My apologies, as I guess I wasn't very clear on the status of the car currently.

The dealer fixed the spline issue by putting in another shaft, however, there's now an issue about 4-5K miles later. That is how I have purchased it.

The previous owner drove it as a car, no off-roading, no towing. Commuting to work and back on the highway.

I just got back from picking it up with the trailer as my towing company fell through for the day and I wanted to get it out of the previous owner's way.

Now that I've gotten to drive it (pre-purchase, I was only able to drive the car about 75 feet in an busy suburban area with lots of kids playing in the area), while I'm still very certain it's a transfer case issue, the grinding noise I hear (now that I have room to actually drive it) sounds more like a loose chain hitting the casing.

Hopefully that's all I'll find as the issue, but I'll still be examining the splines on both parts once I find lift space to put it up and pull the transfer case. I'm also ordering the actuator gear to do while it's out.