 AW4 NP242

 

That should be 4LO, but it was over a year ago that I took that picture so don't quote me.  There's a lot of the snow on the ground, or I'd take you pictures of it in other positions.

[DirtyComanche]

Another thing to consider is my tcase is raised slightly for more clearance.  I believe it will work fine with the tcase in the factory position.  If a tcase drop is used there is a chance the linkage will not appreciate the added angle.  You'll never see a tcase drop on anything I own as I view them as being a wholly counterproductive mod, so it wasn't something I gave much consideration to at the time.

[Kyleinreallife]

Another thing to consider is my tcase is raised slightly for more clearance.  I believe it will work fine with the tcase in the factory position.  If a tcase drop is used there is a chance the linkage will not appreciate the added angle.  You'll never see a tcase drop on anything I own as I view them as being a wholly counterproductive mod, so it wasn't something I gave much consideration to at the time.

Okay also, is there a reason there is a nut in between the shift lever arm and the rod end but not between the tcase arm and opposite rod end?


87' XJ Wagoneer I-6 AW4 NP242

[DirtyComanche]

5 minutes ago, Kyleinreallife said:

Okay also, is there a reason there is a nut in between the shift lever arm and the rod end but not between the tcase arm and opposite rod end?


87' XJ Wagoneer I-6 AW4 NP242

 

It's to lock the bolt into the thinner arm from the factory shifter and space the rod end off of it.  The hardware arrangement isn't critical, it was just whatever worked well at the time, but locking another nut on is generally a more rigid setup than just spacing it with washers.  The clearance is much tighter at the tcase side, so you would not be able to do the same thing, but it also isn't needed.  Exactly how somebody else would arrange things would depend on what rod ends they were able to source, those ones are actually super expensive if you had to buy them (they came off a crashed helicopter), but functionally similar ones can be had for only a few dollars from a decent hardware store (or ebay/Amazon/whatever).