Split case rebuild

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Joined
Apr 8, 2008
Threads
15
Messages
316
Location
Melbourne, Australia
After establishing the problem I finally got the T-case off and have started pulling it apart and cleaning it.
Short story- bad noise and vibrations developed rather suddenly very recently (also slipping out of 4wheel into 2wheel in the past)- upon draining T-case oil there was virtually none- and there was metal flakes on the magnetic plug

DSC00075-1.jpg


I've heard this described as a two banana job- surely I must be a one banana or less mechanic, so this is going to be challenging for me.
This isn't going to be (nor attempting to be) anything like a tutorial- rather- I will be posting up a links to a heap of photos along the way to ask a few questions, get a few opinions, and just have all the images here to help me put the thing back together.
Let me apologize now for my atrocious knowledge of correct terminology:hhmm:

finally got a 36mm socket and got the case cover off
just a few photos
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t304/hansp77/DSC00082.jpg
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t304/hansp77/DSC00083.jpg

http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t304/hansp77/DSC00084.jpg
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t304/hansp77/DSC00085.jpg

finally got the whole lot off so I can get out from under the truck and take the pieces to the workbench
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t304/hansp77/DSC00086.jpg
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t304/hansp77/DSC00087.jpg
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t304/hansp77/DSC00088.jpg
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t304/hansp77/DSC00089.jpg

the only obvious bad bearing I can see as yet so far is the rear (to rear wheels) output bearing-
there are some groves and wear in the bearings themselves- and a few jagged points on the rear lip- opinions on this?
DSC00092.jpg

DSC00093.jpg



the other noticable bit of wear is on the 2-4 wheel gear thing where the slider ring goes (correct name if anyone has it?)
DSC00095.jpg

DSC00096.jpg


I have the rebuild kit for all the bearings, seals, gaskets, etc- but my second question is about these last two photos- is this replacement worthy (as it appears to me)? How does one order replacement parts for this- anyone have a item code or anything- and rough price? I imagine ordering parts could take a while so I was thinking I might have to get the ball rolling on this one.

Cheers,
sorry for the bad photos and the obvious lack of expertise.

Other than this, I am reading and re-reading the manual, and starting to pull the bits apart, organise and clean everything down meticulously.

More to come over the days.

Hans.

(EDIT- I made a heap of images just links to get rid of pointless downloading)
 
Last edited:
I got everything pulled apart, photographed, cleaned and organised.

a couple of issues,

here is the bearing that went,
it is the rear output shaft bearing,
DSC00119.jpg


here it is with the gear it was destroying itself on- and the new replacement bearing above it- they are actually slightly different bearings (both KOYO but slightly different numbers on them)
DSC00130.jpg


here you can see where the rear lip of the bearing slotted around the lip of the gear- and had burnt itself seperate from the bearing.
a fair bit of metal has worn away here.
DSC00131.jpg


this is the same gear with the bearing lip removed- a bit roughed up- I wasn't expecting brass bushing- is that normal?
DSC00132.jpg



here is the shifter arm thing-
DSC00133.jpg

there was no O-ring on it and it was pretty corroded-

and here is the actual split case.... getting a clean:flipoff2:
DSC00116.jpg

(shhhh...:princess:)
 
the large gear on the output shaft appears to be worn on both sides of it- particularly the side that the blown out bearing was on,
here are each side of the large gear- compared to the sides of the small gear-
side one

DSC00134.jpg

DSC00135.jpg


side two
DSC00136.jpg
DSC00137.jpg


It appears to me that with all this metal ground away, either the gear needs to be replaced, or it would need to be shimmed or something to make up for it?
opinions?
 
I can't offer any advice - but my wife would go nuts if I stuck my transfer case in what appears to be a new dishwasher.....

Good for you!

Good luck on the rebuild.

Rocky
 
LOL, thanks Rocky,
its an old dishwasher- we are about to move out of this rental in a few months... otherwise my balls would be in my bench vise right now.:hillbilly:
they still might be if I don't manage to get this thing smelling daisy fresh again:hhmm:

it's on its third long cycle right now- I've just stripped the majority of the paint off it and will get the rest tomorrow before I give it an etch-prime and paint... not sure of the colour yet. I saw a good rebuild thread on here somewhere where they went the hammered metal finish which looked pretty nice- but then I might go something silly and bright... am definitely going to paint it something other than the old black it was.
 
In my uneducated opinion, that gear needs to be replaced.

Also, I wouldn't worry about the wear on the shift mechanism.
 
I'll take any opinions on offer amaurer,
thanks mate,

my uneducated guess says to replace that gear as well- to my imagination it looks like it could be a contributing reason behind the bearing failure...
only problem is that I seem to recall that replacing these things through Toyota (if available) would be stupidly expensive...
If that is the case I might have to look into buying that other noisy T-case that became available to me- and hope that I can swap a few parts out of it... have to check how much it would be.
I'll start looking into that tomorrow.
 
