So I took possession because the rig was done and it needed to be picked up sooner or later. I flew in Thursday and got home early Saturday morning without much issue.

The only mild problem was fluid loss the smelled like gear lube, but was red. I finally identified it as ATF and took proper action. 2 qts later, I was cruising in to Baraboo.

Most of Saturday I was passed out and last night I went to a DMB concert, so here it is Monday and I finally got a chance to take another look at things and see what was up.

There is no visible leak of ATF on the tranny. There is tons of ATF on the t-case. When I opened the fill plug on the t-case, I got a red shower of ATF. As you may have guessed, this is not right.

Guess Schaefer had it figured out. The faulty front seal strikes again. Looks like I may be towing back to CO4RJ to get it fixed again.

LKQ is the search Steve. I will make another call this afternoon since I am away from work for a while now.

 

Bummer dude.....
I'm guessing the seal kept the ATF from going in to the t-case right?

 

Ughh!

Just keep repeating over and over "it will be worth it, it will be worth it..."

I thought they drove it for a week to find the little issues?

 

How much you want to bet they have the stock seal in there and not the "special" Marlin seal.

How much you want to bet they don't even know there is a special "Marlin Seal".

 

You can drive it back, heck I drove it the same way:

Fresno to Phoenix
Phoenix to Buena Vista
Beuna Vista to Phoenix
Phoenix to San Diego
San Diego to Phoenix
Phonix to Hammers
Hammers to Phoenix
Phoenix to Moab
Moab to Phoenix.


You don't need a tow truck, you just need to top it off after the rear tank fills, then keep adding it to the tranny.


Where's my frame !!!

 

Do you want me to look here too? I am always looking for an excuse to take a trip to Junk Yard Alley. Seriously, here in ABQ there are about 25 junk yards all on the same street, about a 5 mile stretch. What's great is that you can bargain between them for a good price.

 

YES, please do. I need a 1990-1995 2nd Gen rear frame section, cut right before the PanHard bar mount. That way it will have the 2 frame rails and 2 crossmembers, PanHard and spare tire mount.

The best I can do in Phoenix is $175.00, all of the yards are quoteing the same price. 2WD, 4WD it does not matter. See what you can do.

 

They know it, they swapped it and they are trying to get another.

My rear case spewed pure ATF all over my shoulder, face and floor. It was a complete ATF facial.

There is one frame in Hustiford, they guy who I spoke with was not a guy to guess on price. I will do some more leg work tomorrow.

The guys said keep it off the road. I can't imagine gear lube lubricates like ATF.

The power is amazing. The Chinese firedrill thing is cool too, Marmot even came by to see it

 

I guess it works out well that my tranny and t-cases all take the same lube.

So WTF, are THEY going to pay to tow it back ???

 

You gonna do an "Update III" with a summary of what you had done and how much everything cost?

Think you're going to have it fixed by CO4RJ and moab?

 

Schaefer, sharing gear lube to gear lube should not be an issue. I do not have the place or tools to drop the tranny and cases without killing myself, those are some heavy buggers. They do not want another rig to drop it and swap the tranny seal and the soonest I can leave with a dual axle trailer is a week from today. We are waiting on a call from Marlin to confirm our diagnosis, then it will be time to move ahead.

Steve, I hope to have a rig for CO4RJ, but I would say that is looking like a better than 50% chance that it will not be trail ready which means this project will have cost me a week of scheduled wheeling from CO4RJ and Moab plus a whole summer of tinkering. If it is not done for Moab, I am taking one of the shop buggies.

Price to date has been 4 blankets, 8 shiny beads and 2 goats, but it may go up.

 

I took my heavier set of cases out all by myself. Harbor Freight Tranny Jack.

Easier than a drive to Fresno.


In your case, I would go back, since it's more complicated. Quit bitchin, you'll have all winter to tinker in perfect weather in Phoenix.

Also this years CO4RJ is the samething as last year, now this Moab trip will really be something. That is the one to make for sure.

What you undertook was huge. I would have done the engine and dual cases seperatly, since each was a beast of it's own.

 

It needed to be done at the same time, really doing one without the other would have involved redoing a lot.

Found two frames north of here about an hour. They wanted two bills for one and and a half for the other. The pickings are slim dude.

CO4RJ will be fun as usual, but Moab will be one for the record books.

 

Looks like Phoenix is my best bet, Jim see what you can dig up.

 

Will do...

 

Rig is back to the shop.

Seal should be in by tomorrow at 10.

Winch, links and hope all wait in CO. Guess my tent and sleeping bag will ride out via UPS.

 

see you in CO!

 

sounds like you're doing 3.4 swap with the 3rd get autotrans and dual case....right?