2002 ESOF 60 mph shift

cbuttre835

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I had a strange thing happen in my 2002.

Cruising home one night, about 60 mph on a flat level highway, I feel a little jerk like the engine missed.

About 2 seconds later, I get the 4x4 and Low Range lights on the dash, and the worst gear grinding I've ever heard.

Dang thing shifted to 4x4 Hi then 4x4 Lo by itself. Or, it tried.

When I got to about 30 MPH after kicking the trans into neutral (bad idea), it actually slammed into low range.

Not having a 10mm socket and 9/16 open end wrench (the tools to manually shift an ESOF truck), I limped the last few miles home.

The next morning, I read up on some troubleshooting stuff, and did some checking. The two relays that I think shift the actuator clockwise and CCW were both warm to the touch - like they were sucked in.

The motor on the actuator was burnt up.

I've got no desire to troubleshoot this crap.. the module behind the glove box looks fine, all wiring looks fine... I never liked the ESOF anyway.

Anybody got any starting suggestions on converting this to a manual? What I've read shows that there's not a neutral detent on this t-case (NP 273?) But there's no reason it can't be done.

If anyone has done this, I'd appreciate tips. I haven't found but a couple on ford-trucks and I can't search these forums easily here. Guess I need tapatalk.

I'd rather avoid swapping the t-case entirely, but considering the amount of grinding from 60-30 MPH... is it worth looking into?

Is the cab control module like my 2011 work truck, and prevents lo-hi and hi-lo range shifts unless trans is in neutral and speed less than 3 mph? Or does it blindly follow the command of the dash switch? I guess I'd trace that little dab of wiring...
 
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Petro

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It is the same as your 11. The truck should have to be almost stopped in neutral before it will shift in or out of 4x4 low.
 

lincolnlocker

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Holy chit balls. That is the first i have ever heard of this happening. Wow. That is crazy. Id pull the drain plug on the tcase and see just how bad it is. It could have been the hubs grinding too but if you want to go manual then swap the tcase.

live life full throttle
 

cbuttre835

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I have a buddy (not on the internet) who had the same thing happen to him. His truck is somewhat of a Frankenstein... it's an early 99 cab and bed on a 2002 rolling chassis, with a 2005 front end. He has electrical gremlins constantly in that truck.

"My" 2002 I inherited from my dad in late 2016, with 65,000 miles on it. The block heater plug had never been used; and the 4x4 engaged mayyyybe 5 times. The vacuum hubs have never worked since I had it.

I'll get the heart enough in a week or two to drain the T-case... ugh.
 

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