Transfer Case Tuneup and Fix (3 Viewers)

[Chaldaean]

I have a "USA" spec 2011 LX570. For my vehicle, there are two part numbers for the actuator:

36410-60113
36410-60120 HAWAII SPEC OR PUERTO RICO SPEC

What makes the Hawaii/Puerto Rico spec different from the standard USA spec?

For what it's worth, here is what AI (ChatGPT) thinks:

The main differences between a Hawaii-spec 2011 Lexus LX 570 and a U.S.-spec 2011 Lexus LX 570 typically relate to rust protection, emissions regulations, and minor feature variations due to Hawaii's unique climate and vehicle market.

Key Differences:​

1. Rust Protection – Vehicles sold in Hawaii often have additional corrosion protection due to the high humidity and salty air, which can accelerate rust.
2. Emissions Standards – Hawaii may have slightly different emissions requirements compared to certain mainland states. However, the LX 570 was a nationwide model, so differences might be minimal.
3. Shipping & Dealer Packages – Lexus vehicles in Hawaii are often distributed through Servco Pacific (not Lexus USA), which may offer different standard features, packages, or pricing compared to those sold in the continental U.S.
4. Undercoating & Protective Coatings – Hawaii models may have additional factory or dealer-applied undercoating to prevent rust.
5. Availability of Packages – Certain trim options, technology packages, or standard features might vary slightly between Hawaii and mainland U.S. models due to regional marketing strategies.

Mechanically, both versions of the 2011 LX 570 should be identical, including the 5.7L V8 engine, 6-speed automatic transmission, full-time 4WD, and advanced suspension system.

 

[clrussell]

I still need to do this to mine.

Maybe soon.

 

[isthatalexus]

So today I did several more tries on the 4H-4L actuator part and finally resorted to putting on the old part.
AND.... It worked like a charm!!!
I still have no idea what is the difference between the Aisin SAT-015 part and my OEM, as they look identical but somehow I could not get the Aisin part to work. The car was fully drivable in 4Hi when I corrected the rod position but I could not put in low gear. The 4Lo kept blinking and not engaging. I compared the traces that the limit switch was leaving on the contacts and it seems like the Aisin part was indeed completing it's movement and the rod position was also the same but yet the 4low never fully engaged. Could this be an electronic communication problem? If the the actuator is making the full correct movement, the rod should be in the right position so what can possibly cause it to not go into 4Low? For now I am just going to use the old OEM 4low part and the new Aisin CDL part. And of course fix the breather as that was the cause of the issues. Mine was actually attached, but cracked, and water had gotten in and sat there in the housing.

View attachment 3774860


The top part (CDL) which was my actual problem in the beginning has been fully compatible.
The Aisin part has been working there like it should.

View attachment 3774859


A note about the bottom rod position... When you play with that rod sometimes it likes to stop at a different location and if the housing is completely off there is nothing to compare it against and so it is hard to tell if it is fully inserted.. sorry this sounds really dirty but it's the best description I can give you
This was the cause of the problem I was having yesterday. The rod was at the red line and so it never reached the full seated position for 4Hi and thus I couldn't put into reverse.
View attachment 3774861

outstanding work. thank you.

 

[styran]

Just did this on a 2016 URJ200 LC, can confirm it works.
What really helped was taking pictures of the shift rods right after removing both motors.
I had the newer style bottom motor with no microswitch, lower motor went in first try.
I had to fiddle with the top motor a lot to get it.
This video was very helpful, it showed the bottom motor clocking without the microswitch:

This post was also very helpful:

So today I did several more tries on the 4H-4L actuator part and finally resorted to putting on the old part.
AND.... It worked like a charm!!!
I still have no idea what is the difference between the Aisin SAT-015 part and my OEM, as they look identical but somehow I could not get the Aisin part to work. The car was fully drivable in 4Hi when I corrected the rod position but I could not put in low gear. The 4Lo kept blinking and not engaging. I compared the traces that the limit switch was leaving on the contacts and it seems like the Aisin part was indeed completing it's movement and the rod position was also the same but yet the 4low never fully engaged. Could this be an electronic communication problem? If the the actuator is making the full correct movement, the rod should be in the right position so what can possibly cause it to not go into 4Low? For now I am just going to use the old OEM 4low part and the new Aisin CDL part. And of course fix the breather as that was the cause of the issues. Mine was actually attached, but cracked, and water had gotten in and sat there in the housing.

