I am new to the joys of suzukis.   I recently bought a 1997 sidekick and the transfer shifter is stuck solidly in 2 wheel drive.   I suspect that the previous owner never used the 4 wheel drive option.   Has anyone else had this problem?  What did you do?  I am tempted to take the knob off and hit it with a hammer (gently of course) to try and free the selestor...but am a little worried that this might be the last thing I do before stripping the transfer case...  What do you think?  (I used to drive a landrover defender 110, but that was in the UK where they are cheaper and diesel... not a great buy here, so I changed to suzuki)

Cheers!

I've just read about the shifter sheet.....Landrovers dont have these thingies....I feel a bit silly, because that sounds like a good place to start.... what do you think?

Take apart the shifter cover, and get the
boot off (4 screws) now you can see the
top of the shifter lever, remove the rubber
boot depress the top of the shifter lever retainer,
and turn, use some gloves so you don't slice the
ends of your fingers.

The retainer is a bayonett style, like a auto
light bulb, push and twist to release, there is
a spring under there, not too stiff.

now remove the lever, retainer and all, you
should now be able to see if the innards are
rusted up.

Get this done and return and report your findings

Wild

Mine was pretty hard when I first got it from lack of use or the shifter may have been removed and reinstalled incorrectly (see below). Take the shifter out and see if it looks dry/nasty around the shift rods. I used some high quality grease to smooth things out a bit. Shifts like butter now.

Ideally the shifter should be removed when the transfercase is in neutral but you don't have that option. The rods can be moved to the center with a screwdriver. The rods should line up like this when you reinstall the shifter.

[ ]

First time I reinstalled the shifter the TC was stuck in 4lo, took the shifter out, lined up the notches in the middle and went, DUH!

Right you are, thanks wild.

I will do ASAP (Probably next two weeks...)

What happens if it is all rusted up?  (Other than de-rusting of course)

the shifter may have been removed and reinstalled incorrectly

Excellent point

Clean the best you can, pour something to wash
down the rusty crap, and change the T-case oil,
run it in 4WD to warm the oil and change again

Excellent point

You beat me to most of it...I type slow then proofread to avoid looking like an idiot but sometimes I still do.

 :)Thanks chaps,  so it lokks like a few ounces of elbow grease are all that is required.   I hope that I don't find anything more worrying, but then, why own a 4by4 if you can't use it, eh?

Cheers, and I'm glad that I found this site!!

Jim

Another problem that you wouldnt have if you had a 2wd tracker  ,.

Trade me?

 

Problem solved....thanks for all the excellent advice.

There are some points worth mentioning for anyone else with a sport though.

Access to the top of the transfer case is more difficult than suggested for a samurai/older kick.  The transmission and transfercase levers are contained beneath a tunnel cover, held in by three screws and two trim fasteners.  The screws are easy, but to remove the trim fasteners, the middle (round) pin must be depressed, panel wiggled and then the entire fastener removed.

These fasteners are at the back of the transmission cover, and are easily accessed by bringing the seats forewards and working in the gap between the seat back and base.

Once removed, take the middle pin right out of the fastener and save both bits for later on.

The cover is wired to a mystery switch (on my sport, the lettering is illegible) and removing the tunnel should be one with care to aviod pulling the wires.  The tunnel should end up inverted in the passenger footwell.

Now the metal support for the rear of the case can be removed by unscrewing the rearmost pair of screws holding the transfer shift gaiter in place.   Wiggle the metal support out from the carpet and save.

Then remove the other six screws, remove the metal gaiter "squasher" and then remove the gaiter.

From here it's as described in the thread, only there's no shifter sheet on an sport.

Once the problem has been solved (really very eay in my case, the selector was greased and reinserted into the gate with the gate out of neutral, so it was stuck solidly) you can rebuild the whole lot.

Don't forget the[]

And remember to put the shifter lever back in with the hole for the knob pointing backwards (unlike me....duh...had to start again)

This little trick saved me an estimated $900 at a transmission repairer, and because the Tcase was "broken" I was able to but my 93,000mile kick sport 1997 for $2250.

SO thanks guys!!

Great advice