Multiple Transfercase leaks! Shop or DIY ?

[Dr_Jim]

The J10 passed inspection again!...awesome!
BUT...seems to have somehow sprung a tcase leak over the last 4 days! (since I was under it last)....
Shop said its leaking at the output seal and also where it's joined together.
Fluid level is way down! And I filled it up 1 year ago.

Just wondering if this is a simple job?....or a big PITA job that will ripple into all sorts of other problems?

special tools?

Any thoughts on this?

So far I have dove into everything this truck has thrown at me from water pump to TFI to carb rebuild....but I know nothing about the Tcase. Not even sure which one it is at the moment! 229 ?

thx!

[MadMax78]

I say go for it. Get a rebuild manual and have at it. I am getting ready to rebuild the spare QT I have. Have never done it but how else will I learn. That could be bad philosophy on my part. Sounds like it needs a couple of seals and you are good to go. I'm no expert but I didn't stay at the motel 6 either. They forgot to leave the light on for me. sorry couldn't resist

[pcoplin]

T-cases are real easy. New input and output seals, and a good silicone on the case halves.

[mdcptman]

Its not hard to reseal, but first you hafta pull it. You are gonna need jack stands, and a floor jack, or be strong enough to lift it down and back up in place. A flex head ratchet, deep sockets and a ratcheting flex head end wrench all can be very helpful. The bolts joining the tcase to the trans are hard to get to at the top. Once u have the tcase on the bench be sure to take lots of pictures of it as u crack it open and disassemble. It will save u when u go back together. Good time to look at ur chain and bearings too. Get the Haynes manual. It may help. Good luck!

[serehill]

Honestly

It has nothing to do with us or our ability. Being you had to ask I would assume you do not have a lot of mechanical experience. If you don't have experience & tools then a shop would be the answer.
Objective thought process is what is called for here.

If you have the tools & knowledge & confidence to do it go for it.

Complicated no if you can rebuild a motor then this is elementary.

There is no doubt the best mechanic knows what not to work on.

[serehill]

Honestly

It has nothing to do with us or our ability. Being you had to ask I would assume you do not have a lot of mechanical experience. If you don't have experience & tools then a shop would be the answer.
Objective thought process is what is called for here.

If you have the tools & knowledge & confidence to do it go for it.

Complicated no if you can rebuild a motor then this is elementary.

There is no doubt the best mechanic knows what not to work on.

[Dr_Jim]

Getting a little philosophical aren't ya?

Every mechanic starts out with no experience and no tools. You did as well. If that is what should determine whether or not to attempt something then this forum wouldnt exist...and there would be no mechanics.

I referenced water pump, carb rebuild and TFI as 'some' of the tasks I have done on my truck. This should help establish a baseline of what my competency might be.

I have tools. I have confidence. I also have knowledge....the knowledge to ask questions of those who know more, have done more and can do more. The knowledge to gather as much info as possible prior to undertaking a new task (like I did with everything so far on this truck).....inclusive of gathering thoughts & insight from you guys.

So it's one of those things ya know. Sometimes people post about the difficulty of a project....in fact those posting happen more than occasionally.....and this is one of those posts.
Pretty simple question to those that have experience doing this, asked by someone without experience doing this.

And you are certainly right: If I could rebuild an engine...then this would be simple.

[Chief Gunner]

I say go for it. I rebuilt mine a few months ago. It really is a lot easier then I expected it to be. I went to ole toms site downloaded and printed out the FSM for the transfer case and used that as a guide. Take your time pulling it apart and keep all the pieces in order so re-assembly goes smoothly. Once I started pulling parts out, I lost all the needle bearings. That was scary at first, but the FSM tells you how many of each you are supposed to have. I grabbed a couple of zip lock sandwich bags, got them seperated, counted them to ensure I had them all, and saved them for re-assembly. When it came time to reassemble, I used some patrolium jelly to hold the bearings on the various locations. The only problem we ran into was on re-assembly, one needle bearing fell as we dropped the main shaft in which wouldn't let it sit propperly. Once we identified that, we reset the bearing and the shaft set in place like it should have. Overall, it was an easy job. The only mistake I made was with the speedometer gear in the output of the transfer case. I put it in backwards, so now in drive, I get no speed indication, but in reverse, the speedometer moves in the negative direction. I will get around to fixing that some day.

[letank]

not sure.... go and practice at the local picknpull.... the 229 is probably a bit heavier than a 208 which can be handled fairly well by one skinny mechanic....

as far as output seals, there is no need to remove the whole tcase.... first step is to locate the origin of the leak... front... rear....