Well, we got almost a foot of snow dumped on us a few days ago and when I went out to leave for my service calls I found out 4wd would not engage. Swell.

I managed to get around for the day, which did impress me to say the least... good job BFG All Terrains. lol

After doing some troubleshooting, I've found everything in the T-case is working as it should, and that the vaccume canister is functioning also.
I pulled the cable from the front axle and found that the cable actuates fine when removed and that what ever does its thing inside the front axle is essentially stuck.

I gave a few taps with a hammer ( no choice really ) and nothing budged and also tried pulling it our manually but got no movement either. I've only had this truck a month or so, and am not too familiar with the inner workings of the front axle...

Can anyone give me some insight on what to do in repairing this at this point? Does the axle need to be replaced, do I need to pull the passanger side shaft out and replace the shift fork or anything else in particular?
I checked out the pics in this thread: https://blazerforum.com/forum/steering-suspension-drivetrain-36/front-axle-pics-54389/
so see whats up as far as parts go, just not sure on what the common cause of this issue is I guess.
Truck is a '96, with a 5 speed and the three button on the dash fwiw. No trouble codes or flashing lights at all. The silly truck thinks it's perfectly healthy!

I've had so many quirky problems with this thing already, I'm about ready to sell it.

 

Sounds to me like a front diff failure. I just had mine replaced not too long ago. Not a common failure though (mine was because the truck sat for 4 years and the fluid leaked out the output seals).

If its that, you can do it yourself in probably a day. I had a guy do it for me that does work in his garage with a jack and it took him about 12 hours, he hadn't done one before and couldn't figure out why the bastard wouldn't drop down. The diff itself can be found at scrap yards. Mine was $75. The labor ran me about $310.

 

Thats kind of what I was thinking too unfortunately. Cost is cheap enought for the axle from the sounds of it, and twisting a wrench is no problem for me thankfully.... I dunno though. I'm getting so burned out on this truck already, I'm not sure if I even want to mess around with it.

Guess I'll do some digging around the local yards here and see whats floating around for parts.

 

theres blazers all over at salvages out here. find a se of matching zr2 axles? or find some axles and have em regeared to match and get a better ratio out it for whatever your preference is - perofmance/mileage....just some ideas to toy with

 

I found a 2001 ZR2 at a yard out this way, both axles he's selling for $450. Seems a bit expensive to me, the whole truck he's letting go for 600 minus most of the front clip, motor, wheels, and trans.

Not sure what to do on this one yet, verified the internals of the front axle... shift fork, rod, etc need replacment. That means pulling the passenger side axle tube etc.

This whole process sounds like it's going to get expensive by the time I'm in, inevitably replace brakes and wheel bearing assy while I'm in there, and likely ball joints etc too. I think I'm leanining towards selling it now.

I did find an axle from a 98 for 125, but I'll still have to pull the tube to repair it all.

 

Check around I just bought one for 100 with only 60,000 miles on it. Check Craigs list just make sure you look at it good first . Or www.Car-part.com and search round your area youll find one alot cheaper than that.