Hi everyone, I'm totally new to this form so I'll take your beatings as necessary. I will mention that I did try and search for my problem, but I'm either bad at searching or this hasn't happened before (most likely the former). My truck is a bone stock 1994 Ford F-150 Regular cab, Longbed, L6 4.9l, E40D automatic transmission w/ 4wd. 239,000 miles with no rebuilds to my knowledge.

SO, I'm driving from Boise, ID to Portland, OR and I hear this sound that I can only describe as being a very large zipper, zipping very quickly. It was louder than my music, and as a young'n, that's pretty loud. I pull over at the nearest stop in Boardman, OR to check underneath. As I slow down, I start to hear a squeaking and a tapping sound at low speeds. I check underneath and I'm starting to leak a little transmission fluid, and a little transfer case gear oil, but I'm talking about drips at a time and no clear visible damage to the underside of my truck. I decided that I should move the truck to a flatter area, throw it on some jack stands (I happen to have all my tools with me) and take a look underneath.

I start my truck, and as I put it into reverse it makes a sound like I just threw an iPhone down a garbage disposal. Seriously horrible metal on metal destruction occurring below me. So I get the truck towed to Portland via a combination of AAA and Craigslist and I showed both drivers that towed me the sound of this metal carnage.

Then, I was trying to push my truck into the right position for the second towing, and the tires were locked up even in neutral (no, my parking break wasn't on). So we decided to turn her on again just to see if I could get it into neutral. This time, the truck shifted right into gear with no blender sound and even drove onto the trailer. After the drop off, my truck drove up the driveway with just the sound of the tapping.

Now, I've taken off the transmission pan and the only thing out of the ordinary are maybe 5 or 6 little tiny tiny pieces of hard material, but the fluid is still nice and clear dark red ATF. I also took apart the filter and there's NOTHING! Just slight discoloration and some older pieces of gasket.

Could the problem be my transfer case? Anyone with some knowledge that could point me in the right direction would be great.

Thanks!!

 

could be transfer case put in 4 high and see what it does

 

I would start by just pulling the transmission pan and looking at the fluid. You can then also see the magnet uin the bottom of the pan and see if it has metal in it. That would help narrow down the trnsfer case from the transmission.

 

Thanks guys, I've taken off the pan and there's almost nothing in it. just some tiny tiny pieces of metal, and like I said there's nothing in the filter except pieces of gasket material.

Since I drained all of the fluid I might as well put new fluid in so I'll head to the auto parts store, put some new fluid in, and see what happens when I try and shift the transfer case.

 

i ran to a simular problem on an exporler the transfer case wasnt fully engaged due to a worn/bent internal shift linkage putting it into made the noise go away and seemed normal ended up replacing a gear and shimming the linkage and as far as i know its still going fine

 

Before you put new fluid in get a new filter and open the dust cover on the bell housing. Take a large socket on the harmonic balancer bolt and rotate the motor to get the torque converter drain plug facing down. Drain that too to get a more complete change of fluid.

My tranny guy also told me that when you drain it that way to make sure and disconnect the coil wire. Then when you fill it you can add a few quarts at a time and just turn it over with the starter. Kinda hard on the starter but better that than a transmission.