During our reinstall of the 93 BW transfer case we unevenly torqued bolts for a moment and a quarter sized part of the transfer case broke off and fell inside the case. We fixed the case with JBWeld and it's 100% sealed, but can't fish out the large chip. it is laying on the bottom of the case, under the filter screen. It's about 3/8" by 3/4" in the shape of the state of vermont.

my concerns:
1. I'll knock off the pickup screen and not be able to put it back on easily
2. it might not even matter about the chip being in there since it is "soft" aluminum and will eventually grind up in the gears
3. it could float up into the chain and harm something while it is being ground up
4. will ground aluminum harm the viscous coupling, the pump, or other parts internally?

Drained and re-filled the rover's transfer case this morning. 2 qts of fresh mobil1 Dex3 full synthetic. the broken off chunk is in the bottom of the case but I can't reach it because it's trapped under a wire screen/filter. I hope (don't think) it's going anywhere. there was a bit of shinny (ground up case) in the fluid but no large particles. I think the viscous pump is gear driven and hopefully more shinny stuff won't harm anything. I could drill a hole in the other side of the case, insert 10 gauge wire and possibly push the dime-sized chip out -- would need to tap and bolt the hole OR jbweld it shut. thoughts?

other ideas -- with the hole I would either jbweld or RTV-blue the chip to the bottom of the transfer case to keep it from moving it around.

thoughts?

I'm NOT going to remove the transfer case unless it fails.


Thanks,
Tony

 

Well, this will be interesting to see the out come of this issue.

 

Make sure you keep that tow truck on your speed dial..

 

Cold surfer, I personnally, being known lazy, would







REMOVE & teardown the transfer case, get my bib overall wearin' toothless amazing welder buddy to weld back in the chunk, remachine if necessary.


OR, buy a used xfer, keep it & the necessary tools, jack, etc. in the back of my truck.
I'm cheap also, but I'll bet you $10 you won't get a week out of her. & no fair towing it to work

It's 7:10 pm cst & I see (3) on ebay - (1) w/o viscous or e-brake for $99

 

Good advice ^^^^

Remember most aluminum alloys are quite tougher than your average soda can. Not very likely to get 'ground up' in the gears and everything will work fine..

 

Fished the broken part out of the drain HOLE !!! No more worries.... Whew!

 

I had problems on the belhousing -- the allignment dowel was missing and would not fit in there easily from the other trans -- so I had to ream the hole a bit and pound in the dowel.

The samde issue happened on the PIN from the transfer case -- that is the part that "busted off". it's sealed now, however, it's really a bummer I didn't join up the trans to the xfer case BEFORE install. lessen learned the hard way. At least my repair cost is under $50 so far for the busted part.

1. need to make the transfer case manual tool for the trans jack -- it is a requirement
2. probably should start saving for a new case

 

Thank you little 6-1/2# baby J.!!

Cold, you realize that by removing the chunk, you've changed the terms of my $10 offer.
The bet is off.

By-the-way, my welder IS toothless,bib overall wearin' (I think he even lives in welding truck)

Congrats

 

Your $10 had great prospects too -- that chunk wasn't all aluminum. It was partly a hardened steel pin -- that doesn't grind up well.... It's like biting into popcorn and getting kernels. Maybe your welder got some bad popcorn a while back.

I did use JB weld to repair that case -- Jim-Bob Weld. Jim-Beam Weld. For $4.12 at Wally World it's one of the better products they have... Brake Cleaner, Acetone and rough wire brush to prepare and JB does the rest. It's hold up so far. So far my brother's got 2 race seasons from an alum. LS1 block repair done with JB -- it was a thrown rod threw the block a few years back. Maybe that is hurting the welding community?

 

Please don't think I'm a purist, I've used my share of expoxys, sealers, tape,etc. I felt the location of the break was near a boss in thehousing therefore subject to potential stress.
I usually power wash or hot tank large items to ensure to stop those little stinkers from getting through the bearing races. (I won't talk about needle brgs)
They like to act as lapping compound on the seals.

We all know that stuff breaks @ the worst time.