Outer Limits 4x4 Board

ok so i can't get it into neutral or low in my MQ. it was working fine, then gradually got a little harder to get into and now it won't go in at all. i know that for most things short of driving up a building high-range is fine in a diesel Patrol ( ) but for those times i'd like to go a little sloooower i'm stuck. i have SFA idea of what to do/look at. any suggestions please people?

Ok. I'm no expert but immediately think of 2 things.

1) Check the oil in the transfer - it is clean or full of bits / black. indication of stuffed bits in transfer. When was the last time you checked / changed the transfer oil?

2) Check under the car that there's nothing jamming the operation of the lever. I once had a mechanic leave a screwdriver in the engine bay that found it's way down on top of the gear box. Took me ages to find out what the bloody rattle was....

Hope it helps.

You don't have a significant body lift or have the gearbox/transfer crossmember spaced down any. I know my experience these two things in a gq shorty, can cause difficult low range selection due to the stick contacting teh floor pan...

My GQ was a bitch to select low range & all it took was some high temp grease on the selector pin & notched shift locator bracket & she was as easy as J-Lo to engage . If it has gotten worse over time I would suggest you climb under & do this cheap option first, but by all means change your fluids if they need it.
Good luck

Thanks for replies guys

Nope no bodylift yet, no mods since it's started stuffing up. I will drain t-case oil and replace on Saturday, also will grease me stick at the same time.

Err, 'scuse my ignorance but what's the selector pin again? Shift lever?

just an afterthought.... Not sure if this is the same on the MQ, but the GQ has a bracket bolted to the side of the gear box to lock the transfer lever into it's selected position. This is held in by 2 bolts.

If one (the low range end) was to work loose allowing the bracket to move, it would become increasingly difficult to select low range. If the bolt fell out, I could easily see that anything less than high 4 (i.e neutral / low) would not be able to be selected.

I might be able to track down a pic if this doesn't make sense.

Pic Added. Remember this is a GQ box. I think the MQ transfer lever is on the otherside? (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong....).

Of course this is all based on assumption as I am not sure whether the MQ has this, or a similar bracket. I couldn't find any pics on the net to confirm.

p.s. This is the same bracket that Stew77 refered to and the selecter pin runs in the notches.