Hello everybody! Good day to you! Welcome back! Super glad you guys are here I know I'm glad to be here. This is a 2013 Toyota FJ Cruiser It is here because four-wheel drive does not engage the Uh. the rear low range engages. the front drive shaft engages at the transfer case which is manually operated but the front differential does not actuate.

It has an electronic actuator Locker mechanism right here. I've got power going to this actuator locker, but I have no motor actuation and neither one of the front axles engage at the differential. There's a shift fork in here. When this actuator is actuated, that fork moves, it runs over a collar, it locks the diff in and then we have a full-time four-wheel drive.

The issue is is that actuator is not actuating uh. there was another video on this where I started the diagnosis and uh I determined that I need to get a hold of that actuator. The issue is is it has this uh six inch Fabtech lift kit on it and the actuator has to come out of the axle from the front right here. But the problem is I've got this big honking piece of armor in the way and I'm not able to uh to remove that.

So what I'm going to do is uh, try to unbolt this differential and swing the thing back some and then perhaps I can get to the bolts to remove this actuator assembly. I may have to remove uh the lift kit just to get that thing out. It is what it is, but it's got to get done and our guy wants it fixed. We want four wheel drive back, so uh, let's get to it.

Start pulling this thing down opening Z hoods. All righty. we're down below. I'm over here on the passenger side, that's driver's side.

Let's start pulling this thing apart. We've got a skid plate here I'm going to take this off that's removable and then uh, I'll see what I can get to as far as Fasteners and I'll try to get this actuator uh or this axle loose. My plan is to attempt to, uh, move the axle before moving the lift kit because if I move the lift kit then I have to have it realigned because there's adjuster, cams and whatnot and I'd rather not move the lift kit. What? I'd rather do and what? I'm gonna have to do or often two different things on flicks.

lots of hardware. Okay, one more over here. Continuing loud noises. There we go.

We're kind of getting somewhere okie doke so there's two more bolts right up here hanging onto this. Let's pull these guys out. Exceptionally loud noises. There we go.

Okie doke. So we've got one passenger here for one of the mounts and then looks like two more mounts on uh on this unit. Yeah, that's not what I wanted to see. Okay, let's go for uh, some of those bigger mounts.

Next got the uh angular impact, continuing loud noises, turn come out nut and got a washer in there. oh my pool's stuck. What have I done there? Oh this is gonna be fun to put back together. It says I come out lift kit piece pry bar now I'm not a lift kit technician so I'm gonna have a hard time.

Uh, remember where all this stuff goes So you guys need to help me out here. Pay attention. So I put it all in the right spot. you let me know if I get it wrong? Okay I think I'll be all right come out arm thing um becoming disgruntled.

bigger pry bar we're almost at that point. Maybe I can just leave this here. let's pry it down. Yeah, there we go.

I'll just put it down here. Okay, well I can kind of see more of the actuator. Let's get the other bolts out. the counterpart for this one which is on that side over there.

Moving on over. Yep, it's here. Loud noises continues. let's see if I can't even get a tool on that.

Okay, okay, turned we'll have to get it with an open end there. snippage I know I couldn't get this stuff apart. These uh, little ears are pulled in from the bolt being tight. That's what's going on.

Wow. Foreign. Okay, so there's three more bolts on this bracket. Let's get those guys off the diff icult squeeze.

Come on killing me. I Guess this thing needed all of the torque. Okay, all right, looks like we're just gonna do this the manual way. Smell the grease here? There we go.

Oh that one's tight. I'm like hanging off this ratchet. hmm. extension on time.

There we go. try again. Come loose Please there. Woohoo! Come here.

You can't work under these conditions. Killing my battery, some donkeyless? There we go. All right. Okay, now is this thing gonna come out of here? Maybe hey, the Dip's loose.

Check this out. It moves now. I just need to move it like six inches farther back so I can get that at that actuator thing out this thing. Hmm.

so now what we need to do is support this thing a little bit. So I'm going to come in here with a jack stand and just get that thing set up under this differential that way in case it feels like falling out. it doesn't smash me. I Don't think it's gonna fall out, but uh, you never know.

So we'll get that thing right under there. and I think if I can keep this jack stand hanging onto the weight I'll be able to pick this thing up and then kind of pry bar it back or ratchet strap it back. and maybe if I can get the angle proper right here. I can reach in behind this or in front of this and remove that actuator.

That's that's kind of the plan. I Don't know how well it's going to work, but That's the best I got so far. so let's get back to it. Okay, so moment of truth: if I lift this thing up enough, can I get this uh stud to come out of this mount bracket thing or do I need to take that off actually I think I just need to remove this as well.

hang on a couple more bolts. looks like there's a 17 and then another one. uh, from the top over there. Okay, there is one bolt gravity and then the one up top.

