I have 97 F-150 4x4 extendend cab. My 4x4 will engage but it will not disengage. I have to manually do it. Does anyone have any suggestions.

 

Check for a vacuum leak between the solenoid on the firewall and the vacuum motor on the diff. I believe the unlock solenoid is the one towards the driver. The solenoids are on the passenger side of the firewall, near the hood hinge. There are 2 of them, one for lock up of the diff and one for unlock. To check the solenoid, you could reverse the vacuum lines to see if putting vacuum to the lock up solenoid will take it out of 4x4. If so, it is the solenoid.

 

That is some excellent advice from the kingfish.

Double check your vaccum lines after checking the solenoid.

 

It's an electric shift. I have been calling around and they said it might be my shift motor. What do ya'll think.

 

How are you manually taking it out of 4h? Are you doing it at the transfer case or the front diff? If at the front diff, you need to take a look at at what I mentioned earlier and the diff vacuum motor. I would be very surprised if the shift motor worked to put it into 4h, but wouldn't take it out.

 

At the transfer case. I take that cover off right beside the shift motor and turn that triangle shaft back to 2h. I couldn't find the vacuum. the only thing that is over there by my hinge on the firewall is my a/c accumulator and an electrical box. I had to turn the **** a few times before it actually went into 4h.

 

Last time i was offroading mine got stuck in 4lo. I tried putting it in neutral an then changing it an still didnt work until i drove backwards a good 10-20 feet. Not sure if that will help your or not, but it worked for me.

 

Shouldn't have to back up.
As you are doing this at the transfer case, then it should have nothing to do with the vacuum and front diff. I believe this is all controlled by the switch and GEM module. Maybe Quintin or someone else can give us a better idea. Usually it seems if there is a problem it is the front diff that acts up.