Transfer case removal questions
 

99 Disco II. Well, I have independent confirmation that I'm leaking oil from the input & rear output shaft of the transfer case. Rather than pony up the $600-$700 bill to have it done at the dealer, I'm going to pull it myself and do a complete re-seal. Is this a pretty straight-forward job? I have the garage space, jack stands & air tools. Any tricks or Land Rover specific issues to look out for? In the not too distant past, I pulled/installed the transmission on my wife's Dodge Caravan and was hoping it could not be any worse than that! I figure I'll also install new u-joints while I have the driveshafts disconnected.
Thanks for any and all advice - Bill

RE: Transfer case removal questions
 

If you want a workshop manual, you can get one free at rover-renovations.com . Just search for the RAVE cd.They take a little bit to send it to you. They only send it out once a week, since it's free, but it has been very helpful to me.

RE: Transfer case removal questions
 

The transfer case is not a fun job - lots of stuff to remove before you can lower the t-case. Doing it for the first time took me ~15 hours. The entire exhaust except for the rear mufler has to come out. One of the frame cross members has to come out (I had to drill out the bolts on mine as the heads stripped on a couple of them). The parking break drum needs to be removed and the parking break gets tied aside somewhere (you will likely have to remove a heat shield above the middle muffler before you can do this). You will need a transmission jack and some way to attach the t-case to it as the t-case is very irregular shaped on the bottom. I made some blocks out of 2x4s for this purpose. Disconnect all the wires from the T-case, disconnect fuel lines which attach to the t-case in two places, disconnect the hi/low shifter (easier to disconnect at the shifter level attachment than from the top of the case), and there is a banjo bolt on top of the t-case that attaches some sort of the drain tube - that has to come out as well. Loosen twonuts at the transmission/t-case to body mounts, and lift the end of the transmission witha jack. Remove the passanger side t-case to body mount, then remove the five bolts and one nut that hold the t-case to the trans and slide the t-case a good 6 inches back to lower. Make sure you are not pulling any of the wiring down with it. At a minimum you will need new trans output shaft seal, and a new t-case input shaft seal, as well as two manifold to downpipe gaskets and one middle muffler to rear pipe gasket.

This is all from memory so don't be mad at me if I forgot something... This is as big of a job as removing a transmission on a front wheel drive car BTW.

Good luck
Piotr

RE: Transfer case removal questions
 

Bill, did you get an estimate from the dealer or are you just guesstimating the $600-700 based on estimatedhours and labor rates?

The only reason I ask is becuase, $600 doesn't sound like that bad of a deal when you weigh out what's involved in this job. Obviously, putting a value onpersonaltime/effort vs. having someone else do it is all subjective and opinion.

RE: Transfer case removal questions
 

I agree, the price quoted wasn't out of line, but since the Disco is a 3rd vehicle right now and I have the time I would also change all the u-joints and hook up the diff-lock while I had the transfer case out. Thanks for all the advice and I will post the results after I'm done.

- Bill