Byron, you can pull that cover off with the hi-lo in nuetral and the lower shaft of the reverse shifter is supposed to stay in the shifter fork on the shaft. Sometimes they come out with the cover though and when they do that its not that big of a deal, you just have to take the flat all wheel drive cover off the side of the trans hosuing to get the shaft back in before you are ready to set the cover back on. Just make sure you dont loose the halfmoon key off the end of the shaft that goes down in the reverse fork if the shaft comes out. You can pull that all wheel drive cover first and hold the shaft into the fork if you want. The reverse shaft has splines on the top of it where it joins the parts in the top cover and you have to make sure the fork and the lever are where they need to be before you set it back on too. In other words if the reverse lever is in N you need to make the fork is also in Nuetral.

Hope this helps.