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.
Just got the Toy back. $3270 total parts & labor.
My indy got the t'case back from the rebuilder and told me he is intrigued as to why he was told it could not be opened. Some baloney about "special tools" etc was stated. I have searched the WWW but info is light on the subject. I examined the old unit and he turned one of the shafts by hand and you could hear the metal on metal grinding sound. If he reports back to me I'll post the info.
Is there anybody out there that has opened a Gen 4 V8 transfer case?
The info passed to me was that the transmission/transfer case rebuild shop could not remove the shift motor so could not tear down the case. Both my indy and I thought this was baloney and they were just looking for an excuse because of some other unstated reason.
Can you please tell me what is involved with removal of the shift motor and then the general tear-down? Any special tools involved? I see that the parts kits are available online.
Where are you located? If you're anywhere near San Diego I know a guy . . .
Subscribed because I'mm really curious what happened here. Like BWI, I cannot for the life of me figure out how a panic stop could eat up a transfer case.
Have you interrogated the wife further? I wonder if she's not telling you something. More than once I have had to coax a confession out of my wife when she has damaged one of our vehicles.
I'm with you Yeti.. Im not trying to be jerk or anything but Im a Fire/Arson Investigator and this doesnt add up in my mind. I think there is more to the story OR there was unnoticed previous damage to the case.
Did you ask Toyota about warranty coverage? I know the vehicle is over the warranty age limit, but it's still well within the power train mileage limit, I think. I'm pretty sure this isn't expected behavior as far as Toyota is concerned.
Warranty is specified in "Year/Mileage" from DOFU (Date of First Use). If it's outside of either one of those aspects it's not covered because they've met their contractual obligation in regards to warranty coverage.
I'm well aware that Toyota has no contractual obligation to do anything in this case. However, given Toyota's general commitment to customer satisfaction and to quality and reliability, I think it could have been worth a shot to ask them about it, because I'm sure they wouldn't expect a tcase to blow at 50K miles due to a panic stop.
Over on yotatech.com, I still hear of people occasionally getting new head-gaskets for their 3.0 liter V6's 20 years after manufacturing date, even though the special service campaign expired years earlier.
A lot depends on whether or not you have a good relationship with your dealer. You certainly couldn't insist on action on their part, but politely asking never hurts. I blew a diff on a Chevy Astro van once that was out of warranty. My dealer and GM covered it 100% because I was a good customer, and covered parts costs when it blew up again a month later because of mismatched tires (which was the root cause of the original failure, caused by an independent tire shop).
I'm well aware that Toyota has no contractual obligation to do anything in this case. However, given Toyota's general commitment to customer satisfaction and to quality and reliability, I think it could have been worth a shot to ask them about it, because I'm sure they wouldn't expect a tcase to blow at 50K miles due to a panic stop.
Over on yotatech.com, I still hear of people occasionally getting new head-gaskets for their 3.0 liter V6's 20 years after manufacturing date, even though the special service campaign expired years earlier.
A lot depends on whether or not you have a good relationship with your dealer. You certainly couldn't insist on action on their part, but politely asking never hurts. I blew a diff on a Chevy Astro van once that was out of warranty. My dealer and GM covered it 100% because I was a good customer, and covered parts costs when it blew up again a month later because of mismatched tires (which was the root cause of the original failure, caused by an independent tire shop).