[Tx Firefighter]

The title to this post should be "Best day at work ever".

Why ? Because I took a day of vacation from work and spent it doing what I love, building trucks.

I have to say right up front, I know nothing of any depth about transfer cases. Mine was leaky and the odometer shows 222k miles so I decided to dive in. It was definitely a learn-as-you-go project.







Take it all apart.





This bearing was a tough one to remove. It fits in a blind hole so there's no pressing it out. I wound up using my pilot bearing puller to remove it. Don't think I have super tools here, this is a 15 dollar puller. The trick is to pull tension against the bearing with the puller and heat the aluminum case with a propane torch till it lets loose. Notice I had to use a couple of small sockets to space the puller up enough to work. Finesse is definitely the order of the day here. If I'd have horsed down on the puller too much it would have surely broken the aluminum case or the puller. A steady pressure and heat till it releases saves you having to go all hulk on it and wind up searching Craigslist for another aluminum case to replace the one you broke.







Now, get it all clean. I used my 79 dollar soda blaster to clean it up initially, then the garden hose and spray cleaner to do the final clean to remove any soda residue. Yes, I work ghetto. The parts are just set onto a 5 gallon bucket next to my shop for blasting.











Studying before engaging in battle.



I gave 40 bucks for a stack of factory service manuals right here on the parts board. It's been money very well spent. Even if they aren't the exact manual for the vehicle, the components are usually pretty much the same.



More in next post...