4x4 not engaging needs some help

Im usually pretty good at finding this stuff on my own but i cant find ANYTHING about opening the transfercase 4x4 actuator on my 96 with the push button 4x4. It was sticking and sometimes required a few taps to get in but now its a massive pain in the ass to engage.

I was gona take off the drivers side cover where a few wires and vacuum line runs in but didnt know if id have springs and gears going everywhere and i assume its got a gasket there too.

 

Bump

 

Well it looks like my problem might not be the actuator. It looks like im getting no add engagement either. I can bypass the vacuum solenoid and it does engage the add but still no transfer case engagement. The actuator makes no noise at all. When pressing the 4x4 button i can hear a relay click and the voltage drops about 0.2 from a draw (this is with HO alt too) i checked the fuse and its good.

Any ideas? Maybe the 4x4 computer itself?

 

I had a similar issue with my 4x4 awhile back. The vacuum hose came off that black thing that hangs off the back of the transfer case and water had gotten in there. I pulled the whole thing off and split the black thing. Inside was water pooled up and yellow grease. Dried it, wiped out all the grease, then smeared dielectric grease all over everything. Closed oh back up and called it good. Reinstall was a bit tricky but I figured it out. Did you go through any water recently?

 

I checked with the multimeter and there is no power going to the add vacuum relay at all. I pulled the little 4x4 computer out and didnt see any obvious signs of damage on the board and the relay clicks when the 4x4 button is pushed. Fuse is good.

 

Bump. There a how to on troubleshooting the 4x4 computer? Anyway to manually engage the transfer case actuator or bypass the computer? I really need my 4x4 working the next few days.


This is the one in my truck