Transfer case o ring replacement question. (1 Viewer)

[Colorado T]

I have an ‘04 with a leaking transfer case actuator. I’ve seen videos of people taking the actuator out without removing the transfer case. It looks like it comes out a little and then you turn and jiggle and it comes out the rest of the way. I’ve seen other videos that show cracking into the case to remove circlips holding the shaft in place. Has anyone here actually done this on an ‘04 without cracking into the case? Does it even matter what year?
Thanks!

 

[Bralow]

I have an ‘04 with a leaking transfer case actuator. I’ve seen videos of people taking the actuator out without removing the transfer case. It looks like it comes out a little and then you turn and jiggle and it comes out the rest of the way. I’ve seen other videos that show cracking into the case to remove circlips holding the shaft in place. Has anyone here actually done this on an ‘04 without cracking into the case? Does it even matter what year?
Thanks!

Dropping and Splitting the Transfer Case is the FSM method.

Lots of people have done the actuator removal and seal replace without dropping the T-case.

The catch is, if you screw up the timing on the shaft during removal or reinstall you going to have big problems. So just be VERY careful.

You'll get votes 50/50 of which way to do it.

These are the videos you want to follow:

 

[Colorado T]

Thanks for the reply Bralow. I’ve ordered the O ring and shaft seal from amaZon and if they get here Friday I want to fix it this weekend.
I’ll look at this video too. More info is good. I completely don’t understand what you mean by “screw up the timing of the shaft” but I will try to beforehand. I want to understand the pitfalls to be prepared to address them.

 

[Bralow]

Thanks for the reply Bralow. I’ve ordered the O ring and shaft seal from amaZon and if they get here Friday I want to fix it this weekend.
I’ll look at this video too. More info is good. I completely don’t understand what you mean by “screw up the timing of the shaft” but I will try to beforehand. I want to understand the pitfalls to be prepared to address them.

See the steel shaft left in the Tcase at 0:32 on that video?

On both the Actuator side and the T-case side that shaft is attached to gearing that is clocked to a very specific position on both. If either side gets out of alignment on those gears relative to each other, your actuator will not work and could cause damage.

 

[Colorado T]

So the moral of the story is don’t let the shaft turn while removing/replacing the actuator? Will it go back together wrong?

 

[Bralow]

Yes. Especially if you have to take apart the actuator to clean it out. Somebody more knowledgeable than me will have to walk you through that. There are some writeups on the FB group.

Transfer lever & shift rod for Lexus GX470 UZJ120L - Genuine parts

Transfer lever & shift rod for Lexus GX470 with UZJ120L

lexus-usa.epc-data.com

 

[Colorado T]

Hey, thanks for all that info. I’ll check out the FB group. Again thank you for taking your time to help me out.