Trans bellhousing carnage

I've been having a problem with cracking bell housings for about two months now. After this last trip out to goatfest....my jeep claimed it's 4th aw4 bell housing... :,(. Enjoy


Now it's a two piece bell housing.

Here's a crack below the starter.
Btw, thanks Cory (4xfloppy) for my 4th replacement bellhousing!

Why do they keep cracking on you?

Btw thanks dan (Gerr) for bellhousings 2&3

XjPapercut said:

Why do they keep cracking on you?

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Possibly a warped flex plate. I found the casting on the end of my starter( end where the starter goes into the bellhousing was ground down) and bad driveline vibes.

so the one i gave you broke as well????

1xfloppy said:

so the one i gave you broke as well????

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Nope it's all cleaned and ready to go in. I just pulled the trans today

Check your engine, maybe your mount ears are bent?

GSequoia said:

Check your engine, maybe your mount ears are bent?

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I'll give them a look see tomorrow, are there anyway to check for a bent crank flange (the flange the flex plate bolts to)?

Wiser said:

I'll give them a look see tomorrow, are there anyway to check for a bent crank flange (the flange the flex plate bolts to)?

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I'm sure there is...


I'd expect something is tweaked, are you breaking all the housings in the same way?

GSequoia said:

I'm sure there is...


I'd expect something is tweaked, are you breaking all the housings in the same way?

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Yup they all cracked the same way

Okay, what has changed?

Did you change crossmembers perhaps?

GSequoia said:

Okay, what has changed?

Did you change crossmembers perhaps?

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It has a Clayton long arm crossmember

Wiser said:

It has a Clayton long arm crossmember

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I wonder if the trans. mount isn't properly centered. Maybe measure from the transfer case (assuming you still have an OEM case) to the frame rail and compare it to a different vehicle.

I hate to say it but Jerky McPoopants is right. If they're all breaking in the same area you have a more serious problem on your hands. You've gotta be a whiz at pulling trannies by now () I would pull the trans and put a straightedge on the crank flange and see if either end of the straightedge is closer to the block than the other. If that checks out to be equal turn the flange 90° and check again just to be sure. If it's still fine then start looking at the dowel pins to make sure they are sticking out at 90° and making sure the rest of the mounts are flat by checking with the straightedge. If all of that checks out I would start looking at the crossmember like Geoff suggested, and comparing the positioning of both the holes on the ends where it mounts to the body (to make sure it's not bolting up at an angle) and the position of the holes for the trans mount. It's entirely possible (however unlikely) that whatever caused you to break the first bellhousing is now bent in such a way that it's breaking the new ones in the same spot. If you broke the first one after installing a part or modifying something though, that is the first place I would look.

Good luck, sounds like a pain in the ass

Dude, this sucks! id be pretty pissed after the 4th bell housing broke. Good luck!

The only time I have seen this is when the motor mounts were fubar'd or loose where they contact the block. The other thing might be if the locating pins in the block/bellhousing are no longer there. They are designed to carry most of the load in the shear mode instead of the bolts what work mainly in tension.

Just for everybody's info, the reason there are problems with motor mounts breaking the block is that the bolts used are a few thousandth's too long and don't properly seat. There was actually some stuff going around about this. I don't know if there was a formal TSB but I saw something from Chrysler about this quite a few years ago. The solution is to simply grind down the end of the bolts a touch before installing.

Good luck finding your problem.

Anthony was driving around with an odd noise at some point and eventually figured out the upper 2 bolts on the bellhousing were loose. After that, these problems started.

I'll tell you what, I'll trade you a dirtbike, plus the money you owe me, and then you can forget all about bellhousings for a while

JohnX said:

I'll tell you what, I'll trade you a dirtbike, plus the money you owe me, and then you can forget all about bellhousings for a while

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I'd say I'll trade you my xj for that nice mj U have

boostamante said:

Dude, this sucks! id be pretty pissed after the 4th bell housing broke. Good luck!

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Yup it's pretty tiring to keep changing them..