2012 - New Transfer Case Needed

A quick search has not returned many hits on transfer cases going south for the new models so this may be a one off.

At 67K the actuator was replaced.

At 107K I heard a clunk when 4wd was engaged. I took it in thinking it was a CV, but didn't see any obvious signs. The dealer took a look and in less than an hour determined the chain in the transfer case slipped and there is lots of metal. Thankfully I have the extended warranty to 125K, so it should be covered. The Toyota Warranty/Service person will be out to take a picture as they were thinking it could be repaired. The dealer stated when they cracked the case, there's no way it can be fixed. (All maintenance has been performed thankfully)

The dealer price for the part was $3200 + Labor. From what I gather a used case would be ~$500 at a junkyard and a Marlin ~$1800 (+mod). Since this is mostly seeing highway mileage, I probably would have gone with a junkyard case if it was out of pocket.

My question is, if it was out of pocket, would the Marlin have an advantage for everyday driving such as durability? or is it solely limited to off road? Also, are there anythings to watch for with the dealer work?

I'll stop back and post an update when I get my truck back.

 

interesting.... i have seen some HARD off road miles put on these cases and never really heard any problems.

When you engaged into 4wd did you have rear tires spinning truck going no where... i could see that instant shock fucking a case pretty easy....

Only other thing i could see would be the stupid use of 4wd in high traction environments (like on pavement) that would stretch the main chain and cause it to skip teeth... in that case that would be operator error.

and holly fuck balls thats alotta miles!

 

When it clunked it was on some thick slush at about 25 mph, so nothing abnormal. I've been pretty careful about not engaging 4wd on pavement and switching it off when road conditions improve. I think its related to the actuator replacement since it has been finicky about engaging while moving (no more than 45 mph and low traction).

 

Just a quick update:

Truck was brought in 3/6, diagnosed within an hour ~9am.
Yesterday (3/11) the extended service rep finally made it out and the repair was approved at ~4:30
I 'should' have my truck tomorrow afternoon (3/13)
The the extended warranty covered the loaner (Corolla S which I am not a fan of)

 

The actuator unit itself on the front differential has no relation to the T-case chain going bad.... IMO.

My first thought was excessive binding on good traction, but from what you say, I see it's not the case here. It does take excessive and continuous stress to damage a chain and/or sprocket.

 

Only ever engaged/disengaged going straight, foot off of the gas. I've never felt binding in the truck either, my old Xterra had 170K miles no problem (although I did bind once due to the situation).

I'm going to chalk it up to an oddity and am thankful it happened before I hit 125K.

 

Quick update:

Transfer Case back ordered,not expected until 3/23

 

theres an actuator on the tcase as well.

could of been a botched job when replacing the actuator.

 

Got my truck back today (3/30)

Final write up was 378 for labor, 3145.13 for the part, 280 for 7 days of rental totaling 3803.13. The dealer/Toyota covered the rental for the rest of the days waiting for the part.

The Corolla returned with about 3k miles put on it.

At 107k on my truck, the original pads have 8mm present and the rear shoes have 3mm.

Snow is in the forecast for tomorrow, so I should be able to test it out.