The thrust surfaces (the ones that face the shaft and bearings) may be worn too much on the low speed gear. There is a thrust limit of .25 mm (back and forth play of the gear on the shaft) when the gear is assembled on the shaft. The output shaft could be worn too. This was probably due to lack of lubrication. The low speed gear is always turning on the shaft in hi gear.
 
Thanks PinHead,
regarding the thrust surfaces (thanks for the term) if .25mm is the limit, I can pretty much see by eye that considerably more than that has been worn away on the gear surfaces alone,

heres some shots of the output shaft,
this is the front side- the good side
DSC00142.jpg


this is the rear side- the worn side
DSC00141.jpg


and to the right where the low speed gear spins- and then the middle a better couple of shots of the wear on the teeth/splines I was worried about above
DSC00140.jpg

DSC00139.jpg


thanks for any opinions.

also, is this common wear?
whats the chance of pulling these bits that I need out of another noisy T-case?
 
Yes, the shaft looks dodgy too if only for the wear on the teeth. The shift collar (ring thing that slides on the shaft) may be worn too. Try to find a good used one. $hit happens when you run them without lube. Look at the bright side: It isn't as bad as what happened to St. Kilda in the play offs.
 
The teeth on the collar to the output shaft are similarly worn as the teeth shown above- and there is a tiny bit of play between them.

However at least the other collar (which is exactly the same isn't it?) is fine (in case the next one I get needs a better collar somewhere).

So I guess we can assume this case has ran for a bit more than my couple of thousand K's with no lube in it? :hhmm:

options so far,
1. a noisy T-case from a 40 series, attatched to a 4-speeed tranny- not known if it will be seperated, price unkown but from a top bloke so probably reasonable.
2. a T-case off a BJ73 to be available in a couple of weeks- unknown 'if cruiser or hilux type' as yet, unkown price, suspected good condition.
3. A bloke on ebay who hasn't listed yet his Tcase from a HJ47 he is tearing down. He doesn't want to seperate the Tranny and T-case- says they both ran 'the quietest he has ever driven... and i've owned 4 cruisers' (:rolleyes:;))... I know the tranny is no good to me- but is the T-case the same? He wants $400 for them both...
I wonder how much I could get back trying to sell off a lone HJ47 tranny?

4. Keep looking and hold out:crybaby:
 
Wow Hugh!:eek: for a guy that pulled bearings out of his T-case that looked like this
https://forum.ih8mud.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=188950&d=1195353510
that really is a vote of no-confidence...
I really enjoyed and appreciated reading through your rebuild thread, and will no doubt be going back to it again as mine proceeds.
And yeah, I do plan on replacing these parts when I put it back together... just gotta find a good canditate for parts.

Trollhole,
the idler shaft and the needle bearings looked fine to me- as does everything else in the case (except one other bearing that was a bit rusty from a bad seal http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t304/hansp77/BJ42 Transfer case/DSC00114.jpg)

DSC00149.jpg


DSC00150.jpg


someone on another forum has a 4 speed and t-case sitting in their garage from a FJ45, left over after he swapped a 5 speed into it (no noise- one slight leak)- but his description that it "still even has the whole handbrake setup on it" leads me to think that it is not a split case? would that be correct?

here is the album of all the shots I took pulling it apart (and will add to as the rebuild progresses) for anyone who wants to look through. It's pretty boring- I am just trying to document where everything came from.

now that it is all cleaned, organised and sitting in a box beside me- if anyone wants any other photos of specific parts for diagnosis, just let me know.

Thanks all.
Hans.
 
someone on another forum has a 4 speed and t-case sitting in their garage from a FJ45, left over after he swapped a 5 speed into it (no noise- one slight leak)- but his description that it "still even has the whole handbrake setup on it" leads me to think that it is not a split case? would that be correct?

that would be mine pcman from outerlimits it is definatly a split case its from a 1984 fj45 troopy they have a handbrake on the transfercase
 
Thanks for that- I just PM'd you back over on outerlimits:)
Does the handbrake being on the Tcase mean I can use it or not- or have to alter anything? Do you know if the internals are the same- ie, could I harvest the output shaft and gears to put into miine?

Do you have a phone number I could call you on to chat about it? Just PM me if that is OK.
Cheers mate,
 
and here is the actual split case.... getting a clean:flipoff2:
DSC00116.jpg

(shhhh...:princess:)

lol your wife must be very understanding cuz thats awesome!
 
lol your wife must be very understanding cuz thats awesome!

Haha, cheers:D
Lets just say I haven't gotten off entirely scot-free... I have a bit of plastic covered white rack cleaning to do:rolleyes:

not much other news right now- still chasing a T-case for a parts swap...

I finished cleaning down the casing today, stripping the last of the paint and then wire brushing all the old dark aluminium corrosion away back to good metal.
I forgot to take a photo of it brushed clean, but it now has it's second coat of rustkill etch primer on it, and I am soon going to give it its first topcoat- rustkill hammered metal finish, gunmetal colour.

Not much to do after that until I find another T-case:frown:
 

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