New To Forum / Transfer Case / Transmission questions

Hello everyone,

I recently aqcuired a 1971 Bronco Sport with a nice running 302, she's a gem! But i can't figure out a couple things, i asked the old owner and he didn't know either, originally this bronco came with a 3 on the tree tranny, it now has an automatic tranny with a hurst ratchet shifter, i took her for a spin down the dirt road yesterday and it sounds like it's in 4 wheel drive all the time, i stopped next to a mud hole, put the bronco in "N" and tried to shift the transfer case to figure out the positions as there are no indicators of where 4h and 4l are, i have looked through the thread and found from dash back it should be 4l - 2l - n - 2h - 4h, i pulled the stick all the way straight back and it's a t handle with a button, i didnt' push the button, but it seemed like all the way back only the back two tires spun and then one forward from that all 4 spun, then i can find neutral and i can only find one forward of neutral wich is i'm guessing 4l, though not all 4 tires spun then, of course it could just have such a good ratio that the little mud hole i was in just for testing didn't require them to spin, i know 4 wheel drive works because i sunk it the first day i got it just for grins before i restore her and i pushed the stick forward and it walked right out of the gumbo, any help would be great and i apologize for the long starter thread!

Thanks ahead of time.

Welcome.
On T shift models the shift pattern is this starting closer to the dash 4l, N, 2H, 4H. There is no 2L per say although you can sometimes trick the t case into going into 2L but it probably wont hold in gear as theres no detent for it.
Usually you have to push the button on the T shift models as theres a pawl plate that prevents the shifter from moving all the way into gear. Also the pawl plate could be slightly out of adjustment and that can also prevent being able to go into some gears.

Also someone probably removed the t case shift indicator housing. They tend to break easily so it might have gotten broken and removed.

Thanks for the quick reply, i'm going to post some pictures of everything this evening since i'm gonna be working on it a little, i just sold my 78 IH scout with the same transfer case, but i know the scouts are different, on the T handle it looks like there is a button on both sides, is that normal or did someone swap that out to? I think if i work on her long enough i'll figure it out, but i am going to put the twin sticks in there soon enough, i asked my wife for a 2500 dollar allowance for starters to play with it and she said no, so i'll have to do a little at a time, but i think i'm going to keep this one. Thanks again.

Thats the way the handle was from the factory but only the driverside button should push in.
I rather like the T shift types over any other type as the shifter pawl will help hold the t case in gear. A lot of twin stick conversions tend to pop out of gear. #1 fix is a bungee cord.
In all my years of offroading I really cant think of a time where I though having only front wheel drive would help. But thats just me.
Well at least you tried with the wife now you get to nickle and dime it. Maybe tell her stuff is on sale women like sales.

well the way i got it was i convinced her a 1971 Bronco would get better gas mileage than my 3/4 ton diesel!! Thanks again, i'm gonna hang around this site for a while so i can build it right.

Welcome to the site. I can't believe your wife fell for the better gas mileage trick. That's a good one. I know there is no way my Bronco gets better mileage than my powerstroke.

Justafordguy said:

Welcome to the site. I can't believe your wife fell for the better gas mileage trick. That's a good one. I know there is no way my Bronco gets better mileage than my powerstroke.

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Yeah, it doesn't, my duramax gets close to 20 and the bronco's not even close, but it's fun convincing her otherwise, the worst part is that's how i got her to let me have the dmax in the first place was it got better mileage than my 6.0!!

Thanks guys for the warm welcome