to grease or not to grease, that is the question

[sambodean]

My transfercase jacked up on me a week ago, so I have another to throw back in, and yes its the correct one. The only question is, do I grease the output shaft from my tranny to go into the tc? and if so, what lube do you guys recommend? also, a friend told me not to worry about getting a gasket and to just use permatex, which I'm a little leery about...Id rather just make my own gasket where the tranny mates to the tc, and use as small amout of that messy permatex crap as possible.

 

[towcat]

most people will put it in dry. if you are a stickler, any wheel bearing grease will do.

 

[FoolhardyIDI]

I use Valvoline Ford moly grease when I grease anything on my ford. That includes the output shaft on the trany.

 

[IDIoit]

gaskets are as cheap as permatex from any transmission shop...but it will work.
i prefer the gasket myself
no real need for grease on the shaft. i suppose it would be the correct way to do it, but it does not move, once installed.

 

[Black dawg]

Doesnt need to be greased, but I have seen a few stripped trans outputs lately....caused by rust.

 

[towcat]

Doesnt need to be greased, but I have seen a few stripped trans outputs lately....caused by rust.

the "rust" you see is from brinelling between of the splines.

 

[BDCarrillo]

So difficult to read this and keep my mind out of the gutter...

 

[Black dawg]

|?

the "rust" you see is from brinelling between of the splines.

These were rust, the whole output including the nonsplined portion was really rusty. Interesting part is there was zero sign of rust anywhere else.

 

[PwrSmoke]

I'm with Towcat. Brinneling or "fretting" between splines is a very real problem in some cases. There is a t-case out there... I don't remember which and I'm too lazy to research it... that is notorious for this problem and eventually the splines wear out and you start actually getting a clunk. Eventually the splines will twist out. Is grease "required" probably not. Is it a good idea to apply the customary military "light coating?" Sure. Can't hurt anything, unless you use a grease that is incompatible with the t-case lubricant. It will make the unit a little easier to stab on installation and a bit of lube prevent the majority of the wear that comes from an imperfect spine engagement.

 

[towcat]

So difficult to read this and keep my mind out of the gutter...

It's metal on metal, so a dab of anti seize will help disassembly later. The only real friction on it will be during install or removal.

never never use anti-sieze on moving pieces. the biggest component in anti-sieze is crushed glass in microscopic size. it is designed with a light oil carrier so when you put together nuts and bolts that it will set. when you take it apart later, the glass crushes and makes disassembly easier.

 

[BDCarrillo]

Learn something new every day!

Bad info removed and lesson learned

 

[Black dawg]

I'm with Towcat. Brinneling or "fretting" between splines is a very real problem in some cases. There is a t-case out there... I don't remember which and I'm too lazy to research it... that is notorious for this problem and eventually the splines wear out and you start actually getting a clunk. Eventually the splines will twist out. Is grease "required" probably not. Is it a good idea to apply the customary military "light coating?" Sure. Can't hurt anything, unless you use a grease that is incompatible with the t-case lubricant. It will make the unit a little easier to stab on installation and a bit of lube prevent the majority of the wear that comes from an imperfect spine engagement.

happens with several gm trans/t case combos that use a seperate splined shaft coupler, especially the coarse spline sm465/205.

 

[towcat]

|?

These were rust, the whole output including the nonsplined portion was really rusty. Interesting part is there was zero sign of rust anywhere else.

the rust is the powder byproduct from the splines vibrating against each other.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

the rust is the powder byproduct from the splines vibrating against each other.

So how much of a reliability concern is that? And what's the fix for it? One of my ZFs has that "rust", the other does not but it is also the one with a bit of play in the input shaft. The "rusty" one is in better interior condition (namely teeth on dog-clutches) with virtually no input shaft play, I was fixing to drop that one in the truck in a few hours... Different transfer case than the one she was initially mated to though, so maybe I'll get lucky there? Or just to be on the safe side smear some non-high-strength (so maybe like blue) RTV on the splines to act as a damper?

 

[PwrSmoke]

Sometimes rust is just rust but in an area that is free of oil, it needs some protection from wear and corrosion and some grease does that. If, after you clean off the rust, the splines are tight, and you see no obvious wear, no worries. Lube it up and stab it!