Hey everyone,

This morning I went out to my 2003 FX4 LII and it was acting strange. I was attempting to reverse out of my parking spot and it was acting like the emergency brake was on even though it wasn't. I had to give it a lot of gas to overcome this resistance point and heard a pop as I broke through it. I then proceeded to drive it around the parking lot to make sure it was safe to take on the road. What I found was loud popping or slipping noises coming from somewhere underneath the truck as I was driving. I have since called a tow truck and am waiting for it to arrive so I can get it to a shop, but in the meantime I'd like to see if anyone can give me a ballpark idea of how much money this will be taking out of my pocket. Thanks for any help guys!

 

How many miles on? Hard to tell but could it be possible your drums are just frozen up. Happened before on the f150 we have.

 

96,000. Getting it towed currently to a mechanic, hopefully it is something minor like that.

The problem has happened before, with the car feeling like the e-brake was on, but it didn't require as much gas to break the tension point and never made any sounds driving around after the initial one.

 

Did you ever have the rear shoes done or have it checked after first time it did it?

 

Well here's the verdict:

Apparently the offroading I did back in college has caught up with me, and I fudged up the transfer case, resulting in needing an entire new one.

My mechanic has told me that Ford doesn't sell them anymore, but rather a company called Jasper. He quoted me a price of $1500 for it and another $300 for installation. He also has checked the differential fluids and says that they look like "chocolate milk". He wants to flush both differentials and that brings the total price to $2150. I feel comfortable with his diagnosis my only concern at this point is whether or not this is a reasonable price, so can anyone help me out with that?

 

Do you have an automatic or manual t-case? If you have an auto no prob. Go to Car-part.com and search for a transfer case for a 2003 ranger any distance from your zip code. There are tons of transfer cases in your area ranging from $115 to $700. Just get the used t-case and swap them out. It's a real easy swap. You don't have to drain your trans fluid or anything. (I would recommend putting new fluid in the used t-case) Or buy the t-case and have the mechanic install it for $300. If you have a manual shift transfer case, you'll probably have to have it rebuilt. Shouldn't be too difficult. There's a few threads here with pictures of guys breaking into a manual shift t-case to swap out output flanges.