2016 DCLB SR5 4x4 Transfer Case Problem

I’ve got 2016 DCLB SR5 4x4 with 85k miles. I believe I have a transfer case problem. Started to hear weird grinding and squealing and I finally found the culprit. I jacked up the rear end and put it on jacks… I then disabled the traction control and carefully put the truck in drive and got it up to speed while in the air. I traced the noise to the front/short driveshaft between transfer case and front end. The noise happens when the short driveshaft begins to spin (even through it’s not in 4wd) and then makes a lot of noise when it slows to a stop. It is not under any load and it is not in 4wd… The shaft is free when stopped or turned off so I know it’s not engaged. Whenever that front driveshaft starts or stops spinning though I get this awful noise.

My instincts tell me I’m boned and I’m going to have to swap out the whole transfer case. But I’m hoping someone has some insight that might save me from the aforementioned boning…

PS I almost never use the 4wd… Truck has a bilstein 5100 2” lift in front and icon add a leaf in back. I did the ecgs bushing while I was swapping the front end just because I was in there. Truck has always had steering wheel shakes and shakes in the seats. Don’t know if it’s related to this but I thought I’d add some context. I tried the driveshaft center support drop kit and that made it worse… The shakes and the transfer case issue could be unrelated but I’m just adding context.

Here’s the link to the video I took. Focus on the bottom left and ignore the long driveshaft. The noise is definitely coming from the short shaft.

https://youtube.com/shorts/kioiv4m68Ls?feature=share

 

Sorry, sounds bad/expensive...

Have you checked/changed the transfer case oil. If so what did it look like and what product was used if it was changed?

BTW it is recommended to engage 4x4 once a month for 10 miles to keep everything lubricated.
I really don't think the actual 10 miles is as important as fairly frequent engagement. I engage mine on a 3 mile stretch of 45 mph pavement that is straight as an aircraft runway.

 

I’ll change the oil with the recommended oil and take another video. To be honest I’ve never changed it. I do my motor oil myself every 5-8 with mobile. Just never occurred to me to change the oil in the transfer case as I never use the 4wd. It has been switched into 4wd both low and high in the last 6 months several times to diagnose other noises that have been happening.

To be honest I’m very disappointed with the truck. I got the truck at 40k and have put 45k on it since and from day 1 it’s had the shakes. In the steering wheel and the seats. I’ve had 3 sets of tires (original set and 2 tire size changes) and had them balanced and aligned every time at different shoppes so I ruled out tire balancing. I was going to try to put a small wedge at the bottom of the leaf pack next but have not gotten around to it. I’m starting to think the transfer case might have something to do with it now. I’ll do the oil change and then I’ll rig up a way to immobilize the shaft to see if it helps the shakes. Just as an experiment.

 

I highly doubt this is a transfer case issue.

Did it make this noise before lifting the front end and putting the ecgs bushing in?

Spin the front driveshaft by hand and feel for play, abnormal noises, or resistance

 

Shakes have been there before the lift or tires/ ecgs bushing. It’s part of why I did the bushing in the first place. The noise in the video is relatively new and has been getting worse. Let’s call it the last 10k miles. It is audibly coming from the front driveshaft area and correlates with the tertiary spinning of front driveshaft. As hard as it is to believe it’s most likely the T-case. The shakes are perhaps unrelated but I thought I’d add context.

mill spin the front shaft again and focus to see if it feels like it has excessive play. I’ll try to get a video. Later this afternoon.

 

All right I went out on break and wiggled the front driveshaft a bit. I have nothing to compare it to but it doesn’t feel abnormal to me. Sounds like normal gear noise. ‍♂️ Something must happen when it spins at higher rpm’s because when it slows down or comes to a stop it makes that god awful bag of wet marbles noise…

https://youtube.com/shorts/TRmehoQYkCQ?feature=share

 

output shaft bearing? your driveshaft looks a bit out of balance.

 

Can you really be disappointed with the truck that you did not buy new?
Who knows what the original purchase her to do the truck before you got it.

 

Well I actually know everything that happened to the truck hood and bad before I bought it because I bought it from a close friend. He was leaving the country and we both decided it was better to keep it in the family than sell it to carmax. He babied it.

