Transfer Case Issues

weazel

weazel

5th gear killer
Joined
May 14, 2008
Messages
2,252
After finally getting my airdog situation figured out, I took the truck out to my ranch to use it to pull an old travel trailer off my property. Stuck the truck in 4lo, and worked just fine, but had a feeling I might have some issues with it later on.. And sure enough, my wife and I were heading out of town yesterday to go pick up some stuff, and driving about 65, in 6th gear, all of a sudden it sounded like I stripped teeth in the trans!

Pulled over and stuck the shifter in each gear, felt ok. So turned around and started heading home to get the other truck. Got 2 miles down the road, and same thing happened. But while coasting to the side of the road, I attempted to down shift through each gear, but it yielded the same response, free rev, no gear.

Got pulled over and switched it into 4hi and hammered down. The truck didn't do that again, but I kept it in 4hi till we got to the house.

When I did the conversion from g56-auto-nv5600, I had a similar issue going to the 5600. I had pulled the transfer case apart and saw I had one piece installed wrong so fixed it. Then went through the whole, "I am going to attempt to lock into 4wd on my own" phase. Got that figured out, but NOW it seems as if it's slipping itself into neutral.

Being that this thing is electronically actuated, is there a way to get this to stop? Maybe extra grounding somewhere I could install?? Any advice?
 
Any ideas? I'm thinking of converting to manual style, just to get away from one more electrical gremlin...
 
Did a little troubleshooting tonight since I had some time. I cleaned the connector that slides on the transfer case actuator and threw some dielectric grease on them. Took it around the block and about half way around, when I let off in 2nd to stop at a stop sign, it sounded like grinding was still happening.

Started back towards the house, and every time I let off to shift it would grind. So while it was grinding, I turned the knob to 4hi, and I was at about 25mph. It slid in and drove fine after that. Drove back to the house, turned it back to 2wd, then unplugged the connector and took it for another spin. Drove fine like that.

So I'm stuck.. I don't know whether to think it's the actuator on the side of the transfer case, or if it's the control knob...
 
Ok new development... I have the electronics unplugged from the transfer case actuator, but it still tried slipping into neutral. I drove about half a mile away from the house, and it barely made it back home.

My guess at this point is something inside the case is messed up...
 
I agree. Either the synchro is bad and or the fork is bent. I'm leaning towards the synchro.
 
Ok, I'm definitely going to drop it and take it apart to see what's going on in there.
 
well after a long time of having to get other things out of the way, i finally had a chance to pull the case apart.

it had quite a few shaving in there, but no big chunks of metal. it took awhile, but i was able to buy a chain for it, due to a lot of the same answers when i would describe what the case was doing.

threw in the new chain, put it all back together, and into the truck it went. it worked almost better than before! but i guess i screwed up, and started bragging on how well it was finally working.......

saturday i used the truck to help haul hay on my dads place. had it in 4low that way the truck would crawl and it was easier for everyone to load the trailer..

got done with all that, unhooked from the trailer, threw it back in 2 high and headed home. ran fine. then the wife and i decided to go out on the town, since its been awhile since weve been out. got about 35 miles down the road, and the old painful "pop" sound i so hate to hear and remember. it popped about 4 times on our treck out of that town. came to a stop sign and put the shifter in neutral, and heard the transfer case making a grinding sound, just like it did before, and when it does this, it will all act as if everything is in the neutral position. so i immediately stuck it in 4high, and went on about our business. i drove it the 45 or so miles home after we had a fun night, but now to reality, the damn thing is jacked up again, and the truck is now un-dependable.... sorry for the long post, but kind of at a loss.. cant afford a new one, and would rather just fix whats wrong with this one.

any ideas, or suggestions on what to do?
 
Had a similar situation happen to me a few years ago. I was hauling another truck down the highway, downshifted to get off the off ramp and I also heard this "pop", didnt think anything about it. Got to the light, the transfer case popped into neutral. It would go back into 2Hi, but would shudder, and pop back into neutral maybe a mile down the road. Anyways, yanked the transfer case, fork was phucked and the main bearing was "egged", replaced them and it has been good to go. Apparently the fork is a known issue and there is an "upgraded" one now. Hopefully this is some help for you.
 
Ok. Was this the rear fork? Or that smaller fork in front of it you're talking about?
 
Kinda sorta... It worked great for a week or so. Then used 4lo while we were hauling hay. Stuck it back in 2wd and drove about 35 miles and it started acting up again. I drove it the rest of the way in 4hi.

Didn't drive it for two weeks, then hopped in it and it's been working ok ever since.

I swapped out the chain is pretty much all I did. But when I find time, I'm going to put new shift fork pads in, and install a new bearing in the input shaft where the main shaft rides.

Reason I want to try this is because the forks looked to be in good shape, the gears for the chain looked good too. But the pads seemed to not be in the best shape, and that bearing seemed to have moved spots. I'm hoping that will totally cure the problem.
 
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