During some night time snow wheeling over Judith Peak in Montana. I broke something while going through deep snow drifts, waist deep snow, 200 point turn around or pulling the idiots out of the ditch in a car (because driving late night with no; gear, clothes, cell services, with the intent to walk out at -6°F, is a good idea) but I digress.
I drove my busted Landcruiser all the way off the mountain while towing a car and then drove it home on the asphalt. All the while it sounded like I put a handful of nuts and bolts inside something, banging shuddering crack jumping all the way home in a nasty snow storm, I had to get home, and this thing did it very impressively.
I have some photos and videos of me dissecting the drivetrain, here is a video
Turn volume up, Video starts with;
0-1 second mark- I am driving vehicle forward using 4-hi and center lock on.
1-2 second mark- I come to a stop and turn off center lock (you can hear the click)
2-9 second mark- I shift into neutral and back to drive and give it a little throttle just once.
10-33 sec mark – I shift back and forth D-N-D-N-D-N etc. no throttle.
10-13 sec mark – if you look closely during one of the shifts from N to D you can see the rear drive shaft is not even spinning, no jerking nothing.
34 second mark- I turn on center lock you can hear the click and now I can move again and begin to pull away.
So My engine obviously works fine-the transmission works forward and backwards.
Suspect #1:
The transfer case, has metal shavings in the oil and I only get power out of the front output shaft. With the center lock turned off I go nowhere it just makes noise like you hear in the video. Only when I engage the center locker I can move. So, I only have power to the front wheels??? Does anyone agree with this madness?
Suspect #2:
I drained the oil from the front differential and both the fill and drain plugs are jacked it looks like the ends of both plugs got clobbered by metal chunks, and there are tons of chips n chunks on the magnetic drain plug. This front diff solely pulled me and the person I rescued home that night and I think it gave its life up for it. Judging from the pictures I am replacing the entire thing…
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