My transfer case has developed a sudden leak. I fear it may be bearing failure as I also have a new noise under load that I can not pin-point and how quickly the leak came up. Or so I assume it was sudden, my TC case has been wet on the bottom for years with no dripping. Now it drips and pools a little.

So the question is if its possible to replace the front output shaft seal while installed on the vehicle, or is the seal inside which requires the case to be split? If I have to pull it, I will just swap with another TC case a neighbor has. But for now, even if the bearing may be shot, I would like to try the seal. If the bearing is in fact shot, I know the new seal will fail fast. If the bearing is fine, I need to locate the source of the noise (maybe rear wheel bearing).

FYI: Fluid was replaced 40k miles ago with Royal Purple Synchromax.

 

that doesn't look promising. Never done anything but fluid on mine so I'm of no help

 

Answered my own question when digging through RAVE. The output shaft does not slid out, it secures inside the case with a clip. So you must open the case, slide out the shaft then you can replace the seal. So there is no way to replace the seals without dropping and opening the transfer case.

Bummer!

Guess I will swap a spare transfer case in then rebuild this one on the bench at my own leisure.

 

what a pain

 

I had the same issue as you years ago. Of all the repairs I did on my LR3, this was my least favorite. The hardest part was undoing the 8 bolts that attach the transfer case to the transmission. The bolts are nearly impossible to see and have extremely limited access. I believe the factory instructions are to use a crow’s foot for these bolts, but I used a stubby ratcheting wrench.

Here is some good documentation from another site: https://www.rangerovers.net/threads/...eardown.41233/

I wish you the best on this!

 

I have a stubby ordered, maybe it was your post I read. I pretty much plan to lay under and hug it to get to the bolts.

My plan was to remove the the spare today, but work went way over schedule and we have a snow storm tomorrow - the spares truck is outside. So I picked up some Blue Devil a.k.a. White Shepherd Oil Stop Leak. I am going to add some and top off the fluid, then drive it for a couple hours and see if it helps. Just a stop gap until I get the other case pulled and swapped into mine. I fear my leak it too much for the additive to help. I lost a half ounce sitting at work today.

 

#revive. how did it go? I have to do the same job

 

Well I did it… I wish I would have taken pictures, sorry. I got it out, and decided to purchase a used one on eBay to swap in and maybe rebuild the old one. However when removing the old one I badly damaged (read cut in half with a grinder) the front flange after trying everything else. I got the new one on, and it went on so easily that it was too good to be true. (My wife actually came out to the garage to see what I was yelling about, I was celebrating under the rover!). I filled it up with royal purple, got the truck off the jack stands ….. and got the horrible parking brake screech. Then parking brake failure message, terrain response off, low gear range unavailable.

And….. , I need the parking brake engaged to be able to clear the transmission and reset the transfer case sensor with the gap tool, but I can’t get the damn parking brake to set, unjam or mount/latch! I’ll break out (get it) Bodsy’s bible to see about resetting the parking brake (I just put on new rotors and brakes 200 miles ago and everything was working great).

I’m wondering two things:
1. Is the parking brake failure related to the transfer case install or coincidental.

2: is the lo/hi actuator on the new t case shot? I am pretty sure that is controlled by the smaller motor/solenoid in the aluminum housing closest to the rear wheels. I took the one off the old case while exploring and oppsidentally cracked the foot inside it. It could also be that the lo/hi gear is gummed up from sitting, but the new case turned freely, although I didn’t know how to check the actuators and didn’t want to mess it up. I’ll try the slow roll and shift tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure that with the special programs not available, that bypasses the whole thing.

i imagine I’m going to be doing this job again, it was a PITA, but really, wasn’t that bad. It took me 12 hours. If there’s a next time it’ll probably take me 3-4. Stubby wrench with a webbing strap tied to the fork end did the trick. PB blaster a couple days in advance on the transmission support bolts and the 8 transfer case bolts. On those top bolts I connected the webbing to a come along/cable puller to a support pole in the garage and cranked and cranked until it popped. That was gratifying when it finally broke loose.

 

The transfer case solenoid is a tricky thing. You can install it incorrectly if I recall. There are some threads with pics in some place that goes over replacement and how it needs to line up inside. The parking brake issue is likely conscience. You are not working near it. I have no parking brake at all right now, forgot that some procedures do require it to be engaged. Will have to get those done first.

 

for clarification, I swapped the actuator motor, number 4 from my old case to the new case. The solenoid, 1 is what I broke off the old case. I looked around and found some stuff about alining the actuator, but my the TC doesn't look like that... this is mine and aside from all the clay and mud on it, there's no skipped tooth, or anything like that. Same on the female part of the motor, but I don't have a picture.





Also, I popped my real wheels off, re-adjusted the parking brake tension (snapped a head of on of the Allen screws off in there) and the parking brake is back to normal.