Transfer case replacement advice

I have a 2019 Off Road with 82k miles. Last week when going from 4Lo to 4H, something happened, and I heard a lot of grinding and lost power. I had my truck towed to the dealer, and I was told my transfer case was bad and would cost 4.6k to replace it.

Is this a fair price?

And I treat my Tacoma very well, and I am shocked the transfer case went bad so fast. Is this normal?

Thanks!

 

I would get another opinion,,, now I know this isn't easy, as you had it towed and will probably have to pay a basic inspection bill and have to have it towed again. But, for nearly 5 large, I would want to know more than it's simply ,,,,bad? I would want pics, what specifically is bad or broken, and how did this happen?


were you stuck and trying to work your way out?
Do you hard core off road, are you a dirt/gravel road cruiser? Not that there is anything with the latter, that's what I do too. For beating,,, I'd buy a beater.

 

No, I wasn't stuck. I was going from a snow-covered dirt road, stopped at a stop sign, and past the stop sign was pavement. At the stop sign, I shifted into N and then changed the dail to 4H. When I took off, I heard a lot of grinding and lost power.

I use 4WD often and I am very familiar with the shifting process and the proper steps.

What sucks, is that I only owe 3.6K.

 

IMHO, it would look for a used T case on someplace like car-part.com . I would bet that you could get it fixed for half of that. Be sure that it comes with the actuator and it was not removed.

 

ahh I see, that sucks sorry to hear it.
I would hold out hope the dealer is NOT actually diagnosing and giving you a FU price/quote. Not all dealers are bad, but many are busy, understaffed, and picking and choosing jobs.
Again, what you should be asking them is- what specifically is bad? I am not replacing a low mileage unabused TC to the tune of 5k because you say it's simply bad.

 

I searched eBay (lol) and found several TC on there for under 1k. Would it be too much of a gamble?

I am honestly out of my element on all of this.

 

Good advice, I'll try and get some additional information from the service personal.

 

I would be extremely shocked if my transfer case went out and at 82k miles.

Are you sure it’s the transfer case? They are very sold built units, takes some skill to damage one.

 

I am just going by what they have told me...but I am very gentle with my truck. I use it a lot, but I don't shift hard and always follow the proper 4WD shifting instructions.

 

In my case, this would probably have tempted me to FJ case swap and twin stick it personally. But honestly, not using 4wd is usually worse on these cases.

 

I bought a used motorcycle engine from eBay. It's been going strong for over 40k now.

 

They're usually pretty stout. I dont recall seeing one fail under normal/light use either outside of the actuator. If it's truly the whole case, I'd buy a used one and swap it.

 

Is swapping one pretty difficult?

 

What do you mean lost power? Like press the gas and nothing happens? Or press the gas and theres a bunch of grinding sounds? Might help narrow it down a bit

There have been a few posts of the actuator being mis-timed and the truck not knowing its current status. But I dont think that would cause any grinding, at least not anymore than the typical hi <> lo shift

 

How much of that 4.6k is labor vs parts? If it 100% needs a tcase, I would ask if you could supply your own part and find something on car-parts.com.

Looking locally to me, a tcase with under 50k miles is roughly $300-$500 on there. I'm also sure they're quoting labor for pulling complete trans and tcase together as I'm about 90% sure shop manual says that's how to do it... if that's the case and you can't do the work yourself; I'd shop around for a shop that'll put in a used tcase and charge a lot less labor.

Swapping a tcase isn't too hard if you have a lift. I could remove/install one on my 2nd gen in less than 2 hours start to finish with a lift fwiw.

 

Press gas, no power, lots of grinding. Both in D and R.

 

I would have the truck towed to a reputable transmission shop in your area. Transfer cases aren't very complicated and are able to be repaired in most cases.

If not, they can source a used one and open it up and go through it before they install it.

 

I have access to a lift, but never swapped one. I asked service and they said labor is $800, so the rest is the part. I would be completely find with paying $800 in labor if I could get the part for $300-$500 lol

 

When you get your problem sorted out, I would recommend going with the OEM fluid. I know other members like to use other weight and brands. I just changed my transfer case fluid and went with the expensive Toyota 75W stuff.

https://www.oempartstoyou.com/oem-p...Ge3NezkzZXV6MFjFGfGkZQv3bWJFRIWBoCNdoQAvD_BwE

 

I'd buy something like this and stab it in myself....

2016-2022 TOYOTA TACOMA OEM (Transfer Case Assembly) 3.5L 2GRFKS 33K Miles | eBay