I will be rebuilding my transfercase this weekend into next week. The 4 new bearings and nut should arrive on Monday at a cost of $250after tax.

I will write a bit about the experience when it's finished, pictures will be taken aswell, however I would appreciate anyone's advise on the job.

In past experience the output shaft nut does NOT come off. I got a new one so I could cut it off if I need to.

That would be awesome if you take pictures on the rebuild for future references for other people. I hope there is nothing in that transfercase you have to press out with a press machine lol.

Get a good used one for less and you are back on the road in a few hours. Partially rebuilding driveline parts like a tranny isnt always the best idea as the parts wear in together and new parts dont work as well with the old worn in pieces. Just a thought depending on the condition of your T-case.

That's certainly true now, but parts prices for things like transfer cases are going to go way up over time.

Plus if you can find two used ones that are broken in different ways and you can use the parts from one to rebuild the other you're golden.

I've got one with a stripped input gear that could use a rebuild. Having this type of rebuild documented will be very valuable to the community!

The FSM describes how to use shims and spacers to adjust for this.

I figure it will be much better than getting a used one because you can't tell the condition of the bearings in the used one.(you can if they are totally fubar, but it doesn't take much to finish them off if they are going) I will KNOW the condition of this one.

Yeh I looked into doing a T-case rebuild 2 years back and it was much easier/cheaper to just pick up a couple used ones off of wrecks for $50 a pop.

I'm going for reliable... why does everyone want cheap and easy?

And I am doing a clutch for someone in trade for the parts. Still cheap.

Mike I am talking about reliability. Your old worn bearings were working in unison with worn gears and shafts. If you put in new bearings it may expose the next weakest link and then you are back where you started, rebuilding a used transfer case. I suggested a used transfer case not a scrap piece. If you want true reliability replace all the internal parts or buy a new T-case at better than a grand if I remember correctly.

This is based on the only things I know about your T-case. If original its 10+years old and its had a failure. What I dont know is what your budget is and how long you plan on keeping the car and/or how you plan to drive it. You are welcome to do whatever you want but if you only plan on driving the car for another 2-3years and require transport ASAP then get a good used one or two even. If you want to keep the car for a long time or plan on driving it at the track then do a full rebuild or go new. I have 70+k on a good used T-case with a new set of seals. So to each their own.

Jeff I wasnt referring to lash but more generally the idea of mixing old and new parts in a gear assembly.

But you would have no problem changing a wheel bearing.....?

The only things to be changed are roller bearings. How could that do any harm?

Anyways it's done. I will get the explanation and pics up as soon as I can.

How much did you end up spending on this mr. Money pants?

Transfer case rebuild

Tools:
-Heavy hammer
-2 chisels. One huge, one small
-12mm wrench
-14mm wrench
-Vice
-Grinder with cutting wheel and grinding wheel
-Dremel. Useful but not totally needed
-Gear puller

This job is simple, but it is a bitch. Four bearings and a new nut runs $250+ and are a bitch to get a hold of. If you do not have decent mechanical ability, don’t try this. I take no responsibility for your mistakes or lack of common sense.

First remove the rear casing. This should be straight forward. Now take off the front casing.
Also should be straight forward. You should have three pieces now. You need only be concerned with the middle section. There is a huge nut on it holding on that messed up bearing.

I know it looks so ripe and easy, but don’t be fooled. You will NOT be able to use a wrench or anything to get this off. This is where the grinder comes in. You want to grind down both sides of the nut. Not the sides with the slots though. You will need those later for hammering the chisel into to split the nut.

Be careful not to go all the way down to the threads. (note: The new nut is an update and does not look like the old one) there is a collar under the nut. It is part of the nut and must be cut it also. You can use the dremel with the cut-off wheel to get into the tight spaces, so you don’t ruin the case. Do both sides!!! 10 minutes into this you should step back and marvel at the strength of this metal. Kryptonite, I believe is what it is made of. Once you have basically cut the nut into two pieces, you must drive a wedge into the slots on the shaft to break the nut free. It has completely melded to the shaft. Don’t be surprised if you crack off one side and the other side is left on. It is still a bitch to get off the last side.

