Transfercase broke? Low range only. (1 Viewer)

[WhosDannyGeorge]

Well have been loving this beast for the last 2 years. Would like to sorta figure this out before tearing it apart to aid in speedy recovery on driving.

Went last weekend for some trails. Didn't notice any noises/pops/bang type sounds. After the hard stuff I went to go back into 4hi and it seems to go by feel into the gear but putting it back into gear, it felt like a badly slipping clutch. On flat ground it will begin to move with the slipping feel in both frwd and reverse. No cracks in case,no leaks, and linkages are all tight and fairly slop free.


Not that I think about it I did get stuck in a little canyon even in 4lo as only the rear wheels were being powered.


4lo was RWD
4hi was barely moving the rig on flat ground with what felt like a car with a smoked clutch.

Debating the rebuild vs a used good unit. Possibly worth keeping mine with the parts to rebuild and while there upgrading to the lower crawler gear set.

Thoughts?

 

[WhosDannyGeorge]

Just searching found a thread about testing it in HI using the cdl switch. Will try tomorrow.

Within the last 5k miles I have added a 3" lift and did the whole front axle rebuild service. Saw something about the lift maybe doing something with the VC? Going to read up some more.

 

[jfz80]

Any noises associates with trying to go forward in high? Does it go in reverse better in high range? Just wondering if a drive flage could be stripped but would likely come wth a grind/rattle. Broken birf could be similar but should def make a racket.

Lift shouldnt affect the VC.

 

[LINUS]

What year 80?
How many miles?

Are there any remotely related issues going on?

 

[Douglas S]

Sounds like drive flanges. You're on the right track testing it in high with the CDL locked.

 

[WhosDannyGeorge]

Any noises associates with trying to go forward in high? Does it go in reverse better in high range? Just wondering if a drive flage could be stripped but would likely come wth a grind/rattle. Broken birf could be similar but should def make a racket.

Lift shouldnt affect the VC.

Can hear the slightest tht tht tht type noise. Def no grinding or rattles.

 

[WhosDannyGeorge]

What year 80?
How many miles?

Are there any remotely related issues going on?

95 fzj80 with factory lockers
260k has ran and performed perfectly until this.

I think I saw the a/tp light come on. Going to play with it a bit more today

 

[CJF]

Sounds like drive flanges. You're on the right track testing it in high with the CDL locked.

Almost guaranteed that's the problem.

 

[LINUS]

Sounds like drive flanges. You're on the right track testing it in high with the CDL locked.

They are considered a wear item, IIRC. Seems reasonable.

Easy to check, easy to fix, and no cracking open a powertrain component.

The only downer I see is the rear wheels should be acting dead normal, so while the drive flanges could be fubar, the rear would still just push him along.

Or did I read the symptoms wrong?

 

[LINUS]

Not without locking the center differential, or spinning fast enough that the VC engages. Sounds like drive flanges to me.

Haha - you beat me. I was about to add as I was thinking that CDL variable. I realized I hadn't specified that.

@WhosDannyGeorge - does CDL active cure the issue? If it's the drive flanges it should. If it's no real difference, you got deeper troubles.

 

[WhosDannyGeorge]

Just went and tested the CDL option. Barely any movement like a slipping clutch. Put in neutral hit the CDL and now all the gears work as normal. So drive flanges?

 

[Rivman1243]

I would say drive flange

 

[WhosDannyGeorge]

Ahhh.

 

[Douglas S]

Well it's not the drive flange. Bad luck.

 

[WhosDannyGeorge]

This is my first broken axle. Don't remember hearing anything or it bound up. Either way needed to fix a seal and rotate tires.

Thank you guys. Pffeeww

 

[LINUS]

Well it's not the drive flange. Bad luck.

Wow. I was with you on drive flange too reading @WhosDannyGeorge 's post about the CDL, then I saw the pic.

At least you had miles on the birfs & frankly I'd still take this over cracking open either the trans or transfer case.

That kind of break means I'd personally make sure the axle shell is clean of all migrated metal shavings/chips/fragments - I did a similar thing bending an axle shell & shattered the inner PS driveshaft splines & splined drive cuff in the 3rd member.

Just a suggestion as you had to kill the axle seal (soupy grease on axle, right? Looks like it in pic) so maybe the birf flopped a bit & killed the seal where it rides the inner driveshaft.

I had to pull my 3rd anyhow, but if you do a full front axle service the only thing holding you back from the 3rd coming out to flush it all with kero & rags is the flange bolts & driveshaft bolts. Sadly it looks like you were in there not all that long ago (nuts look new, not a beat up star washer either).
Especially for an e-locker 3rd it's time well spent as a premium $$$ to replace - I tend to go slightly further when I break stuff to know it was all repaired so I don't do a job twice.

You may want to think about if you're a canidate for Longs instead of birfields as a replace part - if you are fine with wear & it isn't your DD/street rig, maybe you need the cromoly units.

Up to you - you mentioned this starting pretty casually, and some peoples "4" on a 'how hard I use my 80' is another persons idea of a "8".

I know mine was a fluke, but when I did new birfs I still bought new ones from Dan, I wasn't sure how decent the ~$200 ones were. You can cryo them or drill for a zerk if either idea seems like your cup of tea, there's threads on that.

Either way, with 200K I'd change both & keep the one as a spare, it still has a "good" side if you haven't flopped them side to side yet.

 

[Rivman1243]

I used a Terrain Tamer from @beno . Looked like a quality piece to me and was under $200.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Ummm...I thought the drive flanges and tiny studs were supposed to be the weak links? That's just poor luck. Glad to see you figured her out.

 

[Sarmajor]

That's not such a bad place to have something break.
The inner axle tube seal will most likely have kept all the bad stuff in the knuckle housing.
The axle housing should not be contaminated if you are lucky.
Hopefully the seal surface of the axle will not be damaged either.
As long as the spindle and bushing are ok a new birfield, some grease and seals will fix her right up.