Transfer case slipping out of gear?

[Pstyckiewicz]

So I took a trip with my 1152A1 today and the transfer case all the sudden falls into N this has never happened before. I was traveling around 65-70 mph and started to climb a hill on the highway and the transfer case went into N. I was able to get it home but I had to put my hand on the lever to keep it from going back into N. Also it was making a thump every so often.

Got it home and started to look at things. Opened the T/C drain plug and there was maybe a 1/4 of a quart of oil that came out (yikes). Figured it was blown to pieces in there. I put a borescope in the drain plug, fill plug, and dent ball thing. So everything looked surprisingly good from what I could see. The only thing I did notice was a piece of rubber (rubber o-ring) stuck in a spring when I put the camera through the dent ball hole. See picture
What I did was the easiest thing first -Filled the T/C. It didn’t fix anything. So I did a couple more tests.
1-tried adjusting linkage= did nothing.
2-filled tc= did nothing.
3-drove around to see what triggers it to come out of gear=any kind of load.
4-while in park I can get the tc to fall into neutral by reving the engine.

When I hold the tc shifter I can feel it moving when a load is applied. Also get a skip/thud from the tc and can feel it in the shifter.

I have read that it could be a half shaft or differential but I would rather not rip things apart with out figuring out what it could be. I’m leaning towards the TC based off there being next to no oil, but from the borescope it looked fine.
Any other tests to rule things out before very helpful!
Also is it difficult to rebuild the transfer case?

 

[Pstyckiewicz]

Pictures are of the oring/rubber location. Truck serial number is below 299999.

 

[NDT]

Typically what causes this is loss of parallelism between gears, then a sideways thrust is applied to the gear which overcomes the detent ball in the shift rail. The issue is caused by one of the gears carrier shaft bearings failing. Well you know why.

 

[Sjoconnor]

Pictures are of the oring/rubber location. Truck serial number is below 299999.

Did you look at the Transmission fluid level? Very similar thing happened when I was Vampired...... Look for tranny fluid in the air filter box from the vent lines.

Stephen

 

[Pstyckiewicz]

Transmission fluid looks to be a good level and no fluid in air cleaner.

 

[Mogman]

The detents as mentioned above are internal to the transfer case, if it will not stay in gear it is internal damage.

This is why we constantly tell everyone to change ALL fluids and filters as soon as they get their trucks, that is an expensive lesson to learn.

 

[Pstyckiewicz]

Looking up the detent plunger hole the sector shaft teeth looked fine. But I’m sure there is others things in there causing it to over come that mechanism. But I have no idea the inner workings of it.

 

[Pstyckiewicz]

Any idea what part would be worn out? Not sure what the carrier shaft bearings look like. Just trying to get a sense of where to focus my attention when I open it up and what stuff might cost.

 

[Pstyckiewicz]

Any thoughts on putting a 2225 in there? Will it bolt right up and my current drive shafts work? Also how hard is it to hook up cooling loop from engine. And will my current shifting lever work? Found one that is supposedly new on Market P for $800.


Almost have my old one out. Just tuff getting to the bold on top from the transmission to the TC.

 

[Pstyckiewicz]

Got it out of the truck today. Those bolts on top kinda suck. I’ll keep y’all posted what I find.

Also is there suppose to be any fluid in the adapter thing between the transmission and tc?

 

[Mogman]

Got it out of the truck today. Those bolts on top kinda suck. I’ll keep y’all posted what I find.

Also is there suppose to be any fluid in the adapter thing between the transmission and tc?

Yes

 

[Pstyckiewicz]

Anyone know if there is a rebuild kit for the 242. I see there is one for the 242 that is in Jeeps. Not sure if there is any difference is baring size or seal sizes?

 

[Mogman]

Anyone know if there is a rebuild kit for the 242. I see there is one for the 242 that is in Jeeps. Not sure if there is any difference is baring size or seal sizes?

I would assume many of the parts would be the same, the Jeep 242 and the GM 242 (Hummer/Humvee) are close but not identical, the Jeep version has 5 modes where the GM version has 4 (no 2wd)
The GM version has larger splined input/output shafts, not sure if that translates to different bearings or not.

 

[Mogman]

You may want to contact Novak conversions as they know more than most folks about transfer cases and sell master rebuild kits.

 

[Pstyckiewicz]

Thanks for the good info.

 

[Pstyckiewicz]

Open it up today. Looks like my transfer case range fork is destroyed and mode fork plastic pads are melted. But other than that everything else looks good! Looks like the chain was replaced in 2013 (etched into link).

 

[Pstyckiewicz]

Also notice the pin holding the range fork in place was missing and the fork was free floating on the rod. Not sure if it fell out during disassembly but I feel like the pin should have been in there pretty good?

 

[Pstyckiewicz]

Is it ok that there is transmission fluid dripping out from where it meets transfercase. Not sure if there’s a seal in there or just a baring?

 

[Mogman]

Is it ok that there is transmission fluid dripping out from where it meets transfercase. Not sure if there’s a seal in there or just a baring?

The only seal is on the front of the transfer case, why I said it was normal to have fluid there.

 

[Pstyckiewicz]

I was just making sure. I didn’t want to slap it back up there with out fixing everything.