I have an 88 Bronco with a Borg Warner 13-56 manual shift. The t-case seems to be sliping under load in 2-wheel. It also seems to have too much play in it. How much do they usually cost to rebuild? I have never owned a 4-wheel drive before so this is new to me. I just changed the fluid and I did not see ant metal shavings but it was pretty dark. Thanks in advance!

 

I have an 89 with the same manual shift t-case. I had the range fork go out on me while I was away at school and couldn't fix it myself. The shop it took it to charged about 500 for a range fork and rebuild. I was stuck out there without tools so I had to pay it. Recently it broke again after only 6000 miles, but it was out of warrantee so I was screwed. The most recent time I rebuilt it myself. They really aren't that complicated...not all that difficult to remove either. This time I replaced the shift fork that had worn through the plastic spacers, the range hub, and fixed the common lug wear problem found in these cases. I think it blew so quick because the shop did a shoddy job the first time, but thats a whole other story for a different day.

When mine broke the case would slip in reverse and not go anywhere...loud grinding too. The fact that there were no metal shavings probably mean that you haven't let it slip too long...there is a magnet in there by the oil pump pick up to capture shavings. The dark fluid migh be indicatory of having not been changed in a while...how many miles on it? Mine went the first time after about 150,000 miles. Anyway...you can get all the parts to rebuild it for abou 100 bucks, or you can take it too the shop, but if you do that...save yourself the money and pull it yourself and take it in to them...only weighs about 70 lbs. Hope this helps...I'm more than happy to give pointers if you rebuild yourself. Also check out pics in my gallery of the case tear down with the broken parts spotlighted.

 

I would rather rebuild it my self because I just spent $1300 on having a shop fix my rear-end and put 4:10's in the front and rear. I have never even messed with my t-case before except for the fluid change. Were would I buy the parts, and is there a manual that will guide me through it? I did look under it and like you said it does not look too hard to get out of the truck. I have dropped an AOD before and I hope the t-case is not nearly that hard! What is a range fork and what does it do? Thanks again for all the help.

 

You can find parts here http://www.drivetrain.com/transfercasesparts.html . This is where I found my range hub, but I would also check out eBay…lately there has been a guy selling a complete 1356 rebuild kit (hub, fork, seals, bearings, gasket, oil pump…the works) for a little over a 100 bucks. Wish he had been selling before I did mine. Search for 1356 borg warner and you’ll find a few things on ebay like the range fork, chains, seals. You said there seemed to be a bit of play in output shafts, you’ll be better able to see if this is true once you have the case open and can check out the chain. Being that these are chain driven instead of gear driven, the chain could have stretched…not entirely sure how to tell if it needs replacing.

So that’s the parts side of it…as far as removal…pretty easy, get a jack under it as best as possible, and have a friend keep it steady as it isn’t the most symmetrical of metal masses. Once it’s down you’ll need a torx 50 bit and a good set of snap ring pliers to get everything apart. I think you also need like a 31 or 32mm socket to get the big outside nut off. This site ( http://www.technicalevolution.com/borg1356.htm ) has some info on overhaul and the oil pump problem, but I’m not sure about a particular guide or manual. I know I have an exploded diagram of the case so you can get it back together.

As far as the range for goes. It’s what moves the range hub and selects low, neutral, or high range on the planetary. You’ll see what I mean when you get in there. Good luck and I’ll see about getting that exploded diagram in my gallery when I get home so you can see what you’re up against. As before…good luck and let me know if you need help.

 

Does power run through the T-case in 2 wheel drive? When I am in 2-wheel drive and hit the gas and release qiuckly I will feel a thump. At first I though it was the rear end but when I took it to the shop they rebuilt the thing and it still is doing it. I chalked up the rear tires and had someone hit the gas why I was under it and if I am not mistaking it sounds like it is coming right from the t-case. I used a stethascope and I could not hear it from the tranny but it is loud from the t-case. I think I might have an exploded view of it in my haynes manual. But any other tips would help.

 

yes, power does run thru the xfer case. for parts you can also et them at the dealer for about the same price most of the time. i had to rebuild mine. it only took about 2 hours to pull the xfer case apart and put it back together once out of the truck. the thump prbably is a stretched chain. you will be able to tell more when you get the xfer case out of the truck. on the link from body9599 there is a way of getting an exploded view of the xfer case. it helped me a lot. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Well it might be a couple of weeks until I can get to it and I still need to find something that can guide me along. I will let you know what I come up with.

 

I am considering rebuilding my 1356 as well. It is in my 92 F-250. In addition to the site listed above, and the great pics supplied by Erik (body9599), I found this site:

http://www.wildercafe.com/fordtech/

He isn't quite through with the site, but what he has up is very good.

Hey Erik, what did you do to your oil pump arm? Is there any way you could post pictures of that as well. I am curious how you fabricated it. I am assuming it is thicker?

Also, could you put up that exploded view?

Thanks for all the help and input guys.

 

f250Freak...that is an awesome site...great info and pictures. First things first...the exploded diagrams can actually be found on the drivetrain.com website as noted by Jdenniger. I've put them in my gallery, but here is a direct link to the drivetrain site:
http://www.drivetrain.com/bw1356transfercasesillust.htm

As for the modification to the pump arm, I really wish I had taken some photos of it, but I'll do my best to explain. If you look in my gallery at the photo of the damaged pump lugs on the inside of the case, you'll notice that there are two grooves. The one that goes all the way through the metal was the original damage that prompted the first trip to the repair shop. The repair shop did a simple and cheap fix to keep the pump from spinning. They bent the pump arm up so that it contacted the case higher where metal had not been worn through. You can see how far it has ground into the lugs after only about 15000 miles.

To fix this problem I had to spread the contact over an area greater than the ~1cm end of the pump. I wish the shop would not have caused the further damage or else I would have had more area to work with. Basically all I did was cut a 1/4" round notch in the end of the oil pump arm to which I welded a 3" piece of 1/4" round steel rod. The rod was welded such that it was perpendicular to the flat face of the pump arm and parallel to the main shaft when installed. In my gallery the exploded diagram has a line drawn in red to represent the rod. I had to do a bit of grinding to make sure that when it was installed it only contacted the lugs and not the side of the case as that could possibly bind the pump and cause failure. The piece of rod extended above the case half by about 1/4" to ensure that the bit of lug that was left would be used to help support the pump arm.

I think if you only have a 1cm cut or a newer case with no damage yet...you could probably just use an ~1-1.5" piece of rod to distribute the force. Hope this helps...good luck...let me know how it goes.

 

Thanks for all the info body. This is really helpful. I found a picture of the modification that you are describing.

http://www.superford.org/getfile.php...ullsize&f=.jpg

This looks like a great idea, and something that I will do to mine. I'm sitting at 151k right now, and just need it to hold together for a little longer until I am done with school and have a place to work on it.

 

Yeah thats it...cool...glad you found that! Picture is worth a three paragraph post right? Or is it a thousand words? Either way... Good Luck.

 

IIRC fourwheel magazine did a step by step rebuild on project fireyreahead. Check back issues.

 

will the BW1345 be an easy swap in if there was an NP208 in there originally?