Transfer case go brrrr - output shaft snapped

hear

hear

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XJ buddy was flat towing. He drove the thing into position to hook up the tow bar. Got hooked up, went t-case in N, trans in P and drove from Dallas to Tulsa no issues. Unhooked, went to shift t-case into gear but had no power to the rear tires.

I don’t know much about Jeeps but this may be a factor.

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As they say in Texas, Houston, we have a problem.

You adding transfer case resuscitation to your shop services?

No XJs until you fix all your shit...

-Mac
 
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Why I don’t like the idea of flat towing a Jeep. The N position in the TCase is just too iffy IMHO.
 
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@Chris why did we change the title of this thread? Are we not familiar with the "<thing> go brrrr" meme?

It didn't make a noise that he heard, fwiw. I mean, it probably did, but we didn't hear it.
 
Rickyd said:
I wonder how the heck that happened? Hopefully the transmission and axle are ok?
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IDK, it's parked up at his dad's place in Tulsa for now, but he was able to drive it in FWD to get it parked properly. My theory is that he flat towed in P t-case in N and at some point the case went back into gear. Driveshaft was spinning because the tires were rolling. Transmission didn't want to turn because it was in park. Something had to give, but I'm *stunned* it wasn't the ujoint. I mean to snap a 1" thick forged steel output shaft....come on.

The thing is his linkage is jacked up so the shifter wasn't even connected so he's been literally crawling under the thing to put it into 4WD etc. So for it to go into gear I guess something would have had to hit the shifter lever on the t-case itself? And I guess normally the linkage & t-case shifter pattern would prevent such a thing? IDK, I'm short on ideas here.
 
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Maybe they only half shifted it into N... it's pretty easy when the shifter isn't hooked up to miss a transfer case shift without a positive detent...and it's not like you'd jump in and start it to verify.

I can only think the u joints are better at shock loads than hardened steel shafts. Really shows you why you don't want stronger u joints.

-Mac
 
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macleanflood said:
Maybe they only half shifted it into N... it's pretty easy when the shifter isn't hooked up to miss a transfer case shift without a positive detent...and it's not like you'd jump in and start it to verify.

I can only think the u joints are better at shock loads than hardened steel shafts. Really shows you why you don't want stronger u joints.

-Mac
Click to expand...

Ok, but he drove it 2.5 hrs....if it was in gear he would've known it right away as he tried to pull away initially. Rear tires would've skidded as the driveshaft tried to turn but the trans wouldn't let it. He drives an XJ but he's not THAT stupid. :p
 
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Is that a OE output shaft or is it from a SYE?

I also have a hard time believing that of all the things to break by falling into gear that it would have been that. I would expect it to demolish the parking pawl.

Also...N is between 4H and 4L, so it b would have had to slip into 4wd if that's what happened, and the same load should have been on the front output, unless his xj is pre-1991 or he's done a hub conversion.
 
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freedom_in_4low said:
Is that a OE output shaft or is it from a SYE?

I also have a hard time believing that of all the things to break by falling into gear that it would have been that. I would expect it to demolish the parking pawl.

Also...N is between 4H and 4L, so it b would have had to slip into 4wd if that's what happened, and the same load should have been on the front output, unless his xj is pre-1991 or he's done a hub conversion.
Click to expand...

That’s what I was going to say…I’d think the parking pawl is the weakest link in all of that and would have given up first. Something is odd for sure.
 
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freedom_in_4low said:
Also...N is between 4H and 4L, so it b would have had to slip into 4wd if that's what happened, and the same load should have been on the front output, unless his xj is pre-1991 or he's done a hub conversion.
Click to expand...
XJs have a vacuum operated FAD, IIRC... so it would have disconnected the axle like with locking hubs.
 
its a 99, so the linkage & t-case are pretty much identical to ours.

inside baseball: some of the things I post about are actually XJ things, but the XJ forums kinda suck and since so many of the parts are the same I just pretend it's a TJ thing so nobody freaks out.
 
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machoheadgames said:
What year XJ is this? Did it have a true neutral? Any front locker?
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True neutral? They have what we have.

And he does have a spartan style locker, but I can't remember if it's front/back/both. We're friends, not lovers, so I don't know all the deets.
 
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