please help 96 blazer 4x4 problem

[hawkss03]

i have a 96 blazer has the 4 wheel drive shifter on the floor and when engauge 4hi there is a little picture of suspention and the front wheels are supposed to light up on it well thier not i checked the truck in air and front shaft is spinnig but front wheels dont engauge so i checked vacume actuator under battery tray and its working fine then i checked vacume switch on the transfer case and the plunger was stuck so i replaced that, all vac lines are good but i still have no 4 wheel drive can anyone please help me

[hawkss03]

help

[83T/A98Blazer]

I suspected the switch was stuck, but unfortunately not the cause of this problem. If you are getting vacuum to the actuator, and it is working (sounds like it is), the problem has to be either with the cable or in the differential. I wonder if the cable just became disconnected where it attaches to the dif? If you pull on the end of the cable at the vacuum actuator, can you get it to move, and do you hear the shift fork move? You might want to have the front wheels up off the ground so you can move the wheels to see if it helps it to engage. If you can move the cable and you don't hear anything from the dif, it may have come off, it's held on by a wire clip. To get to that you have to remove the three bolts holding the housing where the cable attaches. When you slide the housing back an inch or so, you should be able to see where the cable attaches. This is about as far as I've gotten into one of those dif's, wish I knew more.

[hawkss03]

ok thanks ill check that out would that also be the reason the 4x4 light doesnt light up?

[hawkss03]

also this is truck is in mint condition my parents gave it to me they bought it new and maintained it very well and has 81,000 on it so ya know what condition its in , thanks

[83T/A98Blazer]

Originally Posted by hawkss03

ok thanks ill check that out would that also be the reason the 4x4 light doesnt light up?

That should indicate that the shift fork is not moving, so it's broken, seized, disconnected, or the cable is seized. The 4 wheel indicator switch is attached to the housing I talked about earlier.

[hawkss03]

ok thanks man , i'm goin out to check to it out

[hawkss03]

well i disconnected the cable used a v-grip to move cable and it moved maybe 1/8"-1/4" so im not sure how far it should move i removed the 3 bolts and the cable is connected so im wonderin if the fork is broke or jamed maybe? the vacume switch was jammed in so the accuator was always engaged could that mess up that fork?

[83T/A98Blazer]

Did you disconnect the cable to see if that is seized? It should move more than that, and you'd be able to hear movement in the dif. I'm not sure if you can see or fix anything with just that housing off, you may have to pull the axle tube on that side. I'm sorry to say, that is as far as I've ever gotten into one of those dif's. I wish I had more first hand knowledge of them, but all the info I have to go further is from a Haynes manual.

[hawkss03]

i disconnected it from the actuator and thats how i was moving it and when i was it moved 1/4 back and forth i could here movement in the front axl but i don't think it's engauging but it suonds like its hooked up i am a auto tech just never had the pleasure to work on this sort of problem so looks like i might have to look a little farther into it thanks