Transfer switch actuator cleaning and tightening.

Sorry for the novel.

So last weekend I went to bishop/ mammoth area and got stuck for about a half hour on the trail because my transfer case wouldn’t shift from 4lo back into 4hi and was stuck in neutral. When I tried to put it in 4hi from 4lo it made a hard clunk as if it disengaged the 4lo but nothing 4hi and 4lo lights were non stop flashing. After disconnecting the wires to the transfer switch actuator and plugging back in nothing happened. I left the knob in 4hi and disconnected the battery and reconnected it after like a minute disconnected and bam I was back in 4hi with just the 4hi light being solid. Going back into 2wd took like 10 blinking 4hi lights to disengage back into 2wd. Longer than usual. I ended up staying out on the trails and enjoying the rest of the weekend and ended up needing 4lo again and it happened to me again. This time I wasn’t in a panic and just put it in 4hi waited for the hard clunk and then disconnected the battery for a minute again and sure enough it was back in 4hi. I decided to remove the transfer switch actuator cover (first pic circled in red) after I removed the cover I unscrewed the main piece that’s circled in red(second pic) by turning it clockwise and cleaning all the copper circled in blue with a paper towel(second pic). I also cleaned the little blocks that are attached to the wires that activate the switch. It wasn’t very dirty, but a little black residue came off and now the copper was shiny again. After that I screwed the piece back in all the way in(forgot to mention that it was sorta loose and not screwed in all the way when I took off the cover). It will still spin, but not go in any deeper. Cleaned the magnets in the black cover in the first pic with just a paper towel and put the cover back on and reconnected the battery and the cables to the switch. I then put it in 4hi then 4lo and then back to 4hi and the 2wd. Did this like 4 times and this time no more hard clunk at all, super smooth and quiet and the lights flashed about 2 to 3 times on each mode before turning solid and no issues at all. My truck is 2015 pro and I’ve hit up lots of trails in the 5 years I’ve owned it and it’s seen plenty of washboard roads that may have made the coil come loose(assuming). If your truck has an issue with going in and out of 4wheel modes and back out or have a hard clunk when doing so, you may want to try this. Can’t guarantee that it will fix it, but it did for mine. All you need is a philips screwdriver and 10mm socket to do this. The hardest part is screwing it back in and putting the contact blocks onto the copper of the coil. A tooth pick or tiny flathead screwdriver will help. Just screw it right before you crush the blocks and push them in and screw the coil in and your good to go. Zoom in and you can see the blocks and spring. Follow the orange and yellow wires to see the blocks.

 

Those blocks are called brushes.