I live on Prince Edward Island,,I have a 2003 fx 4 ,level 2. I really like the ranger. The manual 4 wheel shifter has become really stiff to shift. I plan to take the boot off and have a look. Any tips?
I am a 70 yr old female ,,so might not be physically strong enough to shift! It was never this difficult, however.

 

I think there is a boot under the boot so I would first have a look from underneath and maybe spray some lube on the linkage

The FX4 manual transfer case linkage is different than the older linkage I think, the shifter does come off on yours but not on the older linkage, so not sure if there are other differences

Yes, should be very easy to shift.
I doubt its because its low on fluid, when was the last time it was checked?

 

I had it serviced recently and asked that all fluids be checked. All was good. I hope they checked transfer ,,is it difficult to check? Is there a guard over it. I thought I read something about moving a guard .
I will have a look from under and try to get some lube in the linkage.
thanx for the help.

 

There is sometimes a vibration damper(looks like a hockey puck) over the fill plug on transfer case, just two bolts to take it off, sometimes 3
But not sure later models had those, its on the back of transfer case and fairly obvious
If its there then "they" probably never checked fluid

But not sure if that could cause the stiff shifter

The transfer case has an input and output shaft that are in line, on this shaft are the 4H and 4L "gears" there is a rail next to the main shift with a shift fork on it
When you move the shifter it is sliding this Fork along the shift rail, in 4H it locks the Main shaft to the chain drive of the front drive shaft, so you have 4WD
If you keep moving shifter is disengages the main input and output shafts from each other, Neutral, then if you keep moving the shift fork it engages a reduction gear for 4L and input shaft is now connected to output shaft thru this reduction gear, chain drive is still engaged for 4WD
You have to move shifter all the way to the other end of the rail to get back to 2WD

So shifter in the cab is just sliding the shift fork along a rail, so fluid level shouldn't really matter
The front drive chain inside is always spinning when vehicle is in motion, just not connected to main shaft unless 4H or 4L are used, so it splashes the fluid around quite a bit, so rail stays lubed

 

Got it fixed. Up on hoist with a can of spray lube! 5 min job. Thanx for all the help.
Great forum

 

Good work

Thanks for posting the FIX, it will help someone else down the road