• Welcome to H4O! For a reduced ad experience, please login or register with the forum.

H3 Damn... another transfer case failure???? no 4 wheel low when I need it.

reaper

reaper

Well-Known Member
Messages
521
Location
Denver, Colorado
Once more, my h3 decided she HATES 4wheel-low, and refused to go into low to get up the hill to get me home. She left me and my family stranded at Bill Moore Lake, and I had to have a jeep pull me up the hill. Talk about embarrassing!!!! We did get home, thanks to some college kids and Kaleb (backcountryislife) who met us on the trail to help get us down. Steep hills and only 4wheel high is NO fun...

So for those who pay attention, you may remember this happening to me a few times before... I had the transfer case rebuilt, rebuilt, and rebuilt.

When I started up the (steep) hill to go home, it al of a sudden dropped from 4 wheel low into between 4 wheel high and 4 wheel low, and just kept clicking and not engaging. Mechanically-- it doesn't quite shift into 4 wheel low, and then just click-click-click-click-click. It did throw me some messages like "4 wheel drive system is F*ed" but I haven't got a chance to really diagnose what's going on yet. I'm planning on getting it into the dealer this week (no more transmission shops for me, after 1.5 months in it last year!)

More to come, stay tuned. Any advice from some veterans is welcome... it kind of seems like the transfer case rebuild wasn't the issue, there's another solenoid issue or something going on.
 
06 H3

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,439
Location
Meridian, ID
Not sure how much you spent on the T case rebuilds but I would just say F-it! I would get a new 4:1. It may be cheaper at this point. IIRC a new one is less then $1400, I think thats what Zach told me. Dont hold me on the price though until he chimes in as it can be more/less. It may or may not be the electronics. When I went to moab JR3Ts T case wouldnt go into 4 low, only 4hi locked...What was the problem? An extra magnet in the case. Some knucklehead put in one too many and it was causing issues. Who would have ever guessed that to be the problem! We were thinking all of the possible problems and electronics was a concern yet it was something totally different. I would talk to Zach he can help you out. He may even throw you a discount if you send him a blue grease gun so our grease guns can match. :wink:
 
reaper

reaper

Well-Known Member
Messages
521
Location
Denver, Colorado
Thanks 6! I did get my tcase rebuild refunded in the end since they had my car for so freaking long. It was that or lawyers... and the slipping out of 4 wheel low is EXACTLY what happened to me before, and I really BARELY wheel these days (my life is focused on my kids for the most part), there's no way I've put enough wear on the rebuilt tcase-- something has to be causing this. But yeah this time if it is the tcase I'm putting it in myself, there's no way in hell I'm paying a shop to do that after the last one got so fubared.
 
backcountryislife

backcountryislife

Well-Known Member
Messages
858
Location
Dumont, CO
Just run with me, drop the doors at my place, put the wife & kids in my 3... with the weight you'll save, you won't even need 4L anymore.


DONE... FIXED!:giggle:

Well... at least you're not wondering how to get the truck out of Bill Moore basin today though, huh?


Thanks for the ice cream btw... I always forget to stop & get a cone when I come through town! :D
 
bebe

bebe

Moderator
Messages
1,375
Location
Dayton, NV
reaper said:
Thanks 6! I did get my tcase rebuild refunded in the end since they had my car for so freaking long. It was that or lawyers... and the slipping out of 4 wheel low is EXACTLY what happened to me before, and I really BARELY wheel these days (my life is focused on my kids for the most part), there's no way I've put enough wear on the rebuilt tcase-- something has to be causing this. But yeah this time if it is the tcase I'm putting it in myself, there's no way in hell I'm paying a shop to do that after the last one got so fubared.
Click to expand...

You may want to investigate the rear of the tcase. Check to see if you have movement in the driveshaft where it connects to the tcase. either the rebuild was bad or the short driveline is causing bearing wear?

Just a thought.
 
