Petrol,

Your comments on the transfer case seem to be on target, but you caught my attention on one thing. I asked my mech (not ford) to service the tranny at 48,000 miles (last week) and also service the transfer case by changing the fluid. He said no need, later model 4x4's have a transfer case whose oil is changed simply by changing the transmission fluid. There is not a separate resovior. That's wy it took 16 quarts.

Was he mistaken?