Suggestions on transfer case replacement

Tank97

Tank97

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Apr 11, 2018
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Location
Branson MO
So I took my 97 I6 5 speed wrangler to the shop the other day to have them check on what felt like a binding in my drive train, they co cluded that the transfer case is bad and needs to be replaced.

Any suggestions one what to replace it with and what is the difficulty level of replacing a TC?


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Usually you can just rebuild the transfer case, I have a hard time believing it's beyond being rebuilt... is it?

If so, replace it with another 231 transfer case, unless you have big bucks and can afford $4000 for an Atlas 4-speed or $2000 for a 241 Rubicon transfer case.
 
tworley said:
How is it "bad"? Did they explain what is wrong with it?
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Agreed. Aside from it being cracked I’ve always just rebuilt them. They aren’t very complex. If it’s a daily driver you could always find a rebuilt one and do the swap yourself to save some $$$$.

The 241 and atlas require additional work and aren’t bolt on’s, just thought I’d mention that.

If you’re mechanically inclined and have the tools, the money, and the case is in fact not rebuildable now is a good time to upgrade.
 
Transfer case removal/install is not difficult, and you may as well remove it and crack it open yourself. Take some pictures and upload them here for a second opinion. Look at transfer case removal videos and SYE install videos to have an idea of how to open them up.


 
tworley said:
How is it "bad"? Did they explain what is wrong with it?
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They didn't tell me how bad it was, just said it was bad.
Here what it's doing, anything under 2000rpms I feel a binding, anything over 2000 it drives like a dream. I was able to drive it to the shop no problem as long as I kept the RPMs high.

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Hotchef181818 said:
Agreed. Aside from it being cracked I’ve always just rebuilt them. They aren’t very complex. If it’s a daily driver you could always find a rebuilt one and do the swap yourself to save some $$$$.

The 241 and atlas require additional work and aren’t bolt on’s, just thought I’d mention that.

If you’re mechanically inclined and have the tools, the money, and the case is in fact not rebuildable now is a good time to upgrade.
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I would consider myself a novice mechanic but I am not afraid to get my hands dirty. It's not my daily driver so I don't have to scrape something together real quick to fix it.

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Tank97 said:
Here what it's doing, anything under 2000rpms I feel a binding, anything over 2000 it drives like a dream.
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Can you describe it more? A pop? noise? During take-off? Many shops point the finger and then begin to throw parts at it hoping the owner will cough up the money. It could be something simple as a ujoint, or perhaps a bad axle bearing.
 
I can attest to shops pointing fingers. I had a shop reasonably suggest my transfer case was gone and it needed to be replaced due to a noise I was having. Considering the mileage and how the transfer case had been abused, this seemed reasonable to me. A lot of money and a new transfer case later, that noise turned out to just be the front driveshaft CV joint 😟
 
tworley said:
Can you describe it more? A pop? noise? During take-off? Many shops point the finger and then begin to throw parts at it hoping the owner will cough up the money. It could be something simple as a ujoint, or perhaps a bad axle bearing.
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There's not really a specific sound other than the engine bogging down, it takes off fine but starts bucking/bogging afte the ckutch is fully releqsed until I can force it above 2000 rpms, which isn't that hard in 1st gear.

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What happens when you put it in neutral and rev the engine? What about when you have the clutch fully disengaged? Any evidence of any issue? I know you said it's more of a "feel" than anything but maybe it'll tell us something especially if it's still bogging. At the very least it'll let us know if it's in the engine or the drive-train since it's based on RPMs and not speed.
 
danof76 said:
What happens when you put it in neutral and rev the engine? What about when you have the clutch fully disengaged? Any evidence of any issue? I know you said it's more of a "feel" than anything but maybe it'll tell us something especially if it's still bogging. At the very least it'll let us know if it's in the engine or the drive-train since it's based on RPMs and not speed.
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The engine runs and revs great in neutral and with the clutch fully disengaged. It only acts up when the clutch is engaged.

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If the shop said the transfer case is bad and they need to replace it, I would ask for more details to see what was bad. Something is fishy here. The fact of the matter is a transfer case is a rebuildable unit. It’s not something u throw in the trash and get another one. I’d try getting under the Jeep and shaking the drive shafts and see if you have any movement with the u joints.
There’s definitely something wrong but I would take the Jeep to a different shop and then see if u get a different result as to what is actually broken.
 
