1998rollover
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- November 10, 2008
- Messages
- 231
- Reaction score
- 11
- City, State
- Weiser, ID
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1998 Mountaineer
Bought a 98 Explorer on an auction, listed as making a loud bang noise on heavy acceleration.
Fluid was black and smelled burnt when drained. No metal particles. Found a bit of a gouge on the inside of the case by the front output gear. Obviously very loose chain getting forced out and catching. Also got a rebuilt VC 'cause something had to be heating up a lot and often to burn the fluid that bad.
All looks pretty good while taking it apart, but the bearings don't make happy sounds when spun. So it's getting new bearings.
The input shaft doesn't want to come out of the front case half, yet it has a lot of wobble. One block of wood and light hammer whacking later... Bad wear on the thrust face and signs of overheating. The input shaft bushing flange is nearly cut through. (But where'd the metal go???)
Just for the heck of it I chuck the shaft in my Monarch 12CK lathe and I can face the thrust face on the shaft nice and smooth. Could get a hard thrust washer from Mc Master Carr and with a new bushing it would be fine - except the bleepity-blank shaft is BENT. Not much but spinning in the lathe it's visibly crooked. How does a beefy solid steel part with plenty of support get bent???
Now for the real "fun" part that's had the rig apart over two weeks. I found the best price for an input shaft and ordered it online.
Some time later I get a call saying it'll be a week before they can get a shaft. A couple of days later I get a second call, it'll be 40 days(!).
I ask if they might have a good used shaft and sho'nuff they do, will refund me the difference and ship it "right away", which took a week to get here.
Got it yesterday (along with the bushings and thrust washers I ordered) and it's the wrong part! It's not even a part for a BW4404.
The bag it is in does have the correct part number for the BW4404 input shaft. (607A) It's actually in a bag in a bag and both have the same (wrong) part number.
After about an hour on the phone and some e-mails back and forth "No, that is not a diagram of a 4404, you sent me a diagram of a 4405. Completely different transfer case." and sending them a link to another vendor's BW4404 diagram, the vendor discovers they actually had the right part in stock all along. AAAAGGGGHHHHHH! Rather than re-charging me the amount of difference they refunded, they charge me the full price for the shaft and will refund what I paid for the wrong one they sent, after they get it back. At least I didn't have to pay return shipping.
So now they are going to look into how the wrong part got tagged in their system as the BW4404 input shaft. Might have something to do with that being one BW4404 part they don't have a photo of on their website.
I hope your next drivetrain project goes better than this!
Fluid was black and smelled burnt when drained. No metal particles. Found a bit of a gouge on the inside of the case by the front output gear. Obviously very loose chain getting forced out and catching. Also got a rebuilt VC 'cause something had to be heating up a lot and often to burn the fluid that bad.
All looks pretty good while taking it apart, but the bearings don't make happy sounds when spun. So it's getting new bearings.
The input shaft doesn't want to come out of the front case half, yet it has a lot of wobble. One block of wood and light hammer whacking later... Bad wear on the thrust face and signs of overheating. The input shaft bushing flange is nearly cut through. (But where'd the metal go???)
Just for the heck of it I chuck the shaft in my Monarch 12CK lathe and I can face the thrust face on the shaft nice and smooth. Could get a hard thrust washer from Mc Master Carr and with a new bushing it would be fine - except the bleepity-blank shaft is BENT. Not much but spinning in the lathe it's visibly crooked. How does a beefy solid steel part with plenty of support get bent???
Now for the real "fun" part that's had the rig apart over two weeks. I found the best price for an input shaft and ordered it online.
Some time later I get a call saying it'll be a week before they can get a shaft. A couple of days later I get a second call, it'll be 40 days(!).
I ask if they might have a good used shaft and sho'nuff they do, will refund me the difference and ship it "right away", which took a week to get here.
Got it yesterday (along with the bushings and thrust washers I ordered) and it's the wrong part! It's not even a part for a BW4404.
The bag it is in does have the correct part number for the BW4404 input shaft. (607A) It's actually in a bag in a bag and both have the same (wrong) part number.After about an hour on the phone and some e-mails back and forth "No, that is not a diagram of a 4404, you sent me a diagram of a 4405. Completely different transfer case." and sending them a link to another vendor's BW4404 diagram, the vendor discovers they actually had the right part in stock all along. AAAAGGGGHHHHHH!
Rather than re-charging me the amount of difference they refunded, they charge me the full price for the shaft and will refund what I paid for the wrong one they sent, after they get it back. At least I didn't have to pay return shipping.So now they are going to look into how the wrong part got tagged in their system as the BW4404 input shaft. Might have something to do with that being one BW4404 part they don't have a photo of on their website.
I hope your next drivetrain project goes better than this!