I guess I've got to get that manually with like a wrench. We'll go in with the spline. Drive ratcheting wrenches. That should be sufficient leverage to break the sky loose.

Let's see here. Yeah, come on now. Oh loose. Beautiful.

Got it? Cool. Okay, so this thing should be completely unvaulted and it's just kind of hanging out so the CV axles are holding it, the drive shaft's kind of holding it, and of course the jack stand right here is holding it. so let's give this thing some up action. Okay, differentials moving up.

What I'm going to do is pick it up as high as I can pull this little Mount out just to give me more space and then we'll try to walk the unit uh, backwards with a pry bar. So I might have to pull that drive shaft out I'm hoping that it articulates enough where I don't have to actually remove it, but we'll see. Okay, so the axle is free. let's let her down some.

So what I'm going to do is I'll pick up on the drive shaft and I'm going to kind of pull this way on the jack and maybe I can swing this thing rearward enough. Yeah, yeah, it moves. Okay, Tell you what. I think I'll get a ratchet strap to hold this thing back and I'm going to reach around the front of this actuator and try to unbolt it.

I Think this is gonna work. Okay, here's what I'll do. We're gonna take this ratchet strap and connect it probably to one of these bolt holes here and just use this to, uh, pull this unit back and hold it in position. It's kind of my plan about there that'll do it and I'll just ratchet it back here to uh, like this uh, cross member thing.

that should be perfect. Oh, it's working. Yeah, it's It's putting a good angle on that. I think I can squeeze that actuator out.

Oh, look a clue. Here's the vent hose for that actuator. That means that, uh, there might be some water in there. So uh.

anyway, no speculating. We've got some 12 millimeter Fasteners there's two here and two up the top. Let me go in there and uh, get those guys loose and we'll try to get this unit removed. All right.

coming in with some twelves now this thing is gonna spill some differential oil. I'm gonna have to, uh, get a catch pan in place for that. Not only is it gonna spill some, it's probably going to spill all of it and I will have to refill nature I can't see these last two. I'm just gonna reach up there and kind of feel it if.

uh if I can come on please, there's one got her. Thank you. Come on. Yeah, it doesn't reach now.

it does. Got it Okay, All the bolts are out. okey-dokes catch pins coming into position now. I can get in here and crack this thing loose.

Try it with a pry bar. Make it. uh, make it a gentle separation. Foreign.

looks good. It's enough draining action. Let's uh, let's wiggle this guy out of here. So there's our Fork all right now.

I'd like to be able to see that actuator collar in there. might be hard to do. Okay, yeah, we can kind of see it. so let me show you what's going on here.

So if we watch if I turn the wheel or Open Wheel Okay, drive shaft's not engaged anything like that. Now you see that little round collar inside of there. Watch this I move that over, see how that's selected. Off to the right now.

we make an attempt to turn the wheel and I feel some resistance here if we look up starting to engage the drive shaft, see that see the shaft moving key joint right there. So the issue is is this collar is not being moved over by that actuator. So we've got power and ground going to our actuator from ah, there. unlocked.

Look at that. That's the unlocked position. So we've got power and ground going to the actuator from the control system and assembly. but it's not actually actuating.

So uh, I'm gonna go ahead and get one ordered. Uh, we're gonna toss that new one in and, uh, put this thing back together, fire it up, test it out and see if we have four wheel drive. All right? Let's bring this thing over to the workspace area and uh, maybe we'll take it apart and see, uh, see what failed inside if we can. It could be an electronic failure, but I should be able to get the front of the module off with just, uh, looks like five perimeter screws right here.

Got a new unit? but I want to, uh, at least take a look inside of this one before we, uh, throw the new one in there. That's right. This screwdriver on. click please.

It's lubricated. There's Lube on my driver shaft. look more hardware for me. These are tight.

Come on, don't strip or slip and stab a hole in my finger. It's not be cool. Torque: Oh I lost it. See that snippet is no worries.

No worries, we'll just parrot jaw pliers This little guy out of here. This one's gonna break off. It's got corrosion in the threads I Can feel it. Different pliers.

Let's try these ones. Maybe it's not gonna break. Nope, it broke. Yeah.

corrosion. That's the thing about uh Fasteners that are open on the back side. That's how that happens. The corrosion Creeps in from the back, not So Much from the front.

Anyway, that's four bolts out number five. Pry this guy open, see if we can identify any visual defects. Oh yeah, look at that. Look at that.

This thing was full of water. Well, now that it's a part, we can kind of see how it works. So we've got our our shift Fork right here that runs off of this shaft which is seized. These are the contacts for the limit switch.

