Hi all! To start with, you guys have cost me money on things. For example, when I was having problems with my steering head, I checked here first. Based on all the talk, I bought a Red Head gear box. It cost twice what they wanted for one at Oreilley's. I haven't regretted a dime. It's beautiful, but I digress.

My brother was driving my truck yesterday on the Interstate at about 70 when all hell broke loose on him. He stopped as quickly as he could only to find that there was a puddle of oil under the truck. When he lay down to look at it, he saw the front drive shaft hanging down and the innards of the transfer case hanging out.

After reading similar threads I saw where someone thought it was caused by having someone turn their hubs from Auto to On. I checked and mine were turned to On and not in Auto. On the one hand I don't see how that could be the problem, but I definitely want to know what caused it. It doesn't appear there was a failure of the U-Joint but I would have to say that it did not have many miles of life left.

Also, although the truck does start and idle fine, it begins to run rough when you speed the engine a little and it blows blue smoke like it's burning oil.

Any ideas? Here's to hoping my pictures post.

 

Running the hubs in the on or locked position DID NOT cause that damage. I have only seen that kind of damage when a fixed object hit the T-case itself or when someone was spinning all 4 wheels on a slippery surface and suddenly gained full traction. I supose that running in 4X4 at high speed with a very,very bad u-joint could eventially cause that but you would feel the vibration well before it exploded.

 

No vibration until just a minute or two before and he said the vibration wasn't bad so he was going to pull over within a mile because he was coming up on an exit. The 4X4 light on the dash was NOT on and never came on so it should not have been in 4X4 and he said it definitely did not feel like it. We all know the steering feels different when the front wheels are engaged.

 

I had my constant velocity driveshaft fail on my Power Wagon, ended up just like that...but it also took out the timing chain...so i had to work on that also.
Sounds like yours took out more than the case too...

 

Surprisingly thin casting on those cases eh? Sucks about the engine. Can't think of what would cause smoking now but if it's related to this failure on the T case it can't be good news. I hope you told bro "you break it you buy it" before he took off!

 

Every so often we see a failed transfer case on here, and I've never seen a good explanation as to why that happens. Some blame the improper lubricant being used, but that's a tough one for me to believe. I think the theory about the bad U-joint makes the most sense to me.

These aren't common failures though, and the overwhelming majority of trucks never have this happen. Check out Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market for a used one in your area.

 

I think this failure is from vibration.. inside or outside of T-case.


chain and gear look like lubrication was OK.

 

Yeah the CV joints have a couple U-joints together, and if the spring that keeps them in line fails then the joints bind up...the 'slight' vibration the guy felt was the spring fail...until the u-joints bound up and blew everything...