Thanks Clockwork, that’s good to know.
I scheduled the lift at the garage I use yesterday and got the rebuilt transfer case in. It’s a big job for a solo project, but doable. A transmission lift would be super helpful but I couldn’t find the garage’s lift so I used the jig I knocked together to lift the new transfer case into place.
With a transmission jack, and tall jack stands, the car can be up in the air a comfortable height and the transmission can be supported while the transfer case is unbolted and dropped down. As it was, I had to put it up to do the prep work, then down to creeper level so I could use floor jacks to support the transmission, and lift the new tcase into place.
First order of biz was to drop the stiffener plate and take a look. 2 years worth of grime, and a slow leak from the front diff where it mates to the oil pan. I also saw some oil on the left tie rod boot but can’t tell of its power steering or spray from the diff side axle which is inches from the tie rod. The diff is a big job so I’ll just keep an eye on it.
Lower control arms needed to be done, so I put a new set int while I had the wheels off. My steering wheel is off maybe 15 degrees now so I’ll tweak the tie rods a bit this am. The old control arms were 2ish years old and shot. I have Turner monoball uppers on the car and really like them, but didn’t want to spring for lowers from them at this time. I figure the Delphi ones are cheap and if they last 2 years I’ll be happy. I also don’t want a stiffer suspension at this point.
Next, the car went up and the exhaust came off from the cats to the rear mufflers. This is the biggest pain as when working solo, in my opinion. Getting it back on is even more painful. I use a floor jack to help getting it up and down after all the nuts are loose.
The heat shielding came out next, then the rear driveshaft came off at the guibo and was supported by wire to protect the U joint. The car went back down to creeper level then so I could support the transmission with a floor jack under the pan. This allows the transmission and transfer case support member to come off. Three bolts on each side into the frame rails, and a long bolt through the transfer case bushing. After this the 9 torx bolts holding the transfer case in can come out. The input shaft at the transmission, and the two positioning dowels keep it from falling off, and I just worked it free and off.
The rebuilt tcase (in the jig I made) went onto a floor jack and went up into place without a much drama. I regreased the front driveshaft splines, and put some anti-seize on the transmission splines, per TIS. I had bought 5 new torx bolts for the job, assuming that several heads on the old bolts would be messy. The top bolts are a pain to get to, but dropping the transmission a few inches via the floor jack was super helpful. As it was, several of the torx can only be accessed with a wratchet torx wrench. The torque on them is only 30 something ftlbs, so not hard to get to with a hand wrench. I used a torque wrench on the few that had clearance.
After that it’s down to reassembly. Once again, the exhaust is the biggest pain. New copper nuts at the headers, and even though I had bought new gaskets for the joints at the rear sections, I couldn’t get the the old metal seals off amd didn’t have time to cut them off.
All in all a full day, but no show stoppers like stripped fasteners, etc.
Interestingly, the “ping” I’ve been chasing for years when selecting drive or reverse was gone when driving home. Maybe it was something in the tcase all along.