Dave's Life

This past weekend I grenaded the inside of my t-case, so last night I spent the evening in the garage pulling it out. I thought I would share my steps here since there were a couple of gotchas.

First off, the space is really tight around that t-case. I had been spoiled with the easy access to my Dana 300 in the CJ - of course I could sit straight up under the CJ as well! Without the space issue to contend with I probably wouldn't bother posting this, but hopefully this will ease someone else's frustration down the line.

1. Start by removing both the front and rear drive shafts. Remove the axle end of the rear shaft and slide it out of the slip yoke on the t-case. Then remove the t-case end of the front driveshaft and let it rest on the crossmember.
   
   
2. 
   click to enlarge
   Next you will want to remove the 4 nuts that secure the transmission to the crossmember from the bottom.
   
   
3. Remove harness connector from the t-case, and the t-case shifter linkage. I have heard some say to remove the speedo cable and vacuum line as well, but neither of those applied to me.
   
   
4. Now you will need to put a floor jack under your oil pan. I put a short 2x4 board on top of the jack lengthwise on the bottom of the pan to help distribute the weight a bit. I placed the jack as far forward on the oil pan as I could so I would have room to place a jack stand behind it (more on that in a moment).
   
   
5. 
   click to enlarge
   With the floor jack supporting the back of the drivetrain, you can now safely remove the crossmember bolts from the subframe and drop the crossmember.
   
   
   
6. 
   click to enlarge
   With the crossmember out of the way you will need to remove the tranny mount from the bottom of the transmission.
   
   
7. 
   click to enlarge
   Now it is time to lower the rear of the engine/transmission. You will want to pull it down as much as you can to give yourself some room at the top of the transfer case. *SLOWLY* lower the back of the engine until it stops dropping, then raise it back up a small amount to relieve pressure. Now place a jack stand under it to support the back of the engine.
   
   
8. 
   click to enlarge

   
   click to enlarge
   Now, find the 9/16" wrench in your toolbox that you like the least and get out a dremel or die grinder. Cut off about 1/3 of the open end of the wrench (at least on mine this was the right length). As close as you can to the chopped off end, grind out a small notch. Now take some strong wire about 1-2' long and tie it to the end of the wrench placing it in the notch. This will allow you to pull the wrench using the wire and will give you decent leverage. I found a small 1" diameter pipe to wrap the other end around to serve as a handle. Since some of the nuts are harder to reach than others, you may want to leave your handle only loosely secured so you can vary the length from the wrench. Now you can use your new wrench contraption for all the hard to reach nuts around the transfer case.
   
   
9. 
   click to enlarge
   Once all nuts are removed, you can gently slide the transfer case off and lower it to the ground. Please note that it is not exceptionally light. While it is a simple bench press for many people, you may wish to use a jack to lower it down when you slide it off.
   

Good luck!