Those are the circuits that go back to the control module that tell the module what to do. Obviously, we have the motor right here and the worm gear. worm gear drives. uh, this big gear right here.

and that's how this little actuator assembly becomes actuated. That's a confirmed kill. Let's go ahead and get that new one tossed in and get this thing back on the road. Okey-dokes Let's get some sealant on this ceiling surface here and then.

I Wouldn't get this new one reinstalled. I Think what I'm going to do since we found that that vent tube was disconnected is we'll take the Uh the vent tube off of the old unit and use it to make an extension because I believe that the addition of the lift kit caused that tube to become disconnected. I Like how guys will put lip kits on their trucks and then not extend the brake lines and then the brake lines break when you lift it up in the air. Not good.

Here we go. A little bit of sealant a little bit more right here There we go. that looks good. Keep it actuated I Have too much fun.

Uh, there we are. That's what I'm looking for. Okay, let's let's give this uh one good wipe down. Make sure there's no oil on that sealing surface otherwise the sealant won't seal very well and it'll leak.

And then I Gotta do it again. We go I Find it curious that Toyota used a red sealant on on this instead of like a gray or a black. I'm using a gray suitable for uh, differential oils. There we go.

All right, let's pull this uh, absorption towel thing out of there I had that in place just so uh, oil couldn't run out and uh, contaminate my Surface while I was getting everything prepared here now I need to get these little shift Forks on the collar. it's not aligned. We're going to have a major malfunction and that would be bad. Come on, let's get into our home here.

Let's not. Uh, let's not have a problem. Why don't you want to go the one hanging on, uh on the little blue cart? Come on, let's get in there please. We're not lining up and I'm I'm leaking redo.

Let's give it some more wiping. All right. Going back in, we're getting time sensitive here now. I'm oh okay.

we're off center on the collar. I See what happened? Let me move that over. move it over some more. Uh, become lined up please.

There we go now. I got her. sorry if the light was in everybody's face. All right, let's get a bolt in this.

It's got pins that line it up I Want to get that bolt in that way. No, that oil can creep its way onto my ceiling surface because it will cause a leak. Okay, top bolt going in. it's two down.

Nice. Okay, two bolts in two to go. This is, uh, feeling pretty good to me. I'm happy.

Squeeze this guy in here. Come on begin. I Guess not. it's not going to fit and then one more way way way way way higher up top.

which I can't even see it. can't even feel it, can't see it, can't feel it. but I know it's in there. We go All right, that one's threaded.

Let's get my ratchet in there and we'll run that guy down. Need a longer socket? or maybe a shinier socket? There we are. got it. Oh you guys all right.

hit you with my ratchet. Okay, that's tight I Need to, uh, figure out an extension for that vent hose. Let's uh and go around this other side and I suppose we can get this connector kind of in place I don't want to connect it yet because this thing was moving around quite a bit and I don't want to actually like uh I don't want to hit the connector while I'm maneuvering this and break it or something. So uh, let's unratch, strap our ratchet strap and start getting this differential back into its position.

Okay, begin on. Ratchet Strapping Now. Cool. I Went back, no problem.

Let's pull this guy out of here. We don't need you anymore. Are you stuck? Of course it's stuck. Come out pliers.

my uh, my frail phenanges just didn't have the pulling power. Give me that bag. All right, let's let this thing down some. Oh, we need to get that little Mount that's where we left off.

Is that, uh, that mount back here on the pinion? Let me get that thing in before I start putting weight on uh, on components. We're gonna go up and in, back up some more. There we go. All right.

Okay, we've got our first 17 mil coming in from the top. Let's get that one threaded. That's nice. It's going in very beautifully.

Oh I'm excited this is gonna go together no problem. and uh, the one at the top? not so much. I'm gonna pull this unit back some. yeah, these things are critical that they not be cross threaded because one of the bolts actually goes into the differential housing.

Definitely need to make sure that goes in by hand and we're good. Let's tighten those things down real quick. 2017. let's get our top one first.

That was the hard one. Well, it's not really the hard one, it's the low access one. There we go and clicks that one's in the bottom. One piece of cake fitted with the impact Mark pickages and I need to go ahead and get these little brackets rebolted.

I actually didn't even have to pull the bolts out of these guys. I could have just kind of left them there, but let's get the bolts back in these and then we'll swing these brackets back up and then bolt this stiff unit back together. and now I can plug it in thick. We're gonna do the not lining up game.

Is that is that what this is? Hmm, no worries. anytime. just tap it on in there and let me run these threads down some way. just some of the way.

I Need to be able to still move this thing up and down. Okay, that one's in. Let's go around to the driver's side. let's go around the driver's side and we'll get that other bolt in on this other bracket right here.

Same situation that fit. Cool. Let's get that guy on. I'll run it down and I'll make it tight, but not all the way tight.

