What am I doing wrong!!!

z71freak · February 15, 2004

Ok, im still in the process of searching for a 97-98 z71. So this afternoon I went to a ford dealer that has a 97 GMC SLE z71 (132,xxx miles they want 8995 for it). So as I walk up on it I see thats its a good look truck... As I peek inside of it I get dissapointed. It has that sutpid manual 4x4 gearbox on the floor, I hate that thing. The reason why I hate it is becuase EVERYTIME I start messing with the 4x4 selector IT GRINDS..keep in mind this has been with every single truck with that manual shifter that I have seen.

Either im doing something wrong or theres some sort of trick that I dont know about when using that manual shifter....Any help????

What do I need to know about that manual shifter.....or should I just forget it and get the push button 4 wheel drive???

Thanks

PeterbiltChrome · February 15, 2004

with the 4x4 lever you can't mess around and treat it nice... you gotta be the boss and throw that thing where you want it. 2h to 4h it shouldn't grind teeth unless you try to ease it in, so just jam it and wait for the light to tell you that it's engaged ( thats the only thing i don't like about the slow to lock hubs; may have to steer side to side while moving if it doesn't go in at first. ) going across the transfer case neutral is the same deal... don't stop anywhere in that motion and make sure you have the transmisson in Neutral. forcefully take it all the way forward into 4L and it helps to be rolling everso slowly. If you ever stop in neutral don't try to get it back into gear with the engine running because stuff could be moving and you'll clash gears hard. its best to shut it off and put it in gear after things have stopped moving. You'll also find that if you are in trans case Neutral and you put the transmission in gear you'll get gears moving quite fast and when you move the 4wd lever you'll just grind the teeth in the transfercase~

With both the push button and the stick, you have to be aware of the vulnerability of the wires on the transfercase. We took our 95 k2500 with the stick transfer case through cornstalks while farming and it managed to pull one of the plugs out near the transfer case and our front hubs wouldn't engage so the indicator light wouldn't show us in 4wd. Our 98 k2500 never had any problems with the 4wd push button but we made sure to secure the wires so that they couldn't be snagged by anything.

z71freak · February 17, 2004

cool, thanks for the help

GrandDragon · February 17, 2004

I have the exact truck you described, a 97 Z with the shifter on the floor. I would have to say that I like it better than push button. My dad has a 00 with push button and it sucks. He's had to have it serviced twice and sometimes it dosen't like to lock into 4high. I would rather have the stick anyday. I 've always been able to muscle that sucker into 4x4, and its never let me down either. But which ever one you do end up with make sure to watch the wires and to keep your fluids clean, I used to work at an oil change place and we would have folks come in telling us their 4x4 is messed up and when we checked the fluid it was black and thick. Thats a good way to kill a transfer case! Good luck looking for a Z! I love my 97, and 8995 is a good price.