I need to move my truck about 10 feet forward to get in a better position to remove the motor. I have the wiring harness completely disconnected. I was hoping there was an easier way than disconnecting the rear driveshaft. Seems like the shifter interlock needs some sort of power. (kinda stupid if that's true). I did exactly what the owners manual said for a 4wd. Removed the cover and tried to pull back the little white piece in there but it barely moves and after fudging with it for 10 minutes, I gave up. T case in neutral sounded promising but then I read that doing that puts means you have to go into 4wd which I don't think my truck can do in it's present state. ANYWAYS....

Just didn't want to disconnect the rear DS. One more freakin' thing I have to reconnect.

You should be able to unbolt the shifter linkage underneath the vehicle and put it in neutral with the lever on the transmission, be extremely careful and make sure the vehicle won’t roll while you’re under there

Ah yes, the spot right where the large electrical connection is, right? So just put an adjustable on there and move it I guess. Does is have markings on it for the positions?

Floor jack under the pumpkin if it's on level ground?

Its very easy to pull out the driveshaft, or just disconnect the rear bolts and rope it up. Spray bolts 1st with penetrating oil. Jack rear drive wheel when you need to spin shaft. If you're having trouble getting enough leverage with a box wrench, you could put a hollow pipe on the wrench handle and you'll get a lot of leverage.

On the other side, you will see a lever with linkage connected to the end that goes to the shifter in the cab, there are no markings so you will have to count the clicks as you move it to make sure it’s in the right position

You should have no trouble just slipping the transfer into neutral. Can't see any issue with this, yours is the j-shift mechanical transfer isn't it? You don't need the front diff doing anything and the engine does not need to be running. If it won't go you likely have the vehicle weight on it, just rock the truck gently back and forth.

Any tine I've tried that trick on an auto (corolla, matrix) it was a simple push down on the tab and move the gear shift. Never had to mess around with one for more than the 2 seconds it takes to push a key on the tab...

Why are you having so much trouble with the shift interlock override? Pop the cover and move the little arm in there with your key...

It does work, really. I know you already tried - try again before removing things unnecessarily from the truck. It may move a bit differently than you expect.

-Charlie

I assume you are you talking about the shifter override? I pressed it down with a screwdriver pretty hard. Thought I was going to break it.

It takes almost no force. Push the tab back towards you (well under 1 lb of force), then push the shifter button and move the shifter.

-Charlie

Never had reason to try this before, Just out of curiosity I just went and tried popped the cover off and pushed the little white tab down and towards the shift lever with my finger nail and it released if I just tried pushing straight down it did not release.

Ohwell phattyduck beat me to it.

Tried it again, no go. Not sure why I'm having so many problems. Trust me , I'm not a noob when it comes to anything technical. Maybe mine is broke. Doesn't look like it's been fooled with. I have the entire wiring harness out as I said. I will try it again when I get things back together again. Luckily, I was able to put the transfer case in neutral which did the trick.

This is an easy way to do it, make sure you have a couple people on hand to push/spot

Sound like someone before you had it apart and didn't put it together right. It should be super simple.

Agree on disconnecting the linkage. It's only one 12 or 10 mm bolt and it's off. Then push the rod two clicks (P to R to N) and you're good to go. No markings so if it doesn't roll try another position. You can't hurt it as long as the engine is off, JUST BE SURE TO PUT IT BACK TO P BEFORE STARTING!

Get some wheel dollies.