Here's the case: Bought this truck several months ago, '93 XLT 4x4 with the 351 motor. Just under 125k on the clock. Having something with 4wd was a major consideration in buying the truck to replace my older 2wd one-leg truck.

Turns out the p/o had only used the 4wd ONCE in his 5 years of owning it, and only 4hi for a couple minutes. That one use was like 3 years ago. The shifter was seized into 2hi when I bought it. After lots of PB spraying and "jostling" the handle around, I got it loose enough to slip into 4hi without much effort, which works just fine. The auto hubs work fine, which from what I've read was a bit of a surprise. Thing is, the handle doesn't "push down" for N or 4lo. Not even a teeny bit. I took the rubber dust boot off the shifter's bushing, and a whole ton of sand poured out. You can see the inside shaft is pretty rusted to the outer "case" that goes around it.

I know there is very little chance of getting the bushing loose again. Not that I use 4lo often, but there have been a couple times the low range came in handy and I'd like it to be available. I noticed the actual shift arm on the t-case is "linear" as in it just rotates the pin toward the rear of the vehicle, so I gathered the "push down" action is just to prevent the shifter from slipping into N or something. On the shifter bushing, there is a little pin that is in a plate with what looks like two "L" shapes cut out. The push down action slips the pin around the ridges and allows the handle to go farther back.

Question is: Could I just saw off that little pin to "bypass" having to push the handle down? Or would that cause it to slip out of the selected gear?

 

I don't think it'd be a good idea to cut the pin. Like you think, you're likely to slip out of 4L.

First I'd try vaccuming as much of the sand and grit out that I could. Bend a wire coat hanger and poke(gently) around in there to break up more gunk. Then liberally spray some more penetrating fluid on it.

It'd probably be a good idea to replace all fluids in the diffs and t-case, too.

 

I did try vacuuming, when the little dirt devil wasn't cutting it the Shop Vac came out, which got some of the crap out, but the screws are pretty recessed(1" or so into the plastic boot holder) so it's difficult to get crap out. It's not so much the screws are stuck(Though I have used PB liberally on them), it's that the phillips head is full of crap and I can't get a good amount of torque to the screw without the driver slipping out.

The boot was already worked loose in one spot, so I gently pried out a little more, then with a utility knife cut a small slit on the bottom boot, just enough to expose the top of the bushing and spray it with PB. I'll try this a few times to see if that helps, I was using a rubber mallet to gently pound the handle downward hoping to break things loose, but no luck yet.

 

It's not very difficult to remove the shifter from the trans & work on it. Pull the floor bezel up & unbolt the shift lever. Then crawl under, pop the link bar off the t-case, & remove the big torx/hex bolts from the shifter plate, and it'll drop right out. Clamp the tube gently in a vise (NOT the plate), bolt the shifter back on, and work it free with LOTS of penetrating oil.

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If you keep pulling on it with it installed, you'll probably break the tube off the plate like many other people have, and those shifters are getting HARD to find. The one in the photo is probably already sold.