The metal balls are locking balls. Those balls sit against the depressions in the shifter rods.

To reinstall them, you need to remove the two screw plugs that hold the springs and balls in place against the rods. The springs are still in place as you can see in the rod recesses. So before you attempt to fit the new case half in place, those screw plugs and springs need to come out.

You might be able to gently tap the new case half into place, if the bearing races are lined up with their seats in the new case half.

Clean up any traces of gear oil with brake clean, place a bead of FIPG on the edge of the case half that is staying in the truck, and then tap the new case half into place until it seats against the other half, and bolt the halves together.

At that point you can put the locking balls back in the holes where you removed the screw plugs, put the spring in on top of the balls to hold them in place against the rods, and reinstall the screw plugs. Then refill the T-case with gear oil.

I've worked on quite a few transfer cases, over the years. How long it would take to remove the VF1A from your truck depends almost entirely on whether the correct tools are available, and how much experience the person has.

I would suggest to anyone that is considering trying it, to get the Factory Service Manual that describes the procedure.


I think there is a good chance you can get your new case half installed, with the T-case in the truck.

Hi thanks for the reply. After tinkering around with the case a little bit, i can see how the springs and balls go in. You need to remove the screw plug on both sides and put in a ball, then the spring, then the screw plug, then repeat for the other side.
However, when i removed the screw plugs and got the springs and balls out, this oval shaped thing also fell out:


what is this and how do i reinstall it? I tried to put it back in once I reinstalled the case half back onto the rest of the t-case. I think it goes in the middle, separating the two springs. however I couldn't get it to all fit no matter how i put it in, even trying in every gear the t-case can go in. Maybe the case half has to be off the t-case, install the oval thing, attach case half to the t-case, then springs and balls? I do have the factory service manual and was following it for the tear down, however the t-case they show is not the same one as mine, well in some pictures it is, but when they explain installation the space for the springs and balls is on the t-case side and even then they don't show the oval thing, that i can see.
I should mention i'm doing reinstallation practice on the spare t-case i got. I want to get all this down to the t (pun intended oh yeah ) before I start working on my truck.

This post should be nominated to the "Best of T4R forum"

New to the community here and can't seem to figure out how to post a new thread...
Anyways, I have a 97 LTD and I broke the transfer case where the drain bolt is (torque wrench failed me). I have sourced a 2000 LTD transfer case and am wondering if anyone knows if I can just swap the rear case and leave all of my original transfer case intact?
Thanks.

"02SE" seemed to think it could be done (a few replies back).

It's certainly worth a try, since removing & reinstalling one of these cases is not a walk in the park. I've done it.


Andreas

It would be tricky trying to do it underneath the car, with everything wanting to flop downard. The front output shaft, the rear output shaft, the two shifter rods. And you'd have to be very careful cracking the cover off and sliding it back - make sure that rear output shaft does NOT slide back. But yeah, the rear case cover/bearing support does slide off. I just had a couple of them completely disassembled while doing a doubler setup. And then you have to get the sealing surfaces BONE DRY while oil seeps out of the case so you can FIPG it back together without it leaking afterward.

I guess I'd characterize it as being a bit risky in terms of things going wrong. If that rear output slides out, you're into a world of very finicky reassembly. Replacing the whole case as a unit is more work, but not a WHOLE lot more, and I'd say it's lower 'risk'. Less chance of it going sideways and you ending up with a pile of parts.

I guess if you wanted to try replacing the cover, just give it a go with your new donor case. take the cover off on the bench and give it a practice run putting it back on, see how it goes. If it goes well, go ahead and take the broken one off.

I saw a reputable Toyota mechanic (not a Toyota employee, just specializes in Toyotas) "fix" this same issue with some type of FIPG, black Toyota kind. If it was good enough for him and his customer's vehicle, it would be good enough for me. However, I think his crack was on the fill plug. Big difference.

I have a small leak from a gasket between two big sections of the t case. Looks like the gasket got pinched or was improperly installed. Thankfully I'm only losing about a cup per year of fluid. I stay prepared and am not worried about it. In your situation, I'd first want to see how much it was leaking, then go from there.

FWIW there are no gaskets on any of the mating surfaces in the transfer case. It's all FIPG.

I figured their probably wasn't any gaskets. Thank you for confirming that.. :-)

So if I have a bit of rubber gasket sticking out the side, it means the TC has definitely been worked on?

Is it rubber or is it fipg? I think the factory fipg on my rigs had an orange color to it.

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It's orange but I'm certain not FIPG. It's rubber or nitrile. It's soft and squishy, can pierce it with a razor.

What you are describing very much sounds like FIPG to me.

Agreed, sounds like what I've seen on the two donor cases I took apart for my doubler project, as well as the case I took out when I swapped the doubler in. Looked pretty much like red/orange RTV. I'm not quite sure what the technical difference is between RTV and FIPG, it's possible that FIPG is a type of use for RTV?

It's the factory sealant like the others confirmed..

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