I have an 04 4X4. I just got it back after 2 weeks in the shop - transfer case problems. Under warrenty and Ford dealer rebuilt it. 2 days later the same problems arise. I take to different dealer, they say transfer case is shot, needs rebuilt. Says it is because I have one brand of 265X17 10 ply on rear and another brand of 265X17 6 ply on front. Will not release truck back to me unless it has same brand and ply front and back as that is what is causing the problem.
Any opinions - or even better facts on this?

 

do you drive in 4x4 every day? or more than 50% of the time?

otherwise, they are feeding you a line of BS. the front axle does not spin unless the t-case in in 4x4 hi or lo. the drive gear for the t-case spins in 4x2 and this in turn spins the driveshaft. Nothing else inside the T-case spins.

in addition, the 10 vs 6 ply just references how thick (puncture resistance) the rubber of the tire is. not the tire size (it may be slightly larger in 10 ply, but not enough for the vehicle to truly sense).

ask the tech what would happen if the rear tires were bald and the fronts had >50% tread left. would that break the t-case?

It sounds like the techs are stumped and this is what they have decided is the cause. good luck, my bet is they want to sell you some tires.

 

They refused to start the work without changing the tires. I phoned to check on the type of tire on the rear because a friend said he could get me a deal on the new ones. The dealer said that they had already put the new ones on, no point if it was just going to break again.
The only "good" news is that no one asked me to sign anything when I brought the truck in - in other words I didn't authorize the tires - did I?
Thanks

 

If you did not tell them to put new tires on, then no you did not authorize them to do this. If however, you told them to fix the t-case, and they said that they would only work on it if tires were changed and then they changed the tires because that is the only way they would work on them.


I think this is crap, since the tires are the same, just different thickness. The thicker one will be heavier, but not to ruin the t-case!

Just my $.02

 

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=18

There is an article here that sort of agress witht he dealer. But I only use 4 by when I pull or push my trailers in/out of job sites and at the dump.

 

Different tire brands can have very different diameters even when they are supposed to be the same size. The P.O. of my truck had 31x10.5-15s by 2 different mfg's when I purchased it. Xfer case shifted hard into and out of 4wd. Measured the tires, and the radius was over 3/4" different between brands. That's 2.36" of travel for every tire revolution. Put on new BFG All Terrains, shifts like butter now. I've seen this problem in other trucks and Jeeps, too.