View attachment 3774860


The top part (CDL) which was my actual problem in the beginning has been fully compatible.
The Aisin part has been working there like it should.

View attachment 3774859


A note about the bottom rod position... When you play with that rod sometimes it likes to stop at a different location and if the housing is completely off there is nothing to compare it against and so it is hard to tell if it is fully inserted.. sorry this sounds really dirty but it's the best description I can give you
This was the cause of the problem I was having yesterday. The rod was at the red line and so it never reached the full seated position for 4Hi and thus I couldn't put into reverse.
View attachment 3774861

Did this job to replace shift rod seals, and the actuator oring, which was leaking.
Here are my pictures of the rods as soon as the motors were removed.
Bottom rod:

Top rod:

 

[linuxgod]

Just did this on a 2016 URJ200 LC, can confirm it works.
What really helped was taking pictures of the shift rods right after removing both motors.
I had the newer style bottom motor with no microswitch, lower motor went in first try.
I had to fiddle with the top motor a lot to get it.
This video was very helpful, it showed the bottom motor clocking without the microswitch:

This post was also very helpful:


Did this job to replace actuator rod seals, and the actuator oring, which was leaking.
Here are my pictures of the rods as soon as the motors were removed.
Bottom rod:
View attachment 3857558

Top rod:
View attachment 3857557

Pretty sure on my 2013 the bottom didn’t have a microswitch but the top did.

Good call on the photos

 

[bkfj40]

Understanding that in these repairs I stand on the shoulders of giants (@TeCKis300 and others)...

I suspect that my biggest issues were the actuator's poor/inconsistent contact at the microswitch View attachment 3046437(might be submicroswitch), and possibly the corrosion at the concentric electrical contacts. Disclaimer: I'm not a mechanic or doctor, and the Holiday Inn Express here is occupied by violent squatters; don't do this stuff unless you are ready to buy a new transfer case actuator assembly. For inspiration and to steel my nerves, I watched KenKej savagely restores these parts.

• concentric electrical contacts
  • Shop towel wipe up of grease on concentric electrical contacts
  • gently go over contacts on case floor with 150 grit sand paper (spray w/ CRC QD Electronic Cleaner cleaner, wipe out)
  • apply CRC Dielectric Grease (not harmful to plastics, robust, etc.)
• motor
  • tested fine on 12v bench test; saw no need to remove/break factory solder points
  • removed the big silver screw (south-end in picture) to remove the bracket
  • removing the bracket uncovered the small hole in the motor
  • covered and isolated motor with shop towel in same way as the switch (see pic below) and sprayed CRC Lectra-Motive Elecric Parts Cleaner inside, holding the motor-in-housing hole-side-down.
• microswitch
  • required several removal/install cycles for me to figure out and to fixView attachment 3046441
  • escalated to switch dissasembly; plenty of corrosion found in spite of having a relatively clean actuator housing
  • turns out the issue was twofold: corrosion at contacts and too-loose hinge mechanism
  • the tiny plastic hinge allowed z-axis travel (orthogonal to intended plane of travel) of the platstic arm, making good contact at full-up or full-down positions but wildly inconsistent Ohm readings at its resting plane/position.
  • did not have the talent/bravery to mess with plastic housing of microswitch to reduce the up-down looseness
  • did have sufficient recklessness to gently adjust the two copper arms 'upwards' (on workbench), downwards when in-situ, to improve firmess of copper-on-copper contact when switch is activated by rotation of actuator wheel.
  • how gently did I manipulate those copper arms? If you are reading this and are thinking about doing this, you are already using too much force.