ErikOffroad said:
If the shop said the transfer case is bad and they need to replace it, I would ask for more details to see what was bad. Something is fishy here. The fact of the matter is a transfer case is a rebuildable unit. It’s not something u throw in the trash and get another one. I’d try getting under the Jeep and shaking the drive shafts and see if you have any movement with the u joints.
There’s definitely something wrong but I would take the Jeep to a different shop and then see if u get a different result as to what is actually broken.
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When I get the jeep back I will check that. Thanks everyone for the help so far, you're life savers!

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Tank97 said:
The engine runs and revs great in neutral and with the clutch fully disengaged. It only acts up when the clutch is engaged.

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Just to be clear you technically have a few ways to see when the problem rears it's head:
  1. Parked, clutch engaged, not in gear, RPMs below 2,000
  2. Parked, clutch disengaged, RPMs below 2,000
  3. In motion, clutch engaged, not in gear, RPMs below 2,000
  4. In motion, clutch engaged, in gear, RPMs below 2,000
  5. In motion, clutch disengaged, RPMs below 2,000
I know it's semantics but there are differences. From what it sounds like what you've said it's only happening under the fourth item: in motion, clutch engaged, in gear, RPMs below 2,000. I just wanted to confirm that, otherwise the different scenarios determines what parts may or may not be moving. Always best to try and isolate a problem first.

ErikOffroad said:
If the shop said the transfer case is bad and they need to replace it, I would ask for more details to see what was bad. Something is fishy here. The fact of the matter is a transfer case is a rebuildable unit. It’s not something u throw in the trash and get another one. I’d try getting under the Jeep and shaking the drive shafts and see if you have any movement with the u joints.
There’s definitely something wrong but I would take the Jeep to a different shop and then see if u get a different result as to what is actually broken.
Click to expand...

Anything can happen and what I don’t know could fill a house. That being said he says the problem goes away at high RPMs. Driveshafts will spin as long as the vehicle is in motion and will spin based on speed. If it’s a DS problem then it disappearing at 2,000 RPM, whether going 5MPH in 1st gear or 70MPH in 5th gear would be odd, but could also mean it’s torque related somehow I suppose. Again, stranger things have happened, I’m only a shade tree mechanic myself anyhow!
 
danof76 said:
Just to be clear you technically have a few ways to see when the problem rears it's head:
  1. Parked, clutch engaged, not in gear, RPMs below 2,000
  2. Parked, clutch disengaged, RPMs below 2,000
  3. In motion, clutch engaged, not in gear, RPMs below 2,000
  4. In motion, clutch engaged, in gear, RPMs below 2,000
  5. In motion, clutch disengaged, RPMs below 2,000
I know it's semantics but there are differences. From what it sounds like what you've said it's only happening under the fourth item: in motion, clutch engaged, in gear, RPMs below 2,000. I just wanted to confirm that, otherwise the different scenarios determines what parts may or may not be moving. Always best to try and isolate a problem first.



Anything can happen and what I don’t know could fill a house. That being said he says the problem goes away at high RPMs. Driveshafts will spin as long as the vehicle is in motion and will spin based on speed. If it’s a DS problem then it disappearing at 2,000 RPM, whether going 5MPH in 1st gear or 70MPH in 5th gear would be odd, but could also mean it’s torque related somehow I suppose. Again, stranger things have happened, I’m only a shade tree mechanic myself anyhow!
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You are correct in that it only happens in scenario 4. When I get it back I will drive it around more and pay closer attention to exactly what is going on and try to give you guys a better detailed explanation of what is going on

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I guess I forgot to mention somthing that I probably should have. This problem happened after I replaced the distributor.

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Hotchef181818 said:
Purely coincidence. They have nothing to do with each other. The distributor provides ignition, transfer case is mechanical.
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Wait... You're saying that the engine bogging down under 2000 rpm is purely a coincidence with the fact that he just replaced the distributor? I understand that the transfer case is independent from the distributor but engine performance is definitely not.

This is 100% not a transfer case problem.
 
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