On to the bearing underneath the nut. What I did was crack the inner race enough to pull out the rollers with pliers. Now you can take the big chisel and hammer down on the inner race.
This bitch is strong but brittle, unlike the nut. 10 good smacks, and a chunk should come off. Keep going, and get the rest. This will allow you to pull the shaft out.

Now that the shaft is out, you can easily access the last bearing on the shaft to cut it off.

Mine was in perfect condition, so I did not replace it.

Go grab the front section now. Take the bolts out of the cover and separate.
The gear will come out easily.
On mine, the big one was fine, but the small one was scored bad. It comes off with a gear puller. Just use a 10mm deep socket in the hole to push against. Don’t forget the outer race. If you are changing the bearing, you have to cut that out and put in the new one. It’s frikken easy, so do it.

It’s all apart!! YAY!!

Now clean the damn thing. Varsol, paint thinner… Wash it all well. Get out any debris from the old bearings. You might as well make the outside look pretty too. If you are going to leave the front section for any length of time, you should coat it in some grease. It is cast iron, unlike the rest of the housing.


Install.

Now that you know how it all came apart it should be easier to put back together. Make sure all threads are in good shape before re-assembly. Press the new bearings on. You can use a press if you have one, or a pipe the same diameter as the inner race of the bearing.

If you are going to paint yours, as I did, do it after it is back together.

How did you figure out the shim size for the gearset? And set backlash? There are several shim sets, one for the nose bearing preload, and one for the main shaft bearing preload, and of course one to set the helical gear engagement.

And what torque did you torque the big nut to? I had to build a tool to remove and torque that nut.

Personally I wouldn't do this job a second time without an expert on hand, or simply sending it out to a gear shop.

Paul

^^^^^ Aye

I give it a few months before you run into problems. Rebuilding these things isnt like playing with legos.

To others thinking to do this, with no dissrespect to Mike, do some more research on Pauls first comments before hand.

This was more of a general overview. I did omit deails...I wrote it days after..

Paul is correct in all his statements. Lash seemed good enough. I had to remove one shim to get it to set right. This isn't a step by step. My ADD doesn't allow for me to write for too long. I made sure that everything moved freely. It should be good for quite a while. If it goes bad, I will post. I have no idea how I could torque that nut on.The shaft is soo long . I used a fakkin pipe wrench. With my past experience I would say I torqued it to 90-110ft pounds, but that's a guess at best. It's snug and won't come off with the nut dimpled.

I am happy it's on the road again. Admittedly I cut some corners, but it saved me enough to buy 2 used transfercases if I need em. It's just a transfercase anyways...30 minutes to swap if you take your time? Yawn.

I sincerely hope it holds up.

The torque on the shaft nut is critical for the bearing pre-load and is set to 109ft pounds (very specific). It's not to retain the shaft so much as it sets the load on the tapered bearings, which is why it's staked and not castled or similar.

The gear lash needs to be checked by glass beading the gear set and using blue machine dye to check the pattern. When it's loaded to high, or low on the teeth you can quickly suffer gear fractures, or damage which destroys them, and as a result those rather expensive bearings become scrap

The preload on those bearings is checked by the turning torque of the drive bevel gear assembly. It should read 15-22 INCH pounds. If not, shims need to be added or removed. Again, this is a VERY tight tolerance that can't be eyeballed.

IMO, take the 30 minutes to remove the case again and bring it into a gear shop.

Setting the load and lash on that case is bread and butter easy for them, it's a very simple assembly and will make a tremendous lifespan difference (from a few weeks or months, to the life of the vehicle).

Good luck!

Paul

100ft-lbs?

A wheel lug ot a flywheel gets that much with a 12cm bolt. I would have thought something like this would take more than 200ft-lbs.

Maybe I will do that Paul. It's better to have it right. I drove home from brampton with the bearing as screwed up as it was..you can see the piece that is supposed to hold the rollers in just laying in the case. These things are pretty resilliant.