Hello, I am new to the forum although I have looked here several times as a non member for information.

As far as your 4x4 actuator, I would remove the actuator and remove the snap rings that hold the shift fork on the shaft. You can then slide the fork to the other side of the actuator and reinstall the snap ring. This will permanently lock the axle in 4x4. It will not lock the truck into 4x4 as the transfer case will not drive the front drive shaft. Trucks made after 2002 do not have the front disconnect and operate this way anyway. The only real drawback is your 4x4 light will no longer work. The good thing is you can always put it back to stock with little to no trouble.

The the 4x4 vacuum actuator on is a known trouble spot. Unfortunately you dont often know that it is a problem till you are stuck and trying to figure out why your truck will not go into 4wheel drive.

As far as repairing it back to stock, I would climb down by the transfercase and check for vacuum at the plug. If you have have vacuum there, shift into 4x4 and see if you get vacuum down at the actuator. If you do not have vacuum there or it doesnt switch ports when you move the shift actuator, I would say you have a bad vacuum switch on the transfer case. If you do get vacuum there and it switches when moving from 2wheel to 4wheel, and it still does not move the shifter, then you most likely have a bad actuator. Also make sure check the bulb. You can jump the plug on the actuator to see if the bulb lights up.

I hope this helps.

 

Thanks for your reply. Just not sure if that's the route I want to take either. Great idea though. I'm really liking the idea of the posi lock since I found it. I know one thing for sure! I need 4wd back driving this dually in this crap weather lately is a real adventure. I was seriously thinking of taking my Smarty and setting my truck to half power. Yeah I know!!!