No I said I removed it to eliminate that as an option and it still pops out.

The yoke has slight in/out play and like 1/4-1/2 turn of play.....

The play doesn't concern me at this point.
What lever did you remove?

When your motor/trans torque up it wants to naturally twist. The linkage bracket on the body does not move with the motor/trans. Thus, worn or loose mounts (letting everything move more than it should) cause the linkage to twist away from the body effectively actuating the little lever on the side of the tcase....popping you in and out of 4wd.

I removed the linkage directly from the transfercase

Are you sure the transfer case is shifted all the way into 4wd? How did you shift it in?

Bent shift fork on inside of case..?.they're made of aluminum I think.

Could be. But what if the lever/linkage was maladjusted and was used to put the t-case into 4wd. Remove the lever and what have you got? A t-case that hasn't fully engaged 4wd.

Yup. Hard to say without laying under there myself...

Like you, I'm having a heck of a time seeing it from here.........

LOL

With the lever but it seems to be fully engaged the lever on the tcase is like an 1/8th inch away from the case

What do you mean 1/8" from the case?

With the lever in 4lo the lever that bolts to the case is about an 1/8 away from the wide part of the case

Here's a video of the noise coming from the tcase. This is with front shaft removed in full time so it'll spin in park. Listen for the high pitch grinding.

P.s. ignore me putting it into park too soon. Don't wanna be lectured for that my mistake leave it be.