Transfer Case Damage, Was it Self Inflicted?

[Lazerskull]

My transfer case made a noise when descending a steep hill in LOW-4x4. I kept it in 2nd gear and was letting it ride the gear to keep my speed down like truckers do. Well it popped out of gear and made a buzzing noise. I was able to shift to neutral and coast when I made it to the bottom of the hill I stopped. Switched to Auto and everything seemed fine. A few days later I backed the thing into about 2 feet of snow on my driveway. I was late for work and it got stuck. I was able to gas it and try and brake loose but the tires were all slipping. Eventually I unburied it. It drove fine the rest of the day. Around this time the lights to the AC/Heat controls went out. Few days later driving in 4 wheel drive on a ski hill. We were shuttling each other up and down the ski hill taking turns. This guy who is kind of an idiot was driving my Explorer and I noticed he was doing stupid things like accelerating into a hill and then hard braking. He said he kept hearing the noise and I wasn't sure what he was doing because I was skiing. I told him to just put it in Auto.

When I finally got home I noticed the rear pinion / seal whatever was loose and oil was leaking everywhere. I checked the rear diff. oil it wasn't THAT low but definetely OLD. I put some new oil in. Didn't seem to change anything. I also noticed the drive shaft was rubbing the heat shield above it toward the front. I may have knocked it loose in the snow.

So the next day I'm doing regular highway driving, warm weather no snow... the noise is coming back more and more. So any time you are driving in 4 wheel drive Auto, and you let your foot off the gas, the grinding noise would come. Eventually it got so bad that the Explorer would immediately loose power once you take your foot off the gas.

So I took it to a transmission shop because I was disabled and had to have it towed. He tried installing a new shift motor. That didn't work. They opened the transfer case and found a broken shift fork / broken input shaft / broken range slider. He said to fix it all is about 1,300 bucks.

So this is my concern. I pay this guy 1,300 bucks to fix the transfer case... And the whole time the drive shaft is out of balance... or the GEM Control Module is broken, and then it just breaks again. Isn't that a possibility? Could have I avoided all this by unplugging the transfer case and resetting it, or cleaning the GEM Control Module like some guys say?

 

[410Fortune]

1997 control trac t case is about due for replacement, I am actually surprised there are some out there still working!
Pretty common failure on those old control trac units
The nylon guides get old brittle and come apart, it is a control trac thing.

$1300 I would fall over dead

I sell these t cases for more like $150
Takes 2-3 hours to replace TOTAL, another $150
I would charge you an extra $150 because you have a 97 T case and you must KEEP the back half of your t case, it has a speed sensor in it.
So what I do is get a good lower mile later model control trac t case, put it on the bench
Split the case. Then split your 97 case and install the back half of your 97 case on the newer good t case so we retain the speed sensor
Seal it back up and install
Would be about $500 total here at my shop including fluid

$1300 is ridiculous

DO NOT THROW OUT YOUR 97 T CASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The back half with the speed sensor in it is getting VERY HARD TO FIND as they were only available 1995-97

Now you have other options here, I can also do a control trac delete and convert your old 97 to use a non control trac 1354 e shift case or even better install a 1354 manual shift case
Control trac "auto" 4x4 is good, but its not as good as the true 2wd, 4high and 4 low t cases (the BW 1354, Ranger and Explorer transfer case)

 

[Lazerskull]

1997 control trac t case is about due for replacement, I am actually surprised there are some out there still working!
Pretty common failure on those old control trac units
The nylon guides get old brittle and come apart, it is a control trac thing.

$1300 I would fall over dead

I sell these t cases for more like $150
Takes 2-3 hours to replace TOTAL, another $150
I would charge you an extra $150 because you have a 97 T case and you must KEEP the back half of your t case, it has a speed sensor in it.
So what I do is get a good lower mile later model control trac t case, put it on the bench
Split the case. Then split your 97 case and install the back half of your 97 case on the newer good t case so we retain the speed sensor
Seal it back up and install
Would be about $500 total here at my shop including fluid

$1300 is ridiculous

DO NOT THROW OUT YOUR 97 T CASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The back half with the speed sensor in it is getting VERY HARD TO FIND as they were only available 1995-97

Now you have other options here, I can also do a control trac delete and convert your old 97 to use a non control trac 1354 e shift case or even better install a 1354 manual shift case
Control trac "auto" 4x4 is good, but its not as good as the true 2wd, 4high and 4 low t cases (the BW 1354, Ranger and Explorer transfer case)

Well the thing is this guy has me held hostage. The Explorer is on his lift and it's nowhere near my house. Even if I were to tow it back I think it'd cost 2 or 3 hundred just to tow home.

They're going to do the repairs tomorrow. I'm not sure if I can stop them and tow it away can I ? Even if I got it home, I'm without a second car, I'd have trouble driving around looking for another T-Case.

EDIT: My only hope at this point is to renegotiate his charges. They've only looked at it 1 day, and I thought that was a 75$ evaluation. They tried installing a shift motor, which was wrong, and they want around 500 something bucks for that. So I gotta get that fee down or get him to write out an explanation. I need to use my debit card so I can dispute the charge if need be when the time comes.

 

[RangerX]

You can stop them. They can lower the lift, push the car to the side, and wait.
Your description of this shop sends up red flags for me...

