Thanks for the write up, just replaced my front seal yesterday. I believe the cause of failure might have been a tiny rock that I found on the inside of the metal dust shield.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know if the transfer case has a separate breather that can be extended or cleaned out? I couldn't find one after searching around. Could it be that the transfer case and the transmission have a shared breather? I know there is a breather on the top of the transmission, accessible when you pull out the interior trim pieces to access the shifter assembly.

sub'd for later use.. looks like this job might be in my near future.

Thanks very much! Just finished this job tonight, this thread has been a huge help. Now I can relax

Thanks Durk & Ameining! I'm glad you guys found the writeup useful.

8sm, very cool man. Good job getting it knocked out, in only an hour no less... that's fast. I think this job took me 3-4 hours my first time around, but I was taking pictures and figuring out how to do it as I went. I'm glad I convinced you to get your hands dirty, and glad I could save you some time.

Right on. Thanks for the compliments and glad I could help. Also, thanks for the tip/feedback.

It's really cool to hear feedback like this. I do these writeups to help enable others to DIY and save some $$$, so it's nice to hear that mission was accomplished.

The same thing happened to me (metal engaged with the threads) when I replaced the rear seal on my '97. A small piece of metal from the nut got caught up in the threads and chewed them up a bit. I had to use a breaker bar to get the nut off, and then cleaned up the threads with a Dremel.

You're welcome. The T-case does have a separate breather IIRC. It's located on top of the case and is somewhat difficult to reach. I think you would also be able to see the t-case breather if you removed your shifter trim from the top side.

When the time comes, I hope the writeup is helpful to you.

Good job on doing it yourself, JMunn55! Have a for me, too!

Thank you so much for your post. I've been turning a blind eye to my transfer case leak for a few years until it left a puddle on the garage floor one day. I followed your post step by step and got it done! You weren't kidding about that staked nut! The rear seal is next, but considering the subzero temps here in northern MN and that I don't have a heated garage, I'll wait till spring for that one.
Thanks again!

damnit bfad, of course when i need this for tomorrow your photo host account is out of bandwidth.

Dude, I cannot believe the traffic that these write-ups get. I have done everything possible, short of paying for additional bandwidth, to keep these things live 100% of the time.

Last year, I created a 3rd photobucket account that is entirely separate from all of my other photos (builds, trip reports, etc). The only pics on that account are the ones found in these write-ups, and I resized all of them to 600x800 so that each one uses the least amount of bandwidth when viewed, while displaying at a useable resolution.

There's not much else I can do. I wish I could setup a system where each person had to paypal $0.10 into an account each time they viewed one of my write-ups for the first time. That would be plenty to pay for an unlimited bandwidth account through photobucket.

That's a shame. Does this site max you out if you attach the photos rather than link them? I've been doing a lot of attachments in my posts lately instead of links as many of my older links have died and it works well. I just don't know if I will run out of 'space.'

EDIT: In case anyone wants the answer, I did run out of space after a while. I had to delete some old ones, and some I was able to double up. Back to using the one working link for FSM stuff--I hope it sticks around.

Why not start a kickstarter? I know I would kick in some $$ to bring the photos back to your extremely helpful write-ups.

Great write up and photo's. I started this job tonight but was soon halted by the propeller shaft. All four nuts removed okay, grease nipple removed but I cannot for the the life of me get to to retract so I can move it out the way. I'm thinking of buying a small strop and feed it through the aft end and lever it of the crossmember. Seems a but unnecessary but it's about all I can think of. Did the prop shaft compress easily for you? Thanks.

I pried mine back with a large screwdriver stuck between the two faces. Took a bit of leverage

Turns out my prop shaft was almost seized. On inspection it looked as if a grease gun hasn't been within 50 paces of it ever. Managed to collapse it by using a ratchet tie down/strop through the rear universal and leveraged off the cross member. A few love taps with a hammer on the universal also helped persuade it to let go.

Then came the nut which took a 24"long, 1/2" drive breaker bar and a two ton car jack. I was getting nervous as the whole transfer case was twisting in place from the torque being applied. Actually the whole vehicle appeared to be moving as I pumped the jack just before it cracked. Once the nut was off the rest of the job took about 20 minutes. Seal easily removed with a standard flat head screw driver and new seal easily fitted with thumbs.

Thanks again for the write up it was very useful. Now for the diff pinion seal.

What would work for an over the counter solution to un-stake an existing staked nut? I don't have a tool to grind a chisel to be thinner as BFAD had to end up doing in Step 7. Maybe a Flathead would work?

BigFish, Thanks for the write up! I'm having the same exact issue, I ordered the parts and came back to review your post to find the pictures missing. If there is any way to get them back I'll print it off. Thanks for the asssit!

I'm having an issue assuring that i am getting the correct parts. I would remove the old ones and take them to the parts store to compare but this is my only accessible vehicle so once theyre out its not moving. where is the transfercase part number stamped? or transfercase model i should say. Looking at seals i can get there are seals for RF1A transfercase, TF1AV transfercase, HF2A transfercase. I just dont know the difference or where to find out which i have..

1996 4runner sr5 3.4 Automatic 4x4