Aren't you going any farther? stop? Hey, when they installed this, this thing was made super tight. No worries. Okay, let's let the the diff down a little bit. Nut gravity: we'll let the dip down some and then we can start getting these uh, these mounts and stuff lined up.

You're taking precaution to not let this thing hit that thing I think it clears it but I don't want to break it. Okay, there we go. a little bit more. down action clearances are good.

Let's get the side bolts in on this bracket over here. I Know I Can get this one in no problem. See, we're still not down far enough yet. See how the bolt hole right here doesn't line up with the threads? so we're going to come down a little farther Mall and we'll give that a bit of a tug.

I Think we're lining up? it better be swiggle it. Hmm there and that far away one you're next. As tempting as it might be Again, you gotta put these guys in by hand. Don't just hit him with a gun.

These uh, these are cannot repair once ruined type of thread situation. There we go. That started, we'll get a couple more threads in with the ratchet just to make sure Skipper that's going in straight. Good to go.

Let's lock this bracket down and then we'll get the uh, the passenger side Twice clicks Thrice Clicks. All right. Okay, now just to the right. Let's get the bottom of that first.

Mount that we set up. Let's get that one. Got that one on there and where's my where's my Cxd? Thank you. There we go.

260. good to go. Geez. Okay, let's move back over and get this last bracket set up.

Why? That's why. Okay, one more bolt right here. We'll run these last two in. Let's let this down some more.

I Don't need this jack stand I think we're done with that. That one's not straight Now it is. Clicks Twice clicks. All right.

that bracket's on. Let's tighten up this bolt and it's counterpart on the other side. and then, uh, I'll go ahead and extend that little vent tube thing. We can let this down after we put the skid Shield Plate on and then we'll test it out.

All right. going in. One more bolt right here. Nice.

And of course it's counterpart over here. On this side, we just give this thing the impacting reach around here. we're gonna get a hold of it mix. Okay, this unit is now secure.

It's bolted back in. Let's throw that skid plate on all right panels coming in next here. Let's get this guy fitted. It's just three more bolts and nuts.

Three nuts and three bolts and some washers. the back one in there. next. I mean all right panel's going in.

Got two of the bolts in Already Here Comes number three and we get that nut on. We'll tighten these things down. Let's run these guys down and get out of here. Ah, get on.

there. Was that the wrong size? Sure is. It was a 15. What was I thinking Okay, panels in.

get your nuts and bolts tight down and last one right here in the middle. Nope. wrong way. Sweet.

All right. let's get out of here. All right. we're out of there.

That's all buttoned up, bolted together, reconnected. Let's let this thing down. Fire it back up. put it back full drive and see if we have front actuator locking actuation here.

I'm gonna go fetch my healthy helper darling. Can I borrow you? Okay, I'll be right back. Be a deer and hop in this thing and start the engine and then operate the four-wheel drive. Thank y'all Yeah, Start it.

Um and yeah. Go ahead and start it. Yeah. Engine on foot on the brake and oh, you need to go up in the air side.

Okay, put it in neutral. no that the other shifter that one. put it in neutral and then pull the shifter down. that's four wheel drive and then move it all the way over to the right and then all the way forward.

That's four low foot on the brake. put it in gear. There you go and let off, let off the brake. Let's check the other side.

I Saw that one move for a second. that one's going Okay. okay. Foot on the brake.

Uh, reach up and push that. uh differential Locker button the one on the right. Yep. All right.

Is there a red indicator on the dash? All right. Let's go see it. Hang on. Put on the brake.

Don't move it. Climbing in. hey, look what we got. There's all right.

Let off the break some. Okay, you hear that click. So we've got four wheel drive indicator is now indicated and the rear Locker is now indicated. Uh to keep foot off the brake, just let it roll.

One's going, that one's going and let's see if it's actually locked. No. I Can't stop it. Yep, that's actually in the lock position and the front unfortunately is not a locker that's open.

But we do have front-wheel drive action. Uh, put on foot on the brake. please. slowly let off.

Yep, that one's going. now. it's trying to go all right. Foot on the brake, straighten the wheel up because it turned straight.

Yep. Uh, go ahead and put it in neutral and then bring it. Uh, let me in there. Bring the four wheel drive shifter over it.

back into too high so that's all the way back towards you and then to the left, then all the way forward. No the other way. There you go. All The Way Forward Push it real hard ER Harder harder, you can do it I can't let off the brakes on.

There you go and now you're out. of. You're in two wheel drive. You're out of four low.

Uh, the diff lock is still actuated. so press the button up on the console up top and we're good to go. Okay, shut her down. Thank you darling.

Allow me All right that is a confirmed kill. We have four wheel drive actuation. We have our indicators indicating system is now operating as designed. We found a Smoking Gun with all the water in that uh in that unit I Do need to put the vent tube back together and we're good to go.

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