BigEarl

Good times... Finally found the rig i've been wanting for years, now ˟˟˟˟ starts to go wrong. Horrible vibration today driving around town, so i crawl under it and find by U-joints at the xfer case are totally shot. How i missed this i don't know, i checked things out pretty good when i bought this thing a month ago. Anyways, now the xfer case tailshaft is wobbling enough to tell me that bearing is toast. To make things worse, I'm supposed to head out on a run this weekend and have 3 days to get this fixed or i'm not going. So... my question to y'all is can i replace the tailshaft bearing without dropping the xfer case? I'm hoping the rear cover comes off and i can just swap it out there with it still in the truck. Any guidance here is MUCH APPRECIATED... Thanks very much.

millball

The rear output bearing can be changed without removal of the case.

Check the output flange retaining nut for tightness before you do anything else. Tighten the flange retaining nut to 95 FP and see what kind of slop ya got.

BigEarl

Thanks for the tip millball! You were right, the companion flange nut was frigging finger tight only.. Flange was wobbling all over the place. Looks like the nut was used several times and no detent was visible. The output shaft has a very slight bit of play in it, but i wouldn't think it's enough to crack the case and get into the guts of the TC. It's barely enough to notice when i'm pushing and pulling on it... Assuming i can find the parts needed, i'll hopefully make the run this weekend. Thanks again!...