Ep. 52: Dana/Spicer 18 Transfer Case Teardown

While I wait on parts that will hopefully fix the transmission clearance issue I ran into, I decided to just move on to the transfer case rebuild process. It was a lot more straightforward than I expected but there were a few details to take care of.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:04 - Front Yoke/Poppet Balls and Springs
3