I swapped the differential and xfer case oil out today and, all in all, it went pretty smooth.

The differential oil came out clean and chestnut colored with no shavings.

The xfer case, though, was a nasty looking black and smelt burnt. There were also some shavings on the drain plug magnet (see pic). It was mostly grit about the size of a grain of sand, but there were a few larger sized slivers.

How much, if any, wear is expected on a xfer case with 50k on the clock?

BTW, I replaced the fluids with Mobile 1 Synthetic at nearly $10 per bottle. Ouch!

 

Here's the pic.

[IMG]local://upfiles/10079/A6026BE0F73F482DBAC33E9A4BC60869.jpg[/IMG]

 

that doesn't look like an excessive amount of shavings to me for 50K miles..especially for a gear to gear transfer case.

 

Yeah, dont worry about it.

 

completly normal. the gears in all your diffs are designed to wear to themselves, made of cintered metal, its suposed to be like that

 

If your t/case was black and burned, you will loose it shortly and there is nothing you do about it.
The case usually holds up real well, but you are going thru a mechanical failure.
Start looking for a good used one, don't try to rebuild this one, which will need way to many parts.

 

actually man, im going to agree with mike here, i hadnt enlarged the pic before, but you have some chucks on there, which is not good. start looking, could be a few thousand miles before anything happens, but id start knowing what youre in for now

 

Yikes.

That's not the news I wanted to hear.

Come to think of it, the bottom cover has been off as evidenced by the silicone around the edges. It's also a bit greasy so I imagine there was a leak at some point that had been patched up.

What sorts of warning signs might I get before it fails, if any?

 

if it continues going like it is now, small pieces, youll get a pronounced whine as you drive, but whos to say it will, or that it will wear anymore at all... as i sayd earlier, its cintered metal in your gears, it could just wear the notches left by the missing chucks out and be normal. and seeing sealant there isnt unusual, rtv seal from the factory. if its a bearing thats going, you should already have a noticble groan going down the road, sorry for the bad news man

 

No whine or anything yet.It actually drives and shifts pretty good and 4 low seems pretty good, too.

I'm getting ready to swap the tranny filter and fluid and will see ifit is fairing any better.

I was hoping to get by with fluid onlybut there's a gap in the maintenance records from 25k through 37k and it changed hands a few times. Better to be safe than sorry and all that.

Anyway, my garage stillreeks of burnt x-fer case oil. Yuck.

BTW, I just checked Roverland's website and they offer rebuilt units for $1150. And it looks like '03 has its own, seperate t-case.

Any idea where to pick up just a low mileage used one?