4wd Help

Can anyone help me with a 4wd question? My son’s girlfriend has a 98 4Runner limited. She just bought it at the end of April. We thought the 4wd worked because when you click the button on the 4wd shifter, the torque is definitely there. The lights do not come on on the dash and we found out that the front driveshaft does not engage. We changed the actuator on the front diff and the relay on the actuator on the transfer case. The truck also has the ABS light on. I’ve read online that some vehicles will shut down certain systems like the 4wd if there is an ABS issue. Does anyone know if that is a possibility on the Toyota? We’ve been told the only other thing it could be is actuator on the transfer case. That’s a big job, so we are trying to find a transfer case that willwork. My son contacted someone last week and a buddy of his has the exact 4Runner they are parting out, but since he has asked when they could pull it, the discussion has gone silent on their end. This sucks because this is the girl’s first vehicle and shehas had to put quite a bit of money into it.

 

I'm assuming you have checked the 4wd fuse?

Have you tried tapping on the shift motor lightly while someone operates the switch to see if it moves?

I'm not super familiar with the 1st gen 4wd system but it looks relatively simple.

 

I tried tapping on the actuator on the transfer case with a dead blow hammer. I was told by someone that it could break anything loose in the actuator and make it start working, lock the transfer case into 4wd permanently, shift the transfer case to neutral and not go back to 2wd, or do nothing. I’m scared to hit it with a regular hammer and cause the truck to be inoperable. What are your thoughts?

 

I'm more familiar with the 2nd gen Tacoma 4wd system but the 1st gen Transfer Case Actuator looks to operate in the same way.
Have you checked if the motor will move if you power it up?

Pretty sure it can be removed without dissembling the transfer case but the gear with the limit switch has to be timed properly.