Let's see your FJ case swap

(137k miles) $250 score with the knob and all! Feels like a lucky score with Joe flation now a days.

 

Hmm I must have done something wrong, my add light was working then it stopped illuminating, checked fuses that I added all good as before.

Any ideas ?

 

What are you Auto trans guys running for both shift boots? (One that seals the floor and other for the pen holder location)

 

ADD light?

 

Sorry, the 12 state add switch "power" light that shows it's activated.

 

Did any of the wires come loose on the terminals on the back of the switch?

 

Plug and play kit, the 12 state off-road double rocker style

 

Update: got everything to work fine, except it looks like my gamble with an ebay case proved a failure lol. Case is leaking pretty bad not sure where its coming from. But at least it works I suppose hah

 

if the case is leaking, its probably the seals for the input/output shafts or out of the shifter

 

The rear one Is bone dry but the front one might be the culprit. Is that something that can be done in place or am I cutting out my shifter again? Haha

Good looking man thanks it's the last gremlin I have to workout

 

Bro, you can remove the lever from the case and then drop the Transfer case. You might have damaged the seal upon installation, images of the leaking?

 

Edit: it's hard to pinpoint it because I check after I'm done driving and it gets blown everywhere but it right behind the front output seal

 

You'll get good at dropping the case. Ended up going up and down with mine about 4 times before everything was good to go lol

 

This is the truth, I think I had to drop mine 3 times now, just to work out the bugs. Having a crawl box makes it even more fun. I'm thankful for picking up a Harbor Freight transmission jack, its been a life saver.

 

I found it, 2 of the shifter plate bolts worked it's way out. Some blue locktight and cinched it back down. RTV must have felt like it was torqued down enough but was just compressing

 

Well I found out how bad they suck to get in lol

Also, on a side note. Anyone know where this snap ring goes? I'm thi king either above or below the brass synchro? I only abandoned this project for 6+ months.

 

I forget the details of your swap, but if you removed the tcase input / planetary gearset to swap them for a manual input, then most likely that's the snap ring that holds the planetaries into the front cover of the tcase. So you'd insert the planetaries into the cover, then the snap ring goes on before the flange I see sitting on your workbench.

 

Hey guys, i did this swap recently and think it was successful but am having a couple possible issues i was hoping some people could weigh in on.

Here are some images of the center console. Had a local welder bend some 1/2" round stock based on some measurements i took and used open cell pick-apart foam (like the stuff for tool boxes) to fill the void. Have an acrylic plate with slots currently being laser cut to cover the foam.



I traded some mountain climbing gear for a Tcase from a guy who LS swapped his FJ at 36k miles so it was super clean. I did the Twin stick conversion in my college apartment (sorry downstairs neighbors and don't tell my landlord) with the Front Range Offroad kit. I fucked up the teardown and dropped the synchro keys, however i am 99% certain i reinstalled them correctly as i quadruple checked everything before putting it under my truck in the alleyway behind my apartment.



Things seemed fine, but after some time i felt like the 4WD shift lever felt "crunchy" when shifting into 4. And SOMETIMES upon shifting back into 2, the lever would move which was then followed by a delayed 'click' of the shift rail actually moving. I assume the spring on the rail allows it to expand and then move once it can. My first step was to drain and refill the oil. The oil was super black despite being fresh but i didn't notice any glitter. This seemed to make things smoother, and after driving it around some, i decided to do another drain and fill to clean it out some more. The oil this time was black again after maybe 25 miles, but definitely cleaner and transparent. I did ANOTHER drain and fill and have not checked that oil yet. Sometimes i get the standard grinding noise transmitted through the shift levers, and sometimes i don't. I also notice that it doesn't want to shift into 4 while the drive train is loaded and i have to let off the gas and then it'll go. If i am in 4wd, stop the truck, and shift into 2, the synchro stays aligned and it shifts back and forth nice and smooth but otherwise it feels harsh and crunchy and will sometimes stick in 4 temporarily before clicking into 2 even with the lever in 2.

with that background, my main question is did i do something wrong? is something wrong with it's operation? is all this normal and I'm freaking out over nothing? I dont want to have to drop the case and pull it apart but right now it feels like that's the only thing that will ease my stress on this.

I have a borescope and was able to take off the shifter housing and let the truck roll while literally watching the synchro ring and sleeve and when using a screwdriver to pry on the shift rail it looked like everything was normal but i also felt like the synchro ring (the gold one) was moving around too much and maybe wasn't engaged with the synchro keys correctly or something, causing the crunchiness when trying to shift.

any thoughts? is a little bit of roughness when shifting normal? everything else works fine and 4wd works. But i just want to make sure there inst a time bomb under my truck and i don't need to worry about anything.

cheers.

 

Found it. Snap ring does go on outside of case on planetary(front).
Next question...I'm doing a dry run on bench to confirm function. Levers seem to work, albeit with very mild force which is probably appropriate.

I can't for the life of me get "4wd" to engage. Did I miss something, or is this a case of getting everything lined up/meshed? Hi/lo works perfect and I don't notice anything unusual on shifting 2wd/4wd.

 

First thing id check before opening the case back up is pull off the shifters and see if you can get the 4wd rail to move and fully engage manually. If you can get it to work that way, then its likely an issue with the shifter assembly not contacting or fully seating the rail to engage 4wd. I know there is a nub on the H/L rail that some people forget to grind off and will cause the H/L rail to not seat correctly. I also recall that certain shifters have required grinding on the tab that seats into the shift rail in order to allow it to fully seat.