LC 99 Drivetrain slipping in transfercase H position

[VijayW]

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
(to all who are; I'm not)

So a dear friend of mine who probably has 50 years experience fixing his own cars, came for help yesterday. As predicted, the snap ring (C-clip) was found loose and unbroken in the dust cap, with only a little grease left in the cap. The axle had retracted inward (first photo). By pushing (and pulling) by hand, the axle could not be pulled out enough to see the clip groove; we didn't have a proper puller available. The splines? near the end of the axle are stripped (second photo).

Wheel doesn’t turn freely (so the drive flange doesn’t appear stripped) but it is frozen (couldn't remove the drive flange with hand tools), and since the inside oils seal is also damaged as well, we decided to do a temporary fix just to make it driveable to a garage. See my friend's work in the third photo: with a piece of heavy gauge 1" PVC tubing, he made a spacer ring, which is held in place with a couple of washers on a bolt threaded into the axle center hole. This arrangement seems to have pulled the axle out enough as well, although we have no access to put the clip back on.

My friend thought that this failure probably had happened because it had not been properly maintained. The original owner, who gets credit for doing 248k miles on it, though, had it repaired only after something failed. And I was counting on an oil change service with 23-point inspection and wheel-balancing to their job; but not all of their locations seem to have the same high standard of care. The rust that you see in earlier photo is not so much from driving, but from this vehicle sitting idle outside for many weeks, after the shaft getting exposed. I treated exposed parts with SeaFoam Deep Creep ™ thoroughly before I put the things back together, as described above.

The obvious question was will there be too much heat to weaken the PVC ring? We did a test drive of 10 miles roundtrip with speeds up to 50 mph, and the axle end was cool to touch (even by a baby) midway during the trip and at the end. And there was no noise either (which was also the case with Center Diff kept locked, even before yesterday's fix). So we believe that this is driveable to a garage about 20 miles away, which has to be arranged.

Thanks again to all who advised, and I will keep you posted on the outcome.

 

[OregonLC]

As suspected. That PVC ring/bolt temporary fix is ingenious, that should work great for a short trip. The only longitudinal force on the shaft is its internal resistance against expansion/contraction. Should work fine in an emergency.

I'm sorry to say, but that CV end looks done. It's been loose for a while. Drive flange doesn't look that bad, but I'd probably replace it too. You can sell the latter here as folks are always looking for a cheap used blank to bore out.

 

[Skidoo]

None of the photos show the cone washers removed, without removing them no way the drive flange will come off. Search for "cone washers brass drift" in 100 forum for lots a write ups on removing them.

 

[VijayW]

None of the photos show the cone washers removed, without removing them no way the drive flange will come off. Search for "cone washers brass drift" in 100 forum for lots a write ups on removing them.

Thanks, Skidoo!
I really don't know how I missed your post until today (-: My friend who was doing the work at that time, surely hit different places of the flange with a drift and brass hammer, but he apparently didn't hit hard enough at the right places. Having seen the YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ssGa3Iz9ck&list=PLlTeQKSRkNlZ237BjMYNP2xujXHYQZUbu by PowerModz (see still frame below) an hour ago, and now having read the threads you referenced, now I know what the cone washers are, how hard they can be to take out, and also how easily they can pop out of you hit the right spot!

The good news is that this LC '99 finally got repaired last week. Will write in a day or two with details & photos.

 

[tabraha]

Glad to hear it is back on the road.

 

[VijayW]

The emissions test, which was due at the end of July, in preparation for which I had to fix a misfiring condition myself, got me going on this project as well. After my hobbyist mechanic friend made the temporary fix by pulling the axle back out, I was able to drive the vehicle with Center Diff Locked, but otherwise without any problem. As I had mentioned above, this LC was also in need of a front-end job, for which an year ago a shop quoted $ 2000. I found a friend-of-a-friend mechanic who works at a famous-name shop, and he worked on it and negotiated with his boss a total price of $ 2300, for Upper & Lower Control Arms (with ball joints), Driver Side front axle and wheel bearing. Although the vehicle was drivable without any of this work, for the sake of safety and durability, I got the job done.

Interestingly, the original C-clip, which was in good condition, had to be re-used (as that is not available from parts suppliers). I suspect the axle slipped out of the clip (on LF wheel) when the diagonally opposite wheel (RR) got caught on the curb; that would cause a strong inward pulling force on the LF axle.

I vehicle was poorly maintained when I purchased it two years ago, at a discount price. Since it looks and runs good, even after 250k miles, after some work that I had done on it, I felt comfortable investing more on it to make it reliable & durable. Next on the to-do-list: Timing Belt, Parking Brake (has the notorious frozen bell-cranks), muffler, and some electrical problems which might be related to the driver-side Junction Block defect.

Thanks again for all the information and help that I received here!