How Does An Electric 4x4 Switch Work?

[Grayson]

I know how the manual four wheel drive lever works... it manually goes the transfer case and engages the four wheel drive... but how does an electric 4x4 selecter work? The knob that you turn to put it in 4x4. If it is not manually putting it in 4x4, does something else do it when you turn an electric switch?

 

Thanks, I have always wanted to know this.

[brims]

There's a small motor that spins a shaft to engage the different gears. I understand it's a high torque motor to spin that shaft.

[seadoons]

Let me tell you from experience as I just replaced all of these parts! You push the button that communicates with the Transfer Case Control Module (TCCM - a computer). The TCCM tells the "encoder motor" that is attached to the transfer case to shift to 4WD. The encoder motor literally turns a shaft on the t-case and puts it in 4 hi. You could literally remove that motor and take a wrench and put the t-case in 4WD yourself. It is rather simple - but rather expensive to fix when things break.