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92 XJ's transfer case exploded??? 127K?? WTF?

Heinz

NAXJA Forum User
My "wife" was drivin down highway and wham! What happened was that I swear to God, transfer case exploded! I get there and look under and remove fist size piece of transfer case piece from case!!!!! It's a Command Trac(part time, 2 hi, N, 4hi, 4 lo) in a 92 XJ with 4.0 and auto, with 127K babied miles! I have never heard or had this happen to me!!!!!!!!!!! I mean I figure x case should outlast whole damn Jeep! I svc it regular, no leaks, plenty of fluid!!! Mine same model / yr. has 151K and NO probs.! How much to replace case? Pepboys qouted me $200 on labor(2-2.5 hrs) and had not been able yet to quote x fer case price($800-1600 wild guess). This Jeep is totally stock. I could do it but no way of gettin it in the air, how gonna roll it up ramps, enough room? And for $200 labor it may be worth it for them to do it for me. Weird!!!!!!!!!! All ideas appreciated, Thx, Heinz
 
how often does she keep it in four wheel drive, because if she keeps it in on dry pavement then that will mess alot of stuff up. i happen to be employed at pep boys and they dont really do good with that kind of stuff.
 
Heinz said:
How much to replace case? Pepboys qouted me $200 on labor(2-2.5 hrs) and had not been able yet to quote x fer case price($800-1600 wild guess). This Jeep is totally stock. I could do it but no way of gettin it in the air, how gonna roll it up ramps, enough room?

It's not that bad to pull it, and you can do it without a ramp, although it might be a bit more "uncofortable". What you want to do is loper the tcase to get to the tob bolt (watch the fan and the radiator though), then push it back up. Then get the rest of the bolts and pull it off while laying on your crawler and slide out with it. Total job should take no more then 4 or 5 hours (probably less).
 
On my 93 it was $800 from the dealer for a new case. My Jeep was lifted and they said a bent driveshaft tore it up inside. Is it possible you hit something? Do you have a skidplate? Under no circumstances let "Schlep Boy's" work on your Jeep. If you have in the past that could be your problem.
 
Good God, that's alot of money to replace a TC. Where are you at? I can pull a used case out of the 'yard for $100 (only problem is you don't know the vehicle history, but.....). You can swap a case out in a few hours, minus time for beer. If you're close to Richmond lemme know, and we can get 'er done.
Jeff
 
1200 for whole job, 2.5 hrs labor, $700 for recond. case w/ warr. (I called around), was $300 extra as case is in pieces(no core). I have never seen this either. Asked wife if she was doin anything different(shifting into 4wd) or hit anything and she "says" no. Oh well what are you gonna do? Heinz
 
Ok heres the scoop, tcase was fine but cardan joint in frt shaft seized(it is lifetime sealed-non serviceable)thus grenading case. yuk. Would have been extra 3-500 to have frt shaft rebuilt, and they eliminate cardan/rebulid w/o , one peice shaft(cardan weak spot??) I said no, just install new case, "wife" doesn't even know how to put in 4wd. or have any use for it. Weird, i just had mine in shop today and at 151K and towing, NO probs. except usual noises at that age. Never heard of this one.....just odd. Although she did say it was makin "noises", I didnt hear em and i drove it for a few 100 miles, hell now it's still makin "noises" according to her. Oh well, I figure we got it at 100K for 3K(paid off) 2 yrs ago, the rest of it is in great shape.
 
Just curious, do you have a vac-disconnect axle? If so, then the front shaft shouldn't have been spinning at all in 2WD, right? Even if the DC failed, it *shouldn't* have any impact on the TC in 2WD. Point is moot if you're non-disco though.
Jeff
 
92 is non disco.
Are you saying the lifetime lithium non-greasable ujoint failed?
I've been using them now in...everything...no probs yet.
Haven't heard of anyone having probs with them, Brute Force...

Teron
 
Forgive me... I'm trying to catch up here!

I've read the posts and it appears that you have determined that the cardan joint (double U-joint arrangement) between the front drive shaft and the transfer case froze. I guess this means that it lost its ability to flex as it turned? Unable to flex, but still going around since the front wheels are turning the front shaft, the cardan put enough force on the transfer case's aluminum case to break it?? Or did the cardan explode and the transfer case was just in the wrong spot at the wrong time and received scrapnel damage? Or something I haven't thought of?

Anyway, what a drag. I've never swapped a t-case but it looks do-able. At least there is a lot of room around the case. Looks like a floor-jack could lift it in/out....
 
this exact thing happened to me at around 60K on my '99 going on the highway at 65mph.
Though I had takien it 4-wheeling and such.
funny part was I juat had my t-case replaced under the extended warranty, then the driveshaft blows up the second.
luckily the 2nd new case was covered by DC and I took it home and got a new driveshaft too.
Dealer cost:
t-case 1st time $1200
second time $700 (paid for by DC)
Drive shaft $550
a new Tom woods shaft would be $350 or so.
 
Good question re: failure, same things i was thinking. Ok so cardan shaft is spinning ok, but yup it must have been a bump in road that made it want to flex up and down and when it did that it failed to flex and placed force against tcase thus locking all and exploding case from inside out. Pulled out piece the size of my hand. Glad frt. diff didnt go too. Job is only billed at 2.5 hrs with it UP on lift, home doable yes, I dont have tranny jack either - but my girls here this week and I would have been under it all day and no warr. on case.
 
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