Electronic transfer case no more, convert it to manual

Last fall my electronic transfer case decided not to allow me into 4-Low.  Normally this isn’t an issue, but I was needing to pull some trees around after felling them and didn’t want to burn out my clutch.  I’ve always hated the electronically activated portion of my 4wd system, so I decided to get rid of it.  I installed The Shiftster.  A neat little device that takes the place of the electronic shift motor.  It is designed and built right here in the USA which is great and only cost me $60, a new shift motor was 2-3 times that.  I then disconnected the 4wd controller and made an access panel in my floor so I didn’t have to crawl under the truck during inclimate weather to put the truck into 4wd.

This is a picture of the Shiftster the day I installed it. You can see the make-shift access panel I had above it.

My first attempt at an access panel was quick and dirty.  I cut the hole in my floor, then used that piece as the “door”.  I siliconed on some rubber fuel line around the hole to “seal” it while closed – it leaked horribly.  It stayed closed via 2 eyelets that 2 rods slid into and then a homemade latch using a hitchpin.  I had to physically remove the panel to gain access and put the truck into 4wd.  It took just under a minute to open the panel, take it in or out of 4wd and remount the panel.  Not bad, but pretty bothersome.

Now that better weather is here and I can weld outside again, I’ve fabricated a better solution.

This is a picture of the new access panel closed.

Using 1/8″ thick 1×1 angle iron I made a “frame” for the door, this gave me a flat surface to work with. The hole measures 4″ x 4″. I used a scrap piece of Lexan (polycarbonate sheet) that I picked up from Portland Glass in Farmington for the new door. Then I used a hinge to attatch it, vinyl door seal to seal it and two harddrive magnets to pull the door down and give a positive seal. Works great and now I can check what mode the truck is in just by looking down (dash lights don’t work for 4wd since I disconnected the controller).

This is the new access panel opened up.