It’s slow, it drives like a huge truck but is tiny inside, and gets below average gas mileage. It’s a Toyota so it starts every single time and just does its job. They hold their value remarkably well. I get it. But it looks like Tarzan and drives like Jane… Until now it has been an adequate tool… But it leaves a lot to to be desired. In my humble opinion.

 

Sounds like when you try to improperly shift in to 4L when in drive or something like that.

 

Ya I was thinking the same thing. It’s never been abused and it’s rarely off the pavement. So if the main driveshaft is out of wack it came that way from the factory. That would explain the shakes…

 

I agree it seems like that could have caused it but I can’t honestly say I’ve done anything to warrant such a failure. Who knows how it happened… As they say “we’re in it now”

Part of me wants to take it in and just tell them to fix it and the other part of me wants to roll it off a cliff and collect the insurance.

 

i would pull the 4x4 actuator off and check the fork and see how easily its moved. maybe someone screwed something up when messing with that

 

Points for originality.

 

Maybe pull the front drive shaft out and see if a change is noted.

 

What is not normal here is that the front driveshaft "starts to spin".....the driveshaft should remain fully stationary unless the tcase is shifted into 4wd or if the front diff actuator (ADD) is engaged. Neither of those occur until you shift the transfer case into 4WD.

If you've got it in 2WD and the front driveshaft starts spinning for some odd reason, then either your ADD is actuating at a time when it should not, or the transfer case may be partially engaging itself internally which might be why you're hearing all the noise.

Either way, I don't think fluids are going to fix this. I'd probably be investigating the transfer case. either that or the actuator, maybe the actuator is timed wrong and doesn't have your case fully out of 4wd in 2wd.

 

I would agree which but it’s not engaging the 4wd at all even though it’s spinning. It’s a neutral spin if that makes sense. I know this because in the first video the trucks rear end is on jacks and the front end is on the ground. If the front driveshaft was truly engaged then the truck would have flown off the jacks and went through my neighbors garage. I think the front shaft spins on 2wd even though it’s not “engaging” 4wd. My guess is to run the internal oil pump in the transfer case to keep stuff lubed. But that’s a guess.

 

Well, there are two components to 4wd "engaging"....the transfer case kicks the front driveshaft into being powered by being locked to the rear driveshaft via the chain, then the 4WD control module in the dash actuates a motor in the front differential that connects the front right wheel to the differential. Without that being engaged, the wheels spinning do NOT turn the front driveshaft. This is why it's a "neutral spin".

As a result, the front driveshaft does not ever spin in 2WD unless something is wrong. The transfer case in normal 2WD mode does not power the driveshaft, and the front diff motor being disengaged also keeps the front driveshaft from spinning. The only action happening up there in 2WD is the spider gears spin from the left CV axle turning.

The transfer case is causing your front driveshaft to spin when it shouldn't. The "it would have flown off the jacks" theory is incorrect, because the front diff is still disengaged - as it should be in 2WD. If that was engaged, then yes any power to the front driveshaft would drive you off the jacks. With the front diff disconnected like it should be in 2WD, power to the front shaft via the transfer case won't do anything.

This is actually what happens when people do the 2LO mod. The 2LO mod tricks the front diff into not actuating while the transfer case does actuate. The transfer case then gives power to both front and rear driveshafts but the power to the front doesn't go anywhere because of the front diff being disconnected.

Regardless, something in your tcase is causing the front driveshaft to spin when it shouldn't, so I would start there. It could either be a bad part in the tcase or the actuator is out of time and doesn't have you fully in 2WD. it's a used truck, so anything could have happened in the past.

As for the lube comment, the transfer case oil pump is run by the rear shaft. Lubrication happens from that and from the recommended "10 miles of 4WD usage per month". The front still does not spin. You could have somebody roll the truck forward for you while you watch that (once it's fixed).

 

That all makes sense now and I appreciate you taking the time to explain all that. If it’s an actuator problem I’m confident I can tackle that replacement on my own in short time. It doesn’t look that tough. But the transfer case job itself is a bear in the driveway. I’ll drop by the dealership now and see if I can get some free advice or answers. Again, I appreciate your time.

 

If you don’t have any error codes, I would think the actuator is working okay. Might just have a physical internal problem. Not sure.