Have you ever had one of those months working on your truck? Where it seems like everything is broken wherever you look? I've just had 2 months of these in a row. Maybe you can figure out what not to do after reading this.
Lets rewind back to late January. I'm in Anza Borrego, doing some fairly light trails. Truck is working amazing. End of the day I notice that there is a lot of fluid leaking out of the transfer case. I go to check, and its a quart low.
Now the transfer case has been leaking for about 8 months, and only when the gear lube was really hot. Normally it was a small drip, but this time its a lot worse.
Let the truck sit a week, and the leak has stopped. So, I decide it would be a good idea to surprise my grandfather for happy hour... 400 miles away.
By the time I got to grandpas house, the truck was not only leaking (you could smell the burning 90w off the cat), but something was REALLY loud. Loud enough that I had to wear earplugs for the remaining 50 miles of the drive. But still the truck drove awesome.
Since I have tools accessible and new seals for the t-case, I figure, what the heck. A few hours later I found a small issue, the scissor gear was left on the transfer case during the dual case install. Also, there was a massive amount of fretting wear on the splines. It was enough to destroy the marlin 4.7 input gear, and the inchworm adapter coupler.
So I book a flight home.
Next weekend, I'm back north with a new marlin adapter, and a new 4.7 input gear. Parts were a bear to get (marlin was out of stock.. had to find a vendor with one in stock), so I was not able to install parts until sunday morning. By sunday afternoon, the truck was back together, and I was ready to head home. 30 miles down the road I decide there is still a loud noise coming from the truck, and I can hear bearing noise near the t-case.
So I book a flight home.
Two weeks later I drive up (smart enough not to fly this time!), with new bearings in hand. I pulled the truck into the garage, and started to tear in. While pulling the driveshaft out I notice that the splines are loose. Yup, the core that was used to rebuild the heavy-wall drive shaft had very worm splines on it.
Grumbling, I pull the transfer case out. Its disassembled again, and I have the bearings swapped in no time. I begin to re-assemble, and for some reason it wouldn't go together. I tried installing all the bolts, and slowly squeezing the case together. Then I hear a 'POP'. Thats correct, I cracked the range box. It seems I had pressed the bearings into a different case (I have 3 spares now), and the dowl pin was stuck. Dowl pin on dowl pin=cracked case.
So I hoped in my car and drove home.
2 weeks later I drive up (again... not flying), with a new advanced adapters range box in my hand, and a fresh re-rebuilt driveshaft from south bay driveline. I attempt to install the t-case back together again... but to no avail. This time the rear main shaft bearing won't go over the housing. After 2 hours of fiddling, I got it on.
On a hunch, I decided to run the truck in neutral, high range 4th gear, with the driveshaft out. It was a good thing I did too. The rear output bearing was getting hot. But why?
After a bit of investigation, i found that my mix-matched transfer case housing wasn't fitting together correctly. After swapping the rear most portion of the case (to match the piece in front of it), all was well, and the transfer case was working.
So I tossed in the driveshaft, and took it for a test drive. Truck drives awesome.
So I go for a 80 mile drive to make sure all is well. Everything goes well until I hit traffic. I'm driving 70, push in the clutch, and the truck goes quiet. I had to double check that the engine was still running. Put the truck back in gear, and it sounds like there is a set of boggers slapping the ground. Back in neutral, and the truck is dead silent.
Frustrated, I parked the truck and drove home.
Now fast forward a week. I realize it may be a rear end issue. So today I had the truck towed to rear end specialities. Upon inspection they found that the rear carrier bearings spun, and there were many teeth missing from the ring and pinion.
So here I am. I have replaced the t-case, driveshaft, and rear diff. All parts had 6k miles of them (and no hard wheeling). I'm really hoping this is the end of the major issues for awhile.
And what did I learn? I don't know, but I hope you got something out of this story.
Lets rewind back to late January. I'm in Anza Borrego, doing some fairly light trails. Truck is working amazing. End of the day I notice that there is a lot of fluid leaking out of the transfer case. I go to check, and its a quart low.
Now the transfer case has been leaking for about 8 months, and only when the gear lube was really hot. Normally it was a small drip, but this time its a lot worse.
Let the truck sit a week, and the leak has stopped. So, I decide it would be a good idea to surprise my grandfather for happy hour... 400 miles away.
By the time I got to grandpas house, the truck was not only leaking (you could smell the burning 90w off the cat), but something was REALLY loud. Loud enough that I had to wear earplugs for the remaining 50 miles of the drive. But still the truck drove awesome.
Since I have tools accessible and new seals for the t-case, I figure, what the heck. A few hours later I found a small issue, the scissor gear was left on the transfer case during the dual case install. Also, there was a massive amount of fretting wear on the splines. It was enough to destroy the marlin 4.7 input gear, and the inchworm adapter coupler.
So I book a flight home.
Next weekend, I'm back north with a new marlin adapter, and a new 4.7 input gear. Parts were a bear to get (marlin was out of stock.. had to find a vendor with one in stock), so I was not able to install parts until sunday morning. By sunday afternoon, the truck was back together, and I was ready to head home. 30 miles down the road I decide there is still a loud noise coming from the truck, and I can hear bearing noise near the t-case.
So I book a flight home.
Two weeks later I drive up (smart enough not to fly this time!), with new bearings in hand. I pulled the truck into the garage, and started to tear in. While pulling the driveshaft out I notice that the splines are loose. Yup, the core that was used to rebuild the heavy-wall drive shaft had very worm splines on it.
Grumbling, I pull the transfer case out. Its disassembled again, and I have the bearings swapped in no time. I begin to re-assemble, and for some reason it wouldn't go together. I tried installing all the bolts, and slowly squeezing the case together. Then I hear a 'POP'. Thats correct, I cracked the range box. It seems I had pressed the bearings into a different case (I have 3 spares now), and the dowl pin was stuck. Dowl pin on dowl pin=cracked case.
So I hoped in my car and drove home.
2 weeks later I drive up (again... not flying), with a new advanced adapters range box in my hand, and a fresh re-rebuilt driveshaft from south bay driveline. I attempt to install the t-case back together again... but to no avail. This time the rear main shaft bearing won't go over the housing. After 2 hours of fiddling, I got it on.
On a hunch, I decided to run the truck in neutral, high range 4th gear, with the driveshaft out. It was a good thing I did too. The rear output bearing was getting hot. But why?
After a bit of investigation, i found that my mix-matched transfer case housing wasn't fitting together correctly. After swapping the rear most portion of the case (to match the piece in front of it), all was well, and the transfer case was working.
So I tossed in the driveshaft, and took it for a test drive. Truck drives awesome.
So I go for a 80 mile drive to make sure all is well. Everything goes well until I hit traffic. I'm driving 70, push in the clutch, and the truck goes quiet. I had to double check that the engine was still running. Put the truck back in gear, and it sounds like there is a set of boggers slapping the ground. Back in neutral, and the truck is dead silent.
Frustrated, I parked the truck and drove home.
Now fast forward a week. I realize it may be a rear end issue. So today I had the truck towed to rear end specialities. Upon inspection they found that the rear carrier bearings spun, and there were many teeth missing from the ring and pinion.
So here I am. I have replaced the t-case, driveshaft, and rear diff. All parts had 6k miles of them (and no hard wheeling). I'm really hoping this is the end of the major issues for awhile.
And what did I learn? I don't know, but I hope you got something out of this story.
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Could be worse, I could not have a Toyota 4x4 sitting out back that's in great shape! 
Matt, at least you don't have these guys ^ giving you chit like I do. ;p "Woody forbid" I actually post something insightful and reasonable. 
