ANOTHER, but important 4WD ADD ACT TIMING talk and positions...

This is a long read, hoping to help others. This is about putting your ADD or transfer case actuator back together from scratch. I've read allot of threads, and I have asked allot of questions in some of those threads, but people seem to be confused with what I was trying to talk about.

If you guys are taking these electric drive actuators apart, PLENTY of you do not know how to get it back together IN TIME including me and you end up buying a new actuator you didn't need...

My wish here is to discuss the Transfer Case rack and pinion positioning, as well as the electric contacts positioning with the "spring loaded" worm wheel. It seems like these come apart, and if you make a small mistake, you won't know how to reassemble things without splitting your transfer case, which is absurd. SOMEONE, MUST know the proper way to line this stuff up with the linear rack left in the transfer case...

We should be able to tear this all down, clean it, assemble with soldered motor terminals, fresh lithium grease and clean the rotor surface where the brushes ride.

Picture 902 shows the meshing of the pinion gear and pinion rack. They have a timing that must be correct or full engagement will fail in either the completely forwards, or completely retracted position.

Picture 903 shows the pinion rack or shaft. This is the shaft I have been asking about. I read that there are 3 positions, 4WD High, 4WD low and 4WD neutral. I read forwards was one, middle another and so on, because guys have lost a 4WD actuator while out on the trails. And their smart friends use a wrench on the actuator, then they can remove your actuator cover and place the shaft in the correct position MANUALLY just to get you out of a jam. I need to know those 3 positions again, I cannot find that thread.

Next thing, the timing of the spring loaded worm wheel to the contact housing itself. The picture with A and B show the 2 components that come apart when you tear this down to repair it. Picture D shows the contacts that must be in the correct "o-clock" position.

And the last picture is the outside of the transfer case actuators plastic housing, you can see a line here. This line HAS GOT!! to tell us the position to reinstall things, but it doesn't seem to line up with anything????

To get this back together, you need to know where to position the rack shaft - either front, middle or back. And you need to position the worm wheel in the contacts housing at the correct orientation or O-Clock, or it's not going to operate correctly.

Some one here must know how to line all this stuff up in their sleep, but I can't find that info and I bet plenty of guys take this apart and then reassemble it wrong only to have to buy a whole new actuator because they couldn't re-time the actuator.

Normally I have a 100% understanding of how things work, or I can find cues such as wear marks to figure it out, but I am lost with this thing...

I know that's allot to say, but I am trying to be clear and hope this can help ALL of us once it is figured out. Photos should be in order. Thank you for any help!!

 

The 2nd picture with the rack and pinion shaft, shows you a small grinder mark I made with that shaft in the position it was in when I removed the actuator. I was trying to mark everything as I took it apart so I could put it all back together. Tomorrow is 50 degrees, it's my last chance to crawl on the ground and fix this before the freezing starts... You can see them towards the lower part of the TC rack shaft... It must line up perfectly with the gear in the contacts housing or nothing works.

Edit, there are 13 teeth on the pinion gear, so you have a 1 out of 13 chance of getting it back in correctly...

 

Bhwang had posted this:

"I found it yesterday and took off the plug on the front ADD and found the plastic surround that protects the terminals was snapped off, so I will be making a call to Toyota to say I better get a new $600 ADD. And yes I did put some dielectric grease on it and still did not fix it. Anyone know the correct procedure on how to reinstall the TC ADD onto the shift rod ??" No one answered...

 

I know you're in a bind but you're making too many threads.

Gear Cruncher is who to tag if you don't want to just walk to the Toyo shop and ask somebody. It's Christmas, bring them a bottle.

 

Well , i was just going through the new posts and seen this one .
Just put the motor back together and pop it back on the rear of the transfer case . The electric motor is not the deciding factor in this scenario . The rod that the electric motor moves is the deciding factor . The motor is capable of rotating 360 degrees as well as the pinion shaft .
If you didnt move the shaft , everything should work just fine once the electric motor is bolted back up .
You can even test the motor by plugging in the harness without bolting it up .
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/transfer-case-transfer-cases-in-first-and-2nd-gen-trucks.345652/

 

After reading a hundred threads, I am convinced these are all pieces of shit and I am not happy with Toyotas engineers because most Toyota parts are designed very well, fairly bulletproof; Not anymore!!...

I may just hook up a damn lawnmower cable, absolute piece of junk...

 

Posting too much would be a better accusation, lol J/K. Problem was I started off in everyone elses threads, and I didn't have a digital camera. So I started this thread myself with pics, that makes 2 threads...

 

Hold up man, now Toyota has been using little electric actuator motors for 20+ years and hasn't changed diff engagement since, so it's a reliable system. What is the specific issue? Clocking the wound up actuator correctly? It's been over 10 years since I had to rebuild the one on my 80 series so I don't remember a whole lot off hand but I'm sure if I dug in it'll come back quick.

