So, in my 8 years of owning DSMs I've never seen or even heard of this happening.

The dust cover? Sleeve? Drive shaft input? (no idea WFT it's called) came loose off the back of my transfer case.
Normal location:


Loose and sliding around...




Let me tell you... The sound of that rattling around really made my heart stop.... Very metallic and "broken" sound....

So, the question is, can I run without this? If not, how the hell does it reattach? It now just slides on and off effortlessly.

I'm about to replace the yoke as well as the output seal because as you can see, it's shot. The T-Case was running dry for god knows how long. The gears all still look healthy, it sounds healthy, and there is very very little play in the output shaft (way less then a mm)

Input always appreciated and enjoy the Shootout for everyone who is going!

It's a dust shield for the yoke. You can run without it. It is just pressed on and obviously worn out. Just toss it or tack it back on.

Thanks Reza. I might try and tack it back on. It was designed that way for a reason.

The natural progression of things.... Noise leads to discovering dust shield has come loose, then noticing that my output seal has since eaten itself alive. At which point I decide to swap out the 95 yoke for the new and improved one which leads to the final discovery of a blown lobro boot.
Getting to know my driveshaft very well this week.... ugh

Better to discover these sort of things before it's too late though. How are the carrier bearings?

Carriers seem to be in good health. Not too shabby for a 20 year old drive shaft. I might as well get some wire brushes and paint seeing as it's already in pieces.