4wd - wobbly gear stick on manual 3l

[Greg212]

Hello,
Just had the old 2.4 die (corrosion) and got a new green manual 3.0l 4-runner.
A few issues but nothing the phases me just yet - lots more power compared to the 2.4 ;-] So far taken the bling bling off the Jap import to brighten up the UK 4-runner - making a 4-Surf I suppose....
anyway.....
However, I have an issue with the 4wd gear stick (the small one to left of main gear stick of course) - I can get the truck into 4wd high and low, but when I try to get back into normal 2wd I simply can't find the it. It feels like the 4wd gear stick is not attached to the gear box below the gaiter - basically feels like stirring bag of spanners. I have had this both times I tried 4wd. After much 'hunting' on the bag of spanners I felt the stick finally link to the gear box and got back into 2wd - both times a bit stressful.
So, anyone any thoughts? I can tear off the gaiter in the interior and have a look underneath - might be something simple - or is this a bigger problem which is going to mean more involved work?

Cheers,

Greg

PS 2.4 gonna be sold real cheap for spares - good enough truck just massive corrosion on sills

[Greg212]

Right - sorted ;-]
Got it into Low 4wd and it would NOT come out - like starting to panic stirring the bag of spanners there and literally starting to wear blisters in my clammy palm...
So, resorted to road side repairs - got gaiters off - all three of them - (cosmetic, inner rubber gaiter and finally another rubber gaiter) and got down to the small dome bit where stick enters the 'box through. Wobbled stick and it came off in my hand (oh sh!t) - now I am starting to think about road-side recovery and then a full new gear box - not nice.
Anyway I worked out the retaining circlip (that keeps the stick kept inside the dome) was lose. Clicked it back in so as to retain the small dome (the stick enters the 'box through this small dome shaped piece) and hey presto - got full 4wd back - hi, low and normal all very functional. I think the lose cirslip was simply letting the stick mounts float around (instead of being kept in their keeps by the circlip)
Thanks to all those who replied - but think this is possibly a very rare problem on the majority auto trucks on this site
All sorted with a few minutes stress