Hard to believe but I just got an update on Friday telling me all parts but one are in. The last part is another two weeks out. national back order they say. This service department has a great reputation and the guy I'm working with it quick to communicate anything new. I have no reason to doubt but if this schedule holds out, we're going to be well inside a Utah lemon-law claim. If the part comes in as scheduled and they fix it that day it will be 31 BUSINESS days.

 

Have they bought the truck back yet?

 

Picked up my truck this morning and it passed the parking lot test. Shifted in and out of 4Lo sans drama. I asked to see the parts so I, the service manager, and the mechanic who did the repair stepped our way through the deep dark hole in the back of the parts department where all the warranty parts are kept. He found the planetary gear and pinion assembly and showed me how the shaft on the pinion gear had too much play in it. It slid in and out of the planetary gear set about a quarter inch. He pulled out another gear and showed how it engages and that if there is any play, it will slide out of alignment. I was looking for ground-down metal or damage but none was visible to my eyes.

I also talked to them about how I was driving when the t-case failed. Pulling heavy trailer up a mountain road in 4Lo and neither of them thought I was abusing the truck. The comments were more like, "that's what you're supposed to do." So a few shoulder shrugs and I was on my way.

As far as buy back, I did talk about that. I'm not interested in a buy back with all of the additions I've put on it but a nice long extended warranty would be nice. They started that process.

 

excellent, let the diesel flow through you.

 

It is good to hear that your truck is finally fixed, thanks for the report.

 

Glad to see you got the truck back Mr T , that was a while without it, I am surprised you werent stopping by there to have a few moments in the drivers seat with it cause you missed it so much...lol

Well at least they got it back and on the road for you the real test will be next time you go somewhere and do a little towing.

 

It's very true I missed the SD. The F150 was nice but I felt more at home watching all the PIDs again. I even got to enjoy a 35 minute regen! That alone makes me a hopeless diesel fan.

 

Glad you got your baby back! Hopefully the ordeal is all behind you.

 

Did the tech happen to comment on why the pinion gear have too much play in it? Was it a manufacturing problem, assembly problem or worse yet, a design problem? Was he confident in your rebuild? Sorry for all the questions but I use L4 as you do, pulling my toy hauler on the steep mountain roads. Reliability is always my number one concern when venturing into the backcountry. It would be pretty tough for a tow truck to get to some of the places I go when I don't have the toy hauler. Thanks in advance for your input

 

He didn't say what he thought caused it and I didn't see any damage but he was confident that there was just too much play on the pinion gear shaft. He said there should be a little but the amount mine was moving was more than he thought it should be. It seemed to me that they just replaced all the parts inside the t-case and called it good. Seeing as how I've never heard this before from anyone else, it sounds like a manufacturing defect of some kind. Again, he said he uses his truck the same way you and I do without problems. I wish I would have seen a failure point.

Regardless, if this ever happens, it doesn't have to be a trip ender. 4Hi and 2wd were fine, the trick was getting out of 4Lo. In retrospect, I should have stopped immediately after the first big bang and switched to 4Hi. By letting the truck roll through a second and finally a third bang and final grind, the transfer case was then stuck in 4Lo. It required a tug forward to take the pressure off. Once that was done, we were able to continue our trip without 4Lo.

 

Very happy to hear you are all set!

 

This situation makes me think I need to go test my 4Lo. I only popped it in 4H and 4Lo for a few feet to test that it worked. I'm wondering if I should test it under a load. I have a couple of small stumps that I need to pop out, I was going to sue the tractor but I could use the Golden-OX.

 

Great to read you are back on the road, plenty of time remains to get some more trips in before the season changes.