Grinding noise when shifting into gear

So here is my dilemma. Daughter was driving the truck and the u-joints blew. Truck was towed to a yard and I went to recover. Get to the truck and the driveshaft from the carrier bearing back is missing. I stupidly thought I could put it in 4wd and get it on the trailer. It engaged and drove but when I started up the trailer ramp it slipped and then started a grinding noise that sounds kinda like the parking pawl. I winched the truck up and got it home. Got a new driveshaft and installed. The truck will shift out of park but when it is in any other gear besides neutral or park I get the spinning grinding noise. Anybody have any ideas?

 

Sounds like either the transfer case grenaded or it's stuck between neutral and 4H or 4L.

Are either of the driveshafts turning?

Do you have the J-Shift transfer case or electronic shift?

 

It's the electronic shift. I don't know if the shafts are turning, I have to have someone put in gear for me while I check.

 

If they aren't then it sounds similar to this persons issue, it's on a Tacoma but it's pretty much the same transfer case.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/transfer-case-stuck-in-neutral.783773/

 

Thanks for the link! Gonna be super cold here tomorrow so I dont know if I'll be able to do much work on it, but it seems like it is a t-case issue since I was in 4wd without a rear driveshaft when it happened. I can hear what sounds like the t-case switching between 4L and 2H/4H but I'm not sure if it's fully changing. Something is definitely not right and sounds like a spline spinning without engaging. That post mentioned something about a plastic gear being out of time, do you have info or know anything on that?

 

There's no way for it to get out of time unless the actuator is disassembled, but yes if it is disassembled it can be timed improperly and will not function correctly.

I'm not sure how close the 1st gen Tundra electronic 4wd system is to the 2nd gen Tacoma but it looks to be pretty similar.
I have a writeup on the electronic side of the 2nd gen Tacoma system and actuators but I haven't gotten into the mechanical side much.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/4wd-system-operation-help-thread.742420/

 

I appreciate your insight brother. I will update when I get a bit more testing done and figure out what the problem is.