Expensive Way To Stop!

[Zulu95]

My wife was taking her 4Runner to the dentist when she had to make an emergency stop. Found she had little go after it and only managed to crawl out of the 4 way stop and park. Had the vehicle lifted to a local indy and he just confirmed my suspicions when I heard the grinding noise with the shifter in D. Transfer case is toast. Looking at $3k to $4K for a rebuild. I would love to know why an emergency stop would break the T'case? We still have less than 50K miles on the vehicle.

 

[black4vcobra]

I'm sure it's not the case but if the center diff was locked, I could see how an emergency stop on dry pavement could blow out the diff.

 

[bamma]

I think a new transfer case would be cheaper.

 

[CXS]

Sucks to have to replace it, if you're in my area I have one for a couple hundred.

 

[Zulu95]

Center diff was not locked. Mystery continues.
A new T'Case costs $2833 plus S&H. Then I have to pay my guy for the R&R. I'm waiting for the assembly to get to the rebuilder for a firm price for the repair.

 

[bamma]

Center diff was not locked. Mystery continues.
A new T'Case costs $2833 plus S&H. Then I have to pay my guy for the R&R. I'm waiting for the assembly to get to the rebuilder for a firm price for the repair.

https://parts.olathetoyota.com/index.php?p=cart $2533 plus shipping, I'd guess some dealers are cheaper too.

$3-$4k for a rebuild sounds crazy to me. Good luck.

 

[unevolved]

That sounds really weird. I'd bet money there was some other problem that just hadn't manifested itself yet; a hard stop wouldn't be able to damage an otherwise healthy transfer case.

I'm assuming fluid levels and everything else were/are good?

 

[Zulu95]

I know everything was OK with fluids etc. No other signs of problems. I'm baffled that an emergency stop would produce such an expensive problem. I hoping for a total bill in the $2K range after having talked to the indy again but it might go higher once the "specialist" checks the internal parts. All a wait and see business at the moment.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

No clue why the transfer case would have any issue with you stopping the vehicle... What did this "Emergency Stop" consist of?

 

[Brian3676]

That sounds pretty odd...how did they verify that?

If you have any mechanical skills you can put a new transfer case in the vehicle in under an hour by the way. If you don't want to pay a shop.

 

[Rodtheviking]

Is she a two foot driver? A panic stop with the foot still on the gas would put some strain on the drive and possibly do some damage.

Just a thought.

 

[03v8raleigh]

Is she a two foot driver? A panic stop with the foot still on the gas would put some strain on the drive and possibly do some damage.

Just a thought.

As far as I know, all current Toyota computers cut throttle when any brake is applied. It was a mass computer update recall after the whole 'stuck accelerator pedal crash' mess. So this shouldn't be a possibility, unless the recall was not done.

 

[Knight-Errant]

The real question is why did the 4runner have to see the dentist?

 

[BlackWorksInc]

As far as I know, all current Toyota computers cut throttle when any brake is applied. It was a mass computer update recall after the whole 'stuck accelerator pedal crash' mess. So this shouldn't be a possibility, unless the recall was not done.

Sort of...

All Toyotas made about a year after the "UA Incident" are programmed that way. All Toyotas that have undergone the "BST Campaign/Recall" should be "updated" and able to do this.

That being said, I really can't think of anything that could be related to the brakes causing the Transfer Case to fail...

 

[grave]

The real question is why did the 4runner have to see the dentist?

To get to the other side.

 

[Zulu95]

Transfer Case Breakage. UPDATE.

After over a week waiting the indy called to tell us that the company supposed to be rebuilding the transfer box had informed him that they could not open the case!! So.....new transfer case was duly ordered Tuesday afternoon for $2800 including taxes and delivery. FEDEX tracking shows it should be delivered today and we might see the 4Runner before the weekend. Looks like my quick guesstimate of $3K -$4K was right on. I hate it when I'm right.
One further point: As I was searching the WWW I noticed that this part is now discontinued so if you have any of the Toyota four wheelers that use this transfer case treat it gently.

 

[dta1984]

I may have missed it, but how did they diagnose the transfer case was bad in the first place?

 

[Zulu95]

No go and lots of grinding noises coming from the transfer case. Once removed you could actually replicate the noise turning it by hand.

 

[KidVermicious]

No clue why the transfer case would have any issue with you stopping the vehicle... What did this "Emergency Stop" consist of?

Kickflip indy to 50/50 railslide would do it.

 

[zonianbrat]

Now I know these night shifts have gotten to me. I read this thread and then had a literal out loud laugh when I looked at KidVermiciouss' location. Sorry I know this is off topic but I had to share.