X

Xlr8n

Well-Known Member
Messages
140
Location
Midwest
Any chance it could be a bad encoder/actuator motor or a short in the system telling the actuator to shift?
 
backcountryislife

backcountryislife

Well-Known Member
Messages
858
Location
Dumont, CO
The way it grinds & the way they described it, I'd think it's a gear that's been skipping little by little & finally stripped all the way. doesn't seem like an actuator type issue (unless the actuator was only pushing it 1/2way into contact & that's what caused the problem?
 
MaxPF

MaxPF

AGNTSA
Messages
1,394
Location
The dark side of the globe
I'd guess worn shift fork pads and/or worn range coupler. This is not uncommon on NP/NV cases, and the range coupler in the BW is nearly identical, with identical issues.
 
reaper

reaper

Well-Known Member
Messages
521
Location
Denver, Colorado
Ok, thanks all. Haven't gotten it in to the shop yet, still need to clean it out from the weekend. (We had to do an ER run last night for my son... sheesh, there's always something!!! He's ok, just had a bad cut from running into his sis. But that's another story...) But... check this out: found a tcase on local craiglist for $275. From the post: "I have a new encoder motor in the box for this that is not pictured. Borg Warner 60FN transfer case. I rebuilt this t-case using the new style shift fork, not the old plastic style and new drive sprocket." I need to check it's the right one for the adventure... left a message. Anyone know if that's the right one, or if I could use it's parts to fix mine? Shoot, it oculd be just the encoder motor!!!!
 
reaper

reaper

Well-Known Member
Messages
521
Location
Denver, Colorado
ok-- the transfer case (plus encode motor, for $275) I found on Craiglist for sale is the non-adventure model, but has all the good parts other than that. The guy who rebuilt it works at a dealer (and shoot, maybe he could help if I ran into trouble putting it back together? :) ) Assuming my pinion gears or whatever is different for the adv. case is still good on mine, I could grab that and have all the parts to put together a good one. Shoot, I could probably recycle some parts to resell some of it back when I'm done.

Can anyone (smarter than me, that is) comment on how good idea it is to buy a non-adv. case for parts and fix it myself? :) Note that I took shop in college, but I'm not a gearhead like most of the rest of us in here... I do LIKE working on my hummer however since I have a commuter car to drive. Is this something I should try? It can't be that hard... the people at the tranny shop that rebuilt it last year sure were knuckleheads!
 
reaper

reaper

Well-Known Member
Messages
521
Location
Denver, Colorado
yeah, I got that. :) So what about my post-- good idea or a really bad idea? I can take them suckers apart and get a good one out of it. How likely is that?
 
backcountryislife

backcountryislife

Well-Known Member
Messages
858
Location
Dumont, CO
If you don't feel comfortable working on it, I've got a local guy (1/2 way between us) that I would trust 100% to do the work if you get to a point where you don't like it.

I'd say go for it, and use him if you need a hand. I'm no T-case badazz, but looking at blowups, it doesn't seem that tough.
 
bebe

bebe

Moderator
Messages
1,375
Location
Dayton, NV
It's not tough - but there are special tools involved.

The H3 service manual will tell you which one's you need.
 
MaxPF

MaxPF

AGNTSA
Messages
1,394
Location
The dark side of the globe
reaper said:
yeah, I got that. :) So what about my post-- good idea or a really bad idea? I can take them suckers apart and get a good one out of it. How likely is that?
Click to expand...

If I'm right about the range coupler being the culprit it may not help you - the diagram I found online liiks like the 4494 may have a different coupler (slider) vs the 4493. Not 100% on that though...
 
reaper

reaper

Well-Known Member
Messages
521
Location
Denver, Colorado
Verdict from the dealer: it's the guts of the transfer case.

It's a good thing I got a refund from Curly at AA Transmission last year...
 
reaper

reaper

Well-Known Member
Messages
521
Location
Denver, Colorado
So... what about dropping the tcase and installing it, and having someone else rebuild it? I think I can get that done relatively cheaply... I don't think I'm competent enough to rebuild the thing myself (although I know I can do better than Curly!)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top