 

[410Fortune]

I would never charge my customers for repairs that did not fix the issue
A shift motor can be tested, lubed, adjusted, that is worth paying for...throwing parts at it at your expense? Diagnosis is what makes a good mechanic

Now with that said
I understand your situation and it sucks. Do what you can and fight for your rights! If they said $1300 to fix the t case lets see them do it
Towing is pricey, they already have you by the short and curlys with your t case out and apart.
My point is just don't get taken hostage because they already took you t case apart not a friggin penny more until they prove they can fix it and not cause more issues
I would not pay $500 for a shift motor I did not need that is for sure
For 1300 I would expect a rebuild kit properly installed in my 1997 transfer case, tested and working with no new issues and some sort of warranty on the work.
They can eat the $75 charge as you went with their recommended fix
They can eat the $500 shift motor too as that was not part of the repair and you believe your shift motor worked fine and you would like it back


lets talk about this:

When I finally got home I noticed the rear pinion / seal whatever was loose and oil was leaking everywhere. I checked the rear diff. oil it wasn't THAT low but definetely OLD. I put some new oil in. Didn't seem to change anything. I also noticed the drive shaft was rubbing the heat shield above it toward the front. I may have knocked it loose in the snow.

The rear pinion is leaking? Is loose? At the rear axle?

The driveshaft was rubbing the heat shield at the t case side (front)?

Have these issues been addressed?

 

[Lazerskull]

I would never charge my customers for repairs that did not fix the issue
A shift motor can be tested, lubed, adjusted, that is worth paying for...throwing parts at it at your expense? Diagnosis is what makes a good mechanic

Now with that said
I understand your situation and it sucks. Do what you can and fight for your rights! If they said $1300 to fix the t case lets see them do it
Towing is pricey, they already have you by the short and curlys with your t case out and apart.
My point is just don't get taken hostage because they already took you t case apart not a friggin penny more until they prove they can fix it and not cause more issues
I would not pay $500 for a shift motor I did not need that is for sure
For 1300 I would expect a rebuild kit properly installed in my 1997 transfer case, tested and working with no new issues and some sort of warranty on the work.
They can eat the $75 charge as you went with their recommended fix
They can eat the $500 shift motor too as that was not part of the repair and you believe your shift motor worked fine and you would like it back


lets talk about this:



The rear pinion is leaking? Is loose? At the rear axle?

The driveshaft was rubbing the heat shield at the t case side (front)?

Have these issues been addressed?

On the plus side he says it's a 1 year warranty. So I have to get that in writing.
I am still unclear if he's including the shift motor fiasco as part of the deal. I need him to write it out and explain.
He ordered the parts for the transfer case and I verbally agreed over the phone. But I was honestly super tired after having spent the whole
day at his shop, hoping the job would've been done.
I also didn't want to get into an argument over the phone not being there in person. So I told him to go ahead and fix it.
The next day I looked at all the numbers and realized the price seemed a little inflated.

I plan to be there when they open up the shop so I can get everything straightened out before they continue work.
If the deal goes south I have a tow truck driver on standby willing to tow it home for me for 150 bucks (a pretty good deal since it's like 25 miles
from my home right now).

The rear pinion bushing or whatever it is called the mechanic didn't seem to be too worried about that. He said that's a separate job around 350 out the door.

There are light scrapes on the driveshaft it looks like it's rubbing the heat shield ever so slightly. I dunno if this is what caused the rear pinion to leak maybe it was knocked out of alignment and is pulling on the rear diff ?

I'll let you guys know what happens tomorrow morning thanks for the support!

 

[Lazerskull]

On the plus side he says it's a 1 year warranty. So I have to get that in writing.
I am still unclear if he's including the shift motor fiasco as part of the deal. I need him to write it out and explain.
He ordered the parts for the transfer case and I verbally agreed over the phone. But I was honestly super tired after having spent the whole
day at his shop, hoping the job would've been done.
I also didn't want to get into an argument over the phone not being there in person. So I told him to go ahead and fix it.
The next day I looked at all the numbers and realized the price seemed a little inflated.

I plan to be there when they open up the shop so I can get everything straightened out before they continue work.
If the deal goes south I have a tow truck driver on standby willing to tow it home for me for 150 bucks (a pretty good deal since it's like 25 miles
from my home right now).

The rear pinion bushing or whatever it is called the mechanic didn't seem to be too worried about that. He said that's a separate job around 350 out the door.

There are light scrapes on the driveshaft it looks like it's rubbing the heat shield ever so slightly. I dunno if this is what caused the rear pinion to leak maybe it was knocked out of alignment and is pulling on the rear diff ?

I'll let you guys know what happens tomorrow morning thanks for the support!

BTW THIS IS THE SOUND IT WAS MAKING RIGHT BEFORE IT LOST ALL POWER.

T_case_sound_foot_off_gas.mp4

 

[Mbrooks420]

You’re on the hook for the repair, unfortunately. You agreed to it. Being tired and uneducated is pretty irrelevant.

That said, this guy is a hack, and is overcharging. I had my pinion seal replaced, my front driveshaft rebuilt, an alternator put in for under 300. The pinion seal is an easy job, and the labor time is nil.

I wouldn’t pay for the shift motor. He can have the new one.

 

[410Fortune]

If your pinion seal is leaking CHECK THE VENT tube for the rear axle first.
They get plugged up so easy.... there is a rubber vent line on the drivers side axle tube. Remove it from the axle and try to blow through it.
The differential is just like any other case filled with lube, when the lube gets hot from driving it expands, the air on top of it needs to be able to vent to atmosphere out of the case, if the vent tube is plugged the fluid will force its way around your pinion and axle seals.
So often a leaky diff cover, leaky pinion seal and leaky axle seals can all be caused by a simple plugged vent line. They get plugged with fine dirt and sand.
I have fixed two plugged vent lines this week!
Also I replaced a front pinion seal on a 06 Ranger, seal was $18 and it took me 30 minutes total.

 

[RickOTR]

Shops here in California are the worst. In all the years I've lived here I haven't found one decent shop. FYI, I rebuilt my TC for about $650.00 and that included the two Omega case halves.