I lost reverse gear & it's noisy

[Lenair]

I just had a reman'ed 5R55E installed in my 98 X back in December. I've had no trouble until today. On the way to work I heard a whinning noise so I turned around and drove back home (about 1.5 mi). I was thinking it was my serpentine belt because the whinning only occured ~1200-1500 rpm and only when decelerating. Once I got the truck home and the hood lifted, things seemed fine so I decided to drive it to my local auto shop. When I put it in reverse the whinning was back and didn't stop no matter the rpm. Even worst, the truck wouldn't move. My reverse gear is gone! Luckily my driveway is steep and I could put in it neutral and coast down to get it to the shop. The whole way to the shop everytime deceleration brought me into the 1200-1500 rpm range the whinning returned but it would leave once it was ~1000 rpm and stay gone through acceleration. Any ideas?

Don't know if this matters but I backed the truck down in driveway last night in 4 low (lots of snow and ice here). That was only the 2nd time since I bought the truck (back in Dec) that I'd driven in 4 low.

 

[BrooklynBay]

You should have a warranty on it, so if you do anything, it will give the shop a reason not to repair it. It might be possible that the shift linkage is misaligned, and you aren't in the proper gear, or the electronic switch (a type of neutral safety switch which also controls shift gears) on the side is misaligned. There is a tool for realigning it, but you could put it into neutral, and align the switch to neutral. Just a quick question. Do your back up lights turn on when you put it into reverse?

 

[Lenair]

Here the latest info:

My mechanic took it for a test drive and could replicate the whinning but not the lack of reverse. He said my transfer case sounded like a bucket of bolts so he's going to drain the fluid to see if that reveals anything.

I went ahead and called the company that reman'd the transfor me just to give them a heads up and to ask if there was any diagnostics my mechanic should perform to rule out the trans. He also said the transfer case is the likely culprit. He even went so far as to explain the engineering "oversights" that lead to problems with that specific transfer case (Borg Warner 4405/6).

I'll keep you guys posted as this progresses.

 

[Glacier991]

My guess is the transfer case.

 

[Lenair]

You got it. It's the transfer case. My mechanic called me with the news last night. When he drained the T-case he found a lot of metal shavings and bits. I suppose my options now are the same as when my trans went out.

1. Have the existing t-case rebuilt (if possible).
2. Have a used t-case installed.
3. Have a new t-case installed.
4. Have a reman'd t-case installed.

He's pricing each option here in the local area and I'm calling the company I got my reman'd trans from. Hopefully I won't be without my X for too long.

Since I'm at the rebuild or replace phase again... Does anyone know if I can upgrade to a different, perhaps sturdier, t-case? From what I'm reading I'm stuck with the BW 4405.

 

[Lenair]

After doing some extensive searching today on here (I'm at home sick), there are a ton of posts related to this problem which almost makes the reman'd t-case seem worth the money.