5,000km ago I was having a U-Joint changed and while the truck was up on the lift I did a little inspection. Found out that the Transfer case seam to be leaking from the gasket on the passenger side. Same symptoms as this thread:

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15297&highlight=leaking+transfer+case

The level was not too low and I added just a little. Went to change the fluid last week (5000km later) and just a few drops of oil plus some metal particules came out the drain (should have watched it more carefully). Flushed a liter of Dextron III in it to get the other particules out and filled it up. It's not leaking but coating the underside.

I assume I have that rubbin pump thing going on. From what I understand from my searches; a metal clip is missing and the pump is digging itself a hole out of the tranfert case. The repair seems costly but I can't understand why we can fix the hole with metal-epoxy and put the damn clip back on?

Any ideas, experiences?

Thanks

In reply to my own thread, here a photo I took today of my transfer case. You can clearly see the small hole at the point of the pen.


I tried searching for a TSB related to this problem but I can't find any. I was relatively sucessfull with GM in the past for getting goodwill about issues that had TSBs on them. Is there a TSB and if so; can I have the number/link?

Also, has anyone looked at the first post in this thread and have any info to share?

Thanks in advance.

JF.

Looks like the pump rubbin failure we are getting more and more familier with..

dmaxalliTech: Any tsb's on the subject? What are the repair options? Would replacing the missing clip and patching the case work since mine as never ran out of oil for an extended period?

replace the case half and the clip.

Patching the hole wont do much as the case is worn, you can see it when you open it up.

Thanks Eric.

I was the original poster of the mentioned thread. They had to replace the case half.

Just be real careful who you have do it.

The stealer that did mine gave me the truck back with a center carrier bearing that was cocked sideways (CCLB) and the bolts holding the driveshaft to the rearend were loose. I got to crawl under the truck 2 miles from the stealer on an interstate to tighten the bolts. The banging and clanging was getting bad.

Then I began to have intermittent gear grinding noises. Took it back to the stealer. They said they "adjusted it" -:t. I've been treated like an idiot before, but that takes the cake. Of course, it continued, and since it was warranty, I had to keep dealing with them, so I took it back. They kept it for a week, driving it (making it grind) and trying to find some way to fix it without having to take it apart again. I finally demanded another truck to drive while they were "playing" with mine. That afternoon the took the transfer case apart again and found they had forgotten to put a snap ring back some where.

In the long run, the thing that bothers me the most is that the leaking oil from the transfer case made a lot of the coating on the frame disappear, now I'm getting rust in places on the frame.

Bert

The other part to this is that if the tcase has run dry long enough it will be hamburger inside...mine hade to be replaced (caught it at purchase so dealer paid).

I check mine very often, for now the dealer patched it with metal epoxy while I find a cheap solution. I was about to bring a tube and a funnel inside the cab connected directly to the fill-up plug ;) A sip of diet coke for me and a sip of dextron III for the transfer case. Must be carefull with the order...

I was tring to find out if the half case could be salvaged because I tought that the only damage was the pin-hole but according to dmaxalliTech the case is worn elsewhere from the inside. I would have done the job myself but the garage would do the R & R.

Thanks for all your inputs.

JF.

See the picture in this post. There are 5 ears on the pump that ride in the areas of the rear case. When the clip breaks or gets worn through the same amount of wear happens in all the other spots. When one hole appears the others are very close to appearing.
http://dieselplace.com/forum/showpost.php?p=618947&postcount=12

I had the same symptoms & found the same hole as pictured above. I patched the hole with epoxy; I'll replace the rear half when I can.

Paul, when you say the dry tcase will cause it to be hamburger inside, are you talking about the case with the holes wearing into it, or the transfer case itself?

When I pulled my transfer case to replace my broken output shaft there was only a cup or so of Dexron inside so mine's been low for a while. Seems to work fine, and it's full now, just curious where the "hamburger" is.


Doug

I have found that if there is still even a little bit of fluid left the internals will be ok. The first thing to get damaged is the range hub that slides on the output shaft. It has no bearings between it and the shaft, only oil.

Man this is getting me worried. I'm gonna check my fluid tomorrow.

I took in my truck to have the fluid changed in both diffs and the transfer case. Dealer just called me and said my transfer case was bone dry. The put in a quart of fluid and it leaked out immediately. There is a hole in the side of the case. When the tech opened up the case, the culprit was the pump. Dealer found a used case locally with 50k miles on it. Total bill for the transfer case install plus my front and rear diff service is going to be $2200.

Tel9000: Nothing tells you that the used case doesn't have the same factory defect than your old one... That's what worries me.

I am definitely with you, Maxter. I had the dealership break the case open on the new one to ensure that the clip was in place before they put it on. Yes, that worries me, too. I am going to check the fluid in the case more often. BTW, the bill was $2022 not $2200.

Good call :ro) I assume the internals were ok and nothing was missing?

According to the Service Manager, everything was ok before they put the new one on.

According to the Service Manager, everything was ok before they put the new one on.

For totally unrelated reasons; :rolleyes: :rolleyes: I had to open up my transfer case. While it was open, I decided to investigate and try to repair the problem.

I counted 4 ears on the pump. Each one had a groove (wich is not suposed to be there) that is caused by the pump moving too much because of a broken retainer clip.

A few months ago I patched a hole from the outside using metal epoxy. So here's my take on it... I don't know when the clip broke but I asume it was early. Since it took 172,000 km to get like that I decided to patch the 4 unwanted slots from inside the case with metal epoxy AND re-inforce that from the outside also with metal epoxy wich by the way is harder than magnesium. Since it held well on the outside I cleaned the inside carrefylly and made the patches.

Since a used case seem to go for 850$CAN and a rebuilt one for 1100$CAN around here I weighted that paying 600$CAN for the rear half case was not very wise and it was worth the shot to try to repair it for 0$CAN. The VERY worse case scenario is that it doesn't hold and I destroy the case and have to buy a used one. I'm betting 250$ to save 600$. Most likely scenario is that it hold at least another 100,000km or more. The VERY best scenario is that I win the lotto but I would have to buy a ticket for that...

Here are the photos:

Is it just me, or does the inside of that case look to have excessive porosity at its machined points???