could this be anything but the transfer case??

[sjwelds]

well got my truck fixed today.

it was the tcase. mechanic said that something in the front half of the case was worn and had let it disengage somehow. the tech that did the work showed me the shifter shaft going into the tcase. a good amount of slop in the shaft. fortunately he had another case on the shelf. the tech said he did pull the trans looking for other issues and didn't see anything else. should be good to go now. I did find out that I do have an SMF clutch setup. good to know that.

lol in an interesting twist....when the tech was tearing down the old tcase to swap the other one in he managed to break the shifter assembly. brought it over and I tigged it back together for him.

thanks for reading.....

 

[cpdenton]

Glad it's fixed! Glad he had the part on the shelf.

 

[jaluhn83]

Glad to hear that's what it was. If it's not too late might be a good time to thrown a clutch and rear main in. If the trans is off that's 95% of the work....

Also probably be worth looking into the t-case pump mods that are out there to keep it from happening again. Not clear if it's a rebuilt case or not, even if it is unless they modified the pump support you have the same weak spot.

Probably with these cases is that the oil pump is an opposed piston design integrated in the output shaft with a body help from turning by an arm that bears loosely against an aluminum rib on the inside of the case. Over time the fluctuating load on the pump housing causes the steel arm to wear through the rib, pump spins and the cases looses lubrication and dies, usually in a most inopportune manner. The fix is any of a number of mods to improve this support either by reinforcing the case rib or adding a foot to the arm to reduce the pressure it puts on the rib and thus wear.

 

[bbjordan]

^^ Good advice!

Thanks for the update. I figured it was the T-case. It's usually the chain when it goes, but as you mentioned, there was no bang. When the chain goes it's usually with a bang accompanied by grinding noises.

 

[jaluhn83]

Odd, I've never really heard of chain failures being a major problem. More common seems to be mechanical failures as a result of oil starvation. The chain is only loaded when in 4wd and only as much load as is applied on the front wheels, so it seems like it's unlikely to be loaded that badly unless you have different front/rear gears or tires sizes, or serious stressful off roading.

 

[bbjordan]

jalun83, I totally agree with you on the oil starvation. This can cause a number of things to fail. The broken bits usually wind up in the chain because there is not a whole lot of room for broken bits in the T-case. This causes it to bind. Perhaps I chose my words poorly. It's really not a failure of the chain, but a failure involving the chain.

 

[jaluhn83]

Ah, I see. Makes sense. Still more likely to be a failure mode if one uses 4wd frequently, but yes. Point is that the oil pump design in these cases is poor.

 

[sjwelds]

Well honestly, if I get another 200k out of this one like I did out of the last one I'll be more than happy. I'm sure the truck will be cancered-out beyond repair by then.... it's already quite serious lol

I hate rust

Thing is who knows how many miles are on the one that's in there now.....guess we'll see

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

Well honestly, if I get another 200k out of this one like I did out of the last one I'll be more than happy.

Amen. One of the great things about an IDI is the fact that the parts are so long wearing due to the "non-computer controlled/turn-it-up-to-the-moon" torque monsters that eat transmissions and transfer cases like candy

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

i only get a little over 100k miles on my bw1356 cases. when i bought my first in a 3 yr old 9th gen,the truck had 80k on it and i got about 110k when the t-case went.
with chip truck,the truck had 50k miles on it,and the case failed just this summer with about the same miles.i do use 4lo several times daily and at least weekly lock the hubs and use 4wd but im not abusive to the trucks.i read the oil pumps fail most of the time which causes the downhill spiral.
used ones are cheap (this one cost me $150) and easy enough to replace.so it's not too serious i suppose.

edit,oh yup.the oil pump issue was brought up above here already as well.

 

[sjwelds]

yeah well ya see....I very seldom use 4x4 on this one. only in winter slick/snowy conditions or if I get my forklift stuck in the mud lol. so mine may go awhile. course I guess the pump is spinning whenever the truck is moving... hmmm

anyhow I was messing around with it today and I did notice that this tcase does shift quite a bit easier than the other one. fwiw

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

yes i noticed the same thing with my good used one.much easier to shift.