 

The answers have all been given in Gear Cruncher's thread.

How to line up the tabs to the contact plate, where to put the rod.

If it's something not in all those threads on his page about actuators and transfer cases maybe put an arrow to exactly what it is you're asking. I see your marks taking it apart, what got away from you?

 

Part of saying that is that it's simply the frustrations most of us have dealing with them. I'm reading on here that even a 2017 truck can fail. Back when I had 85/88/94 model years, all I did was locked my hubs and pulled a lever. So this electric motor stuff doesn't seem nearly as reliable as the older systems, IMHO...

Even DEALERS are charging almost 1000$ to diagnose some of these guys bringing them in, and they should be able to figure it out in half an hour tops, they're the experts.

I think 90% of the time it's NOT an electrical issue, it's the actuator itself or just contamination.

Now that I've been thru all this, it's my recommendation that EVERYONE take these apart, clean them up, re-grease them and seal them up better, or they will encounter an issue and it might be very cold out when it fails.

My additional frustrations are simply because guys are posting problems, but a very small percentage of people post their solutions and anything else they could contribute with everyone...

Anyhow, I got it all buttoned up last night. I did find his thread but I did some different things that may help someone else, i'll post it up tonight.

Thanks to everyone who helped!!

 

Awesome work man, and please, definitely share your findings/results with the repair.

 

Maybe the reason people don't post "the fix" is because by the time you get it going, you feel so fortunate to have got it done and it's working again...

I don't know if the photos show the ID# of the photo itself but here goes:

1923 Is what you may find inside your actuator.

1930 1931 These are the 2 contacts you use, I used a 9V battery to test the motor forwards and reverse.

1932 This is the dielectric grease AND clear silicone I added to the plastic cover.

1942, 1943 and 1944 Corrosion everywhere...

In the end, I used Gear Crunchers photos to place the electric rotor in the location for 2WD High, into the housing which also locates the pinion gear on the rack sticking out of the T Case. I used the 3 shaft positions to make sure it was in the "home" position or 2WD just by using a screwdriver. What I did is I used my floor jack on the rear diff; It held both tires off the ground, and I used my foot to roll the tires while I used a screwdriver to get the shaft in the home 2WD High positon.

The whole used transfer case to my door with a perfect DRY California actuator for about 210$ shipped and 5 days.

These things are not sealed well, not the 1st generation anyhow and the biggest problem seems to be corrosion.

One person said "sand the contact fingers" well, they are coated, so I just cleaned them and added more dielectric grease...

I have one photo on my phone that shows that rotor in the 2WD position, I'll figure that out and get it up here.
But anyway, I was able to do all of it with very little issue. And I used a cutoff wheel to get the old cover off while allowing enough chopped off to verify the proper 2WD O-Clock position.

Works great, And I learned ALLOT... Thanks to everyone here with the same goal in mind, keep the best trucks on Earth running...

 

I also tapped everything and used new SS metric allen head bolts with some anti-seize on the threads, next time it WILL come apart easy...

You may not get those 3 screws out on the elect motor easily. I used kroil and channel locks back and forth, back and forth, and I got them out.

EDIT - SO, apparently, even though Dad left it in 4WD all day on the pavement and began this horror show, it was ready to die any day, or any shift now...

 

Fantastic job !!
Great pics and write up .
I try telling the guys not to take their trucks swimming .

 

Damn, what an experience. And great job on the fix.

 

Thanks guys, I feel like I've lost a 30lb weight off my back!!

When I realized my pop had driven this in 4WD on dry pavement, and it was jammed in 4wd I was so mad, I just couldn't let it go...

I "thought" I was all set for a New England weather and I hate repairing things in the middle of winter. Every year I always try to think ahead, "Hmm, what do I have to do before winter??"

Dads plan was "take of your driveshaft and wait until we have 1000$", well, I already had 1K, but I didn't want to be a "parts changer", I wanted to be a repair technician.

In his mind, that was the fix until spring, but I have 33" tires on this thing, I NEED my 4wd or I will total this truck that is worth 10K to me, but 1K to the insurance company.

And now I push a button and it pops in and out better than ever before!

Anyway, if it wasn't for posts and people on Taco-World, I would have had many more frustrations, and ultimately more money out of my pocket.

Next up, is the rear end locker. That has been flashing for 5 years, I honestly never used it. But, after this experience, if I get one warmer day I will get that puppy apart and working as well now that I am not so afraid of the system.

If I can help anyone in anyway, feel free to send me a message or post here. I'm no expert, but I'm usually very good at everything I do, besides marriage...

P.S. One thing that people could do to help everyone else out on these forums, is to post the actual results. It's the same with all forums I find, but; What else did you screw up, what did you learn?? What did you buy, break ,borrow? Those are the posts that help everyone when they search for an old thread. But, you've got to come back and tell everyone what the fix was