Transfer Case issues

Seems I'm having issues with my transfer case. We've tested the vacume lines and all seem fine. I put a new boot on at the disco as the one I had was slipping off a bit. The disco we took out and put a known good one in, after cleaning it.
When I pull the handle up slowy I can sometimes here, and feel it engaging, but if I pull it straight into 4PT I can't tell. The other thing I'm finding is when left in, it seems to 'slip out' so to speak, and the engaged light flickers a bit. I've also noticed that the handle, after pulling it back, seems to have play in it 'front to back, not side to side, like there's a screw loose or such.
Anyone have any idea what could be happening? and when I put it into 4PT, how can I tell if it's actually engaging if I can't hear/feel it catch?

TIA

You most likley have a vacumn leak,check the vac lines under the battery and connections to the vac blimp under the rt front bumper cap.
The shift lever is mechanical,and can become out of adjustment,but any time I have had problems it has made a loud noise that told me it wasn,t in gear.
The vac switch on the top of the TC ,how good are the vac lines on it ?
Wayne

Do you have a t-case drop?

What you haven't mentioned yet is whether you've replaced the vacuum switch on the transfer case. If you have tested the disco motor and the lines, and made sure the linkage is correct, that's the last link, and a likely one too. It's relatively cheap - last time I did one it was something like 16 bucks.

Have you tested the lines with an actual vacuum tester/pump? I once had problems with a tiny pinhole of rust in one of the metal sections of mine. I never got a visual clue, and it seemed to pull vacuum when the motor ran. A hand pump (e.g. mity-vac or the like) is really useful here.

A sure fix is to install a posi-lock on the disco shift motor. Relatively easy and you can find them on ebay for about $100. Some guys have even blocked off the shift motor, leaving the axle shafts engaged. (You might want to do a search on this). Either way, you will always know your 4wd is engaged. the nice thing about the posi-lock is that you can disengage the axle shafts without taking the t-case out of 4lo giving you 2lo.

Yeah, I've been thinking of going with a posi-lock and have a buddy that's working on creating one actually.

SO I guess it basically thinks it's in 4 although the front axles aren't engaged. Seriously think this is the way to go to fix my issue. In doing this, what is done with the existing vacum lines?

just plug 'em and zip tie 'em up out of the way

Things are worse than I thought. TC is toast inside so won't stay engaged so have to switch it out. ARGH!
I could switch to a 242, but they're not the disco's I've been told. What is needed to properly do this?

if switching to the 242 I'd just ditch the disco axle completely. www.madxj.com has a write up in the technical section about changing the axle shafts and getting rid of the disco. You'd get a u-joint upgrade out of it too if you got later model shafts.