new front differential and transfer case

[teriteresa]

starting make the weirdest noise.. lots of road noise then a metal on metal sound..like a card in bike spokes... did for a minute then stopped and then did it constantly loud.. sounds like coming from left front tire area.. no vibration (seen that a lot on here) turning doest make a difference...
jsut the noise just gets louder as you increase speed

thought it might be hub so bought new hub assembly... but upon that realized the noise was actually coming from under..

so took it to the mechanic.. wich of course did not get to hear the noise....
but thought it might be the u joints but mechanic said those looked great BUT lets check the transfer case.. no grease so the filled that b ack up and for about 4 weeks maybe 500ish miles NOTHING then all at once noise came back... so put more grease in but it ddint stop the noise this time...

the mechanic came back and says we need to rebuild the front differential and a new transfer case noise is coming from both......

if any of the powers that be out there... have any idea even ballpark of how much this is going to cost please let me know......

thanks

 

[ericautopart]

There was no fluid in the tcase or grease? I hope you filled it with fluid. Has the chain ever been replaced? You didn't specify what is wrong with the front diff? Spider gears, bearings, ring and pinion? If the mechanic just wants to replace the whole front diff then he doesn't even know what's wrong with it. It could be a million things. Depends on where you go..

 

[Verno]

Get a second opinion from a different mechanic! They should be able to tell what is wrong (or most likely wrong inside diff) and estimate cost of repair/replace

 

[teriteresa]

thanks for the reply...

yes we filled it back up with grease.. we do know it has a leak, so that needs to be fixed... mechanic said the transfer case problem was the chain.. and no that has never been changed.. so they are going to fix that... does that mean we need a whole new one?

the mechanic really couldnt tell me what was wrong with the front diffrential just that they are hearing noise at both places... the loud metal clacking like a card in spokes noise is going to be the chain issue... (or at least that makes the most sense)
but apparently there is some noise coming from the front left tire... we thought it might be the cv joint was going to replace with whole new hub assembly but when we got to looking we didint see anything wrong in that area..

so I am guessing they are wanting to replace the front differential to see if it quits making the noise at the wheel!!!!!

we have used this mechanic quite a bit and trust that they are telling us the truth..... but really it seems if they fix the chain in transfer case it will fix the problem we took it in for wich was the clacking noise...

too confused

 

[ericautopart]

Tcase chain is pretty routine. No, you shouldn't need a new one, just replace the chain. If they want to replace the whole front diff that only means they don't know how to diagnose a diff problem. Doesn't make them a bad mechanic, just means they aren't familiar with differentials. I've got a complete diff for $850.00 to give you an idea of the cost. It's probably spider gears but it could also be just a CV axle, etc.

 

[teriteresa]

thanks... I will let you know.. they are supposed to be giving me a price quote soon!!!! wich at that point i will ask exactly what they are doing......

 

[teriteresa]

so here is the verdict....

wanting to replace the whole transfer case b "they could hear noise from it" while on the front end rack, meaning they had the wheels turning...

to fix both problems with used parts they are saying 2018 dollars......

could get new rebuilt for 4000......


thinking I am going to get them to just do the transfer case for now....
but they also said i had an option of taking the transfer case out and just seeing if we coudl do the chain and seal etc.....

 

[teriteresa]

buuumpppp

 

[ericautopart]

$2018 for a used TCASE?

 

[Verno]

QUOTE: thinking I am going to get them to just do the transfer case for now....
but they also said i had an option of taking the transfer case out and just seeing if we coudl do the chain and seal etc.....[/QUOTE]

I'd have them replace chain and go from there you may last years, and won't know if another problem exists in front diff until that is fixed!

 

[teriteresa]

thanks everyone....

we are having them tear into the transfer case and see if we can just replace the chain and seal.... hopefully that will work... if not for a used transfer case and labor etc it is 1100 dollars...

we are going to leave the replacing of the front differential to another time... 1. because we think the transfer case is the problem.. (there was no other noise that we noticed, when we just put the grease in the transfer case ) wich allowed us to drive it another month...

2. we cant afford to do both....

again thanks for your time....

Verno- the 2018 was for a used transfer case AND a used front differential....