Transfer Case Chain

[Iceman2989]

Been searching a while and havent found anything on this forum in particular with relation to this, so thought I'd bring it up directly.

 

97 R50 is the vehicle in question, and its making a terrible grinding noise when 4WD is engaged!! With winter just around the corner here, and the ice and snow sure to come quick, Ive got to figure this out quick! I had a local guy take a look at it and within a minute told me it was my transfer case chain. That it had stretched and was slipping on the gears....

 

I dont know much about my transfer case.... but woudnt any kind of chain break instead of stretch?

 

I found this video on youtube that is of the same noise, and judging by the comments on it and title I'd say my local guy was right~

 

 

Thoughts? How difficult is this to fix on my own?

 

Thanks in advance!

[XPLORx4]

It's not difficult to fix on your own if you have the right tools, enough patience, and time. However, it is fairly involved. You might have more success replacing the whole transfer case with a junkyard unit than opening yours up and replacing the gears and/or chain. Either way, the transfer case has to be removed from the vehicle. When I removed my transfer case for a gear swap, I had to remove a lot of the interior to reach a few bolts on the top of the t-case. I had to remove both front seats, the center console, and the whole lower dashboard. Since my Pathy has a lot of custom wiring for lights, stereo, extra switches, etc., I didn't want some shop to do it and risk having them screw up my custom wiring.

 

Dropping the t-case after the driveshafts, the VSS connector, and other bolts are removed is actually quite straightforward (though the case itself weighs ~140 lbs).