Re: Another Transmission/transfer case Question

[n9ads@domain.elided (Howard R Pletcher)]

On Wed, 7 Jan 1998 16:46:40 -0700 (MST) Mark A Pepe <mpepe@domain.elided>
writes:
>
>O.K., I have a 76 Traveler with 345 and I think TF727. 
>
>Yesterday I went putting around some nearby mountains and used low 
>range for the first time. (I have only had this truck for about 2 months
and 
>am still "getting to know it") I don't know if I have any traction
aiding
>difs (I bought the truck from a second party who knew nothing of it's
>history) anyhow.. I shifted into low range and it worked fine until I 
>was turning while climbing a rough hill and the transfer case lever 
>suddenly popped into nuetral with a clunking/binding sound. so I thought

>"hmm...That's odd" and shifted it into low again and kept going and
turned 
>wheel pretty far again and *Clunk* out of gear goes the lever again! It 
>didn't do this in high range as much as I drove it that day. After this 
>happened I was hesitant to use 4x4 and headed back into town (just in
case) 
>
>Well no other problems, the hubs were locked while I was out there and 
>I am clueless to what would cause this. 
>
>	If I had a locker, would it maybe do this? I wouldn't think so
>	Could I have a bent axle or something else (I.E. screwed up 
>	low range?). It seemed to do fine when I went straight only 
>	kicking out in a medium to sharp wheel turn.
>
>
You should first check to see that there isn't any interference between
the tunnel cover and the transfer case lever--pull the rubber boot
off--that keeps it from going all the way into low gear which would let
it jump out easily.  If it happened straight ahead, I'd suggest a
mismatch in tire sizes.  That will cause walkout on hard surfaces.  When
turning you have a similar problem--the front and rear are trying to turn
at different speeds due to the different paths being traveled, but
normally the case won't pop out that quickly, so perhaps there is some
wear that causes it to pop out of gear.  I have a 20 year old tractor
that has that symptom with its PTO and have to watch it in hard use to
keep it in gear.  I presume wear is the cause, but I don't want to tear
it apart until it gets so bad I have no choice.  Your problem is not
caused by anything related to the axles that I can see.

Howard Pletcher
Howteron Products Scout Parts