The transfer case on my 2004 F350 6.0L 4WD DRW, 230K miles, just blew to pieces Sunday night. See images below.

Any idea what could cause this?

I just had the front drive shaft rebuilt with new universals and ball. It was making a metallic squealing noise after this.
I noticed that the front drive shaft did not spin freely when parked in nuetral and set for 2WD. I thought the front drive shaft would only engage when in 4WD.

 

maybe the front wheels happened to stay locked, and the transfer case was dry [for whatever reason]?

 

Looks like driving in 4wd on dry pavement to me. Did any oil come out when it came apart? It looks really dry in there.

 

Would Holy Crap be appropriate?

 

holy crap! i know its the internet, and all the bad story's collect here... but damn it seems there is a fair amount of transfer cases blowing up.

 

That's probably the most carnage I've seen from one of these exploding yet!
From what I can see from your pictures there was oil in there and the visible bearings, shafts and chain aren't discolored from heat and the CV u-joint centering ball is busted (granted it's been through A heckuva ride beings the driveshaft is sheared off as well).

My guesstimate diagnostic opinion would require one more thing, were the hubs not unlocking and spinning the driveline or was the transfer case not disengaging from 4wd. Hubs - possibly incorrectly installed parts in the driveshaft, Transfer case - possibly internal problems that escalated

 

The transfer case was full of fluid. You can see the fluid sprayed all over the place after it broke apart and in the pictures what remains of it is dripping off of the frame rails.

The hubs are in Auto and it did not drive like it was in 4WD.
The parts inside the transfer case do not look particularly worn, especially the chain and the main gear that you can see in the pictures.

I'm still trying to learn whether the front drive shaft should be rotating when it is not in 4WD. My front drive shaft was definitely rotating 100% of the time while I was in 2WD. Is this normal?

 

The front shaft should not be turning when in 2WD, Just because the hubs were set to auto doesn't mean they were unlocked. The Autos are notorious for sticking mine used to stick all the time then I junked them and installed Warn manuals problem solved. I also wouldn't rule out incorrect rebuilt of the front shaft either as you said the noise only started after that..

 

I got my rebuilt transfer case installed by the Ford Dealer but my ABS light is on.
Does anyone know if there is something in the transfer case that is related to the ABS system?
I'm wondering if there is a bad wire or connector for the new transfer case.

 

Recommend getting the ABS code read so that you know what sensor/cable is involved. My guess is that there is a damaged wire leading from the driver's side hub. The wire runs fairly close to the front driveshaft and transfer case and may have been damaged.

The ABS codes can be read with many code readers.

Lou Braun

 

the clips that hold the ujoint caps in look rust colored for having just been replaced. The other thing is it looks like the front shaft sheared in half. I would think that the half still attached to the front axle would be dragging on the ground.

I would also think if the cause was in the front axle everything in the arc of a spinning drive shaft half (including the oil pan) would have the snot beat out of it.

 

I really think the driveshaft was the culprit here. Samsdad makes a good point about the U-joint clips, and notice the stub of the shaft is sticking out horizontally. If the joints weren't frozen that would be drooping downward towards the ground.

 

Crawl under the front wheels and see if you can spin the front U-Joints at the wheels, that will tell you if the hubs are locked. If they are truly locked and malfunctioning you shouldn't be able to turn those U-Joints by hand with the wheels on the ground. If they spin freely its a safe bet that the problem is not at the front axle.

Sarge

 

What kind of fluid was in it?

Of course now that I'm about to say this I can't find any of the threads here to back me up, but I recall something about incorrectly using Mercon V instead of Mercon or XL-12 T-Case fluid increasing the likely hood of a case failure. It was enough that I said to hell with chances and bought three quarts of XL-12 to do my t-case. New shaft being tight pushed it over the edge?

Edit: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ners-read.html
^^^ This might be one of the ones I'm thinking of.

 

wow that's a mess.
i would be headed back to the drive shaft place...