View attachment 3046442

Over the course of this repair attempt I un- and reinstalled the two actuator housings many times. I want to share some things that would have helped along the way, had I known them earlier. Credit to sixweeds over at tundras.com for great work on this issue with the Tundra cousin truck (among other info).

Next time I will remove the entire actuator housing (yes, can be done without dropping/cracking, etc.) to

• more easily service both CDL and 4LO actuator housings
• allow spray of penetrating oil into the push-rod housing/channel. I think they become less compliant over time, which causes the electronics in the actuator housing to work harder and degrade faster

The poaster over on tundras linked to a few good videos from a Tagalog-speaking mechanic in Saudi Arabia. The videos are all shot with the front-facing camera, so I grabbed the stream, inverted, and will drop the reinstallation gear-clocking information here. (original video)

Bottom line on installation: push the actuator rods all the way in. (NB: my truck was in 4HI w/ CDL not locked)

Clock gears as follows. And use a screw driver (or other long, flat thing) to hold gears in place while installing top-side housing. You may have to adjust the clocking slighly to line up with shaft teeth. Do so by pulling the housing, turning the larger gear below the motor, and going in for second approach.

View attachment 3046450


Hope I'm not posting Captain Obvious(tm) stuff here, but it's likely. These are the things I wish I had known before doing the work, and hopefully they will, in turn, help someone else. Again, hat-tip and thank you to @TeCKis300 and @cogniz et. al here, that Tundra wranger sixweeds, and my boy KenKej on the tube.

I had previously removed my center diff lock and low range actuators and didn’t get the timing quite right this past fall. As I was comparing mine to the post on page 6, I noticed that the lower actuator doesn’t have the microswitch on my 2013. I don’t know what year they changed

 

[styran]

I had previously removed my center diff lock and low range actuators and didn’t get the timing quite right this past fall. As I was comparing mine to the post on page 6, I noticed that the lower actuator doesn’t have the microswitch on my 2013. I don’t know what year they changed
View attachment 3857950

Just did this on a 2016 URJ200 LC, can confirm it works.
What really helped was taking pictures of the shift rods right after removing both motors.
I had the newer style bottom motor with no microswitch, lower motor went in first try.
I had to fiddle with the top motor a lot to get it.
This video was very helpful, it showed the bottom motor clocking without the microswitch:

This post was also very helpful:


Did this job to replace shift rod seals, and the actuator oring, which was leaking.
Here are my pictures of the rods as soon as the motors were removed.
Bottom rod:
View attachment 3857558

Top rod:
View attachment 3857557

This is how I timed the lower actuator with no microswitch. It came out of the housing at this position. The top motor had a microswitch but I never got a picture of it, and pulling the motor out while retaining its clocking is near impossible due to gravity. So, I used the Tagalog video to time that motor. Bottom motor with no microswitch is the same as the Tagalog Land Cruiser video, and the video briefly showed timing for both motors. Refer to my previous post for the video and the transfer shift rod positions. Hope it helps!

 

[linuxgod]

I had previously removed my center diff lock and low range actuators and didn’t get the timing quite right this past fall. As I was comparing mine to the post on page 6, I noticed that the lower actuator doesn’t have the microswitch on my 2013. I don’t know what year they changed
View attachment 3857950

Ditto here, there was no microswitch on the lower actuator, only the top one. The top is the CDL, the bottom is the 4Lo mechanism. I haven’t pulled apart an earlier model but AFAIK no 4Lo actuators used the microswitch - only the CDL does

 

[Conn]

Reporting here from the middle of actuator purgatory. Just FYI for the board and knowledge base, it appears the limit switch inside the early 200 series high/low actuator is the same as the limit switch inside the front diff actuator of a 2nd gen Tacoma. I'm lucky to have junk like this laying around. I've not tried to swap it. Curiousity got the best of me while futzing around with this actuator on a 2008 200 in the shop. I'm hell bent and determined to fix this one. Just thought I'd throw it out there since these limit switches seem to be unobtanium.