I have a 1997 that I bought from a previous owner who had some pretty extensive work done on the front after an accident. I've had the truck for 6 years now and it's held up pretty good.

I was looking for oil leaks one day and came across what looks like a loose harness (1 circled in the picture) and a an exposed wire (2 in the picture) that looks as if it was completely pulled out of it's socket (see first picture). The part of the harness that looks like it got pulled out looks like it leads to plugging into the transmission (not for sure on this though).

As I said the truck has been running fine so I'm just wondering if anyone knows what this is or what it's purpose is and if I should splice in a new one. The location of this is on the driver's side of the vehicle and I took the pictures from the bottom side next to the transmission. The second photo is a view from the hood (to the right of the engine (driver's side) zoomed in).

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Does it use the front axle when in 4x4?

As I recall the connector right in that area is for the front axle 4x actuation.

The tranny section of the harness runs back all the way to the tranny.

Looks like the ADD position switch harness.

Often missed and damaged if the engine is pulled (or possibly front diff removed).

That is what turns on the 4WD light on the gauge cluster when shifted into 4WD (after front diff is engaged).

-Charlie