Rear not rolling freely when trying to tow

Just picked up a new to me 96 Standard cab with manual tranny and 4x4 with rear locker. The clutch is completely gone so I ended up grabbing a tow dolly to bring it home. Got it up on the dolly and put the transmission and transfer case in neutral to straighten out the truck and trailer before disconnecting the rear drive shaft. The rear tires were just dragging. I tried shifting the transfer case into every position and the only one that would let the rear axle roll freely is 4low. It doesn't appear to be the brakes as it rolls completely free with the drive shaft disconnected. I'm new to these trucks so maybe that's normal but it just didn't seem right to me. Anyone have any insight on this matter?

 

Welcome to the Forum!

Without being up close and in person who knows.

Temperature and how long the truck has been sitting all play in.

I have had gear boxes with so much water they froze.

You really Hope it is just the clutch !!

I hope the price was cheap!!

 

The story I got is that the truck had been sitting for a few years by the owner before the guy I got it from. He was driving it across the state to deliver it to him and the clutch started having issues (pedal not returning without pulling it up manually, etc.) and eventually got to the point where the engine just wasn't transferring power to the transmission anymore. It starts and runs but just no go in gear. No noises to be heard form the transmission while trying to go either. the transmission shifts smoothly between gears and so does the transfer case. I can audibly hear it click into each gear. It just acts like the clutch is disengaged all the time. Previous owner replaced the master and slave cylinder and bled the system. The slave cylinder is depressing the clutch fork and the clutch pedal has good feeling to it.

 

Good luck I will be interested in how this plays out.

 

Your clutch pedal return spring could be the problem. It's a goofy coil spring setup. The plastic bushings on it wear out, and then the slot in the clutch pedal that it rides in wears deeper. Most people just pop the coil spring out and replace it with a brake pedal return spring. It’s a linear spring. Here is a thread about it https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/clutch-pedal-truffle-shuffle.499079/

 

You say the rear turns free with the drive shaft out, right? Have you tried putting the shaft back in and seeing if the rear won't turn again?

At least that would get you confirmed the problem is up front.

Miles on it? Original clutch (if you know)

 

It did turn freely with the drive shaft attached but only when the transfer case was in 4 low. It's got 177k on the odo. Not sure on the clutch but I'm pretty sure it's toasted. I can start the truck and put it in gear, but when I let off the clutch the truck doesn't move at all and it also doesn't stall out. Seems like the clutch disc is no longer making contact with the flywheel.

 

Something here is off. Are you sure you know where N and 4LO are on the transfer case?

 

Looking at the shift knob it looks fairly self explanatory. Shift from 2H to 4H, push the shifter to the right and up for N and all the way up for 4LO. I can feel it physically move into each position.

 

That would be it. So something is off. It absolutely should roll free with the tcase in N and parking brake off.

 

Finally figured out the issue (I think). Doing some reading about our transfer cases and found that when you put them in "neutral" it disconnects any input from the transmission, but the front and rear outputs are still locked together. So with my front tires strapped to a tow dolly and therefore unable to turn, it also kept the rear axle from turning as well.

 

Did it sit for a while? The rear shoes may have froze to the drum

 

It rolls fine with all four on the ground, just didn't know about the transfer case operation. I disconnected the rear drive line while I towed it anyway