idler shaft fell out on road, what happened?

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B

Boother

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Joined
Oct 12, 2004
Threads
3
Messages
5
Location
Santa Cruz, CA
Boy am I up the creek! I've got a '87 FJ60 all original. I had a used but in good shape transmission put in 2.5 mon. ago. Reason for the tranny swap was because of a bad rattle when the car was warm and the clutch was out(assumed it was output shaft or bearing prob.) No problems until 2 days ago when I was going down the road @ 35mph and heard a bunch of rattling and banging start up. I pulled into a parking lot and shut her down. Got under and saw a big hole in the middle of the transfer case and a sheered off bolt. Walked back down the road and found my idler shaft in the street. It was perfect looking, o-rings still intact and all.
What I want to know is what would cause the idler shaft to get shot out the transfer case hard enough to sheer the bolt that holds it in. A few tranny builders in the Bay Area say it must of been the rear output shaft in the tranny that broke and forced the idler shaft out. Does this hold water? As far as I can tell the idler shaft is independent in the transfer case and I can't see how the input shaft would push it out. How screwed am I? Any help and also any experts in the Bay Area would be great.
 
Man do I feel your pain. Same thing happened to me last Feb. Idler shaft vacated resulting an absolute carnage in the Tcase. Long story short, $2K in parts (including 1 pc tranny output gear/spacer/PTO gear) and 2 months of sourcing parts and trying to find time to repair. The best explanation that I heard was that one of the idler shaft bearings may have seized spinning the shaft and breaking off the retardedly tiny retaining clip/bolt. The idler shaft walks out,, damage is usually fatal from what I've been told. My suggestion...don't look at it for a couple of weeks...usually better perspective then. Sorry 'bout your luck bruther. :beer:

G.
 
I thought I was the only one this ever happened to. It was about ten years ago now. The input shaft pushed the clip and bolt off and came about half way out. Far enough to drop a few gears into the works and total the transfer. Toyota said they'd never seen that happen before, but maybe they have.
 
The most obvious weak point is the retaining bolt and plate falling out of the back of the t-case. When I put mine back together, I put the retaining bolt in with blue locktite even though it was not reccomended in the factory. I would just find a used t-case, and get a rebuild kit for it. It is highly likely your gear set is now trashed inside the case.

TwoThirtyDirty-How did you spend $2K? A used case is usually $200-400 and a rebuild kit is another $200. That should be the worst case unless I'm missing something.

Here is a pic of the bolt that I am guessing, migrated out of your case. It is the only thing holding the idler shaft in place.

edit-misread the original post. The bolt sheared! I think the idea about siezing of the idler gear on the shaft is a good one. Any chance the case was low on oil? If the seal was not replaced, oil does tend to migrate from the t-case to the transmission, check and see if your tranny is overfull.
TCase6.webp
 
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We had a split-case kicking around that suffered the same death... I was going to dig through the box one day and try and figure out what had happened... I too thought that the idler bearings had seized and spun the idler shaft, breaking the bolt. But that doesn't explain how the shaft then walks out of the seized bearing and falls out. I would think it would just lock up the TC (or start breaking things). Thoughts?
 
$2k seems high on second thought. Used split case was $300. Rebuild kit was just over $300 I think. Tranny output gear was dead too. One pc output gear was eight hunny....seems steep to me but totally took driveline slop out of the picture. Misc small parts and shipping approx $100. So maybe $1500CAD by the time I was done. I'm just happy she's back on the road. Still find myself peeking underneath every couple of days to ensure that the damned clip hasn't gone AWOL again though.
 
Well I am "glad" to see this isn't the first time this has happened. Boother drove all the way up here and got the work done on the tranny swap and this mess was a new one on us up here.

It sounds like a T-case replacement is in order, the inside of yours must be ugly considering it is aluminum and those gears were bouncing around.

Boother-Glad you finally joined Mud, and I see I was still the log in name on your computer from the deleted thread. Welcome aboard :flipoff2: and sorry about your first post being so painful!
 
This is not an uncommon problem. In the ones I have dealt with (3 or 4 IIRC) the bolt that holds the retaining tab on is the actual culprit. It develops a small crack which over time works all the way through the bolt. The bolt headcomes off, the tab falls out and the shaft simply slips out.


Mark...
 
I was just thinking the same thing. I've got some work to do this weekend under the Cruiser, (my ubolt flip kit just arrived.) Replacing the idler shaft bolt with a new one is pretty easy to do.
 
man....to hear these stories,a nd to see , for most of you guys, this doesnt seem to be a big deal.
if somwething like that happend to me, i would probably push the truck off a cliff. its nice to hear that, no matter what happens, its fixable.

hammer
 
where to buy the rebuild kit...

Thanks a bunch for the info and fellow horror stories. Where did some of you get the rebuild kit for $300. I'm pulling the TC out today and want to get the rebuild kit ASAP. A website or phone # for the rebuild kit would be awesome. I heard of a shop in the Bay Area called "Mudrak" that knows Cruisers. Anyone got some contact info for the guy? Thanks for the help all.
 
Boother said:
Thanks a bunch for the info and fellow horror stories. Where did some of you get the rebuild kit for $300. I'm pulling the TC out today and want to get the rebuild kit ASAP. A website or phone # for the rebuild kit would be awesome. I heard of a shop in the Bay Area called "Mudrak" that knows Cruisers. Anyone got some contact info for the guy? Thanks for the help all.
Click to expand...

I think that Mudrack's info is in the sticky FAQ on cruiser mechs.
Also, Cruiseroutfitters seems to have assembled a pretty complete transfer rebuild kit - though as noted above, it doesn't include gears. Check their website for content and prices.
 
lovetoski said:
I think that Mudrack's info is in the sticky FAQ on cruiser mechs.
Also, Cruiseroutfitters seems to have assembled a pretty complete transfer rebuild kit - though as noted above, it doesn't include gears. Check their website for content and prices.
Click to expand...

10-4, we got them in stock (most of the time ;)

As for what is included, not gears... and in reality, if you require them, you may want to look for a used case or used parts, the new gears are very pricey.

http://www.cruiseroutfitters.com/engineparts.html
 
Boother said:
Thanks a bunch for the info and fellow horror stories. Where did some of you get the rebuild kit for $300. I'm pulling the TC out today and want to get the rebuild kit ASAP. A website or phone # for the rebuild kit would be awesome. I heard of a shop in the Bay Area called "Mudrak" that knows Cruisers. Anyone got some contact info for the guy? Thanks for the help all.
Click to expand...

Mudrak is Gary Kardum. He's in Sonoma, and excellent in every way. He has the t-case rebuild kits on the shelf, I saw them there a few weeks ago. His # is 707-292-5272. Highly reccomended for this type of work.
 
and to think I just got out from under my truck rebuilding the case again....someday i will get my project movin again...guess I should re-check the little bolt.... thanks guys..... :beer: :beer:
 
IS this common on the Fj62? Where can I get a new bolt type 8 or wht ever its called?
 
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