if it's lifted I would not run the lucky8 shaft...

 

Disco is not lifted, it appears to have been closer to a garage queen than a trail truck. I'll do a little closer investigation of the output flange. I checked the one in my 03 tonight when I had the front shaft off and there was zero movement to it so I have a good baseline, since that truck does not vibrate. I did not feel any movement in any axis when I checked this truck yesterday but it still has no front shaft (and is vibration free like that) so it will be easy to clamp something to it and see if I can get it to move around.

 

Here's how it went down. After reading that they flushed the transfer case, I think it's safe to assume it did not get replaced with the trans. "a piece flew out"

 

out of what? trans or TC... there aren't too many pieces to come out of TC, unless you break a gear tooth or something came off the locking mechanisms...

 

My guess is they witnessed a piece of the driveshaft winging out from under the truck once the fireworks got underway.

 

ahhh...flew out from 'undah' !

well, You might try the D-shaft hose clamp trick before pulling the TC..it's a pita and rebuilding one requires some special tools and shims...

 

I can assure you, I am not going to be rebuilding any transfer cases no matter what the outcome. Learning curve is too steep. Removal and install is in my wheelhouse, although no walk in the park, but it's not worth the risk of cracking it open myself and doing all that work to find out I effed it up. I'd much rather swap the front axle and see where that leaves me before even attempting to approach the t/c as the source of the problem.

 

After I got my used '04 three years ago with 100k miles, I noticed vibrations were getting worse over the first 500 miles. It was a whirring-chirping sound coming from underneath, but zero vibrations on the steering wheel. The cause was a neglected front driveshaft damaging the output bearing of the transfer case. There was a well visible radial play of the output shaft of at least 1mm. Both were replaced and that fixed it.

 

What’s the rule of thumb regarding driving around locked with no front driveshaft? I wouldn’t think it really matters, assuming the center diff is full of oil, which I still haven’t checked. Is it advised against doing for any length of time?

Edit: At most, the transfer case took 3-4 ounces of gear oil. The output flange is rock solid, no movement in any direction. However, this was with the diff locked. Will try again in neutral.

 

OK, there is ZERO play in the transfer case output shaft. I can't get it to move in any axis even when in neutral (although it does spin freely). The hand test may not be conclusive but it at least makes we want to look at other things first. Are CV joints or other components of the front axle likely to cause a vibration? It seems to me that anything like rotors or bearings would still vibrate even without a front driveshaft installed, which does not happen. One thing that occurred to me while researching swapping the front axle is that the RAVE recommends marking the orientation of the input flange of the front axle before removing the front driveshaft. Is there any phasing of the u-joints to the front diff that could cause a vibration? The vibration was noticed after the transmission was replaced, it's possible they installed the front driveshaft 90° out of alignment. I'm hoping maybe this could be it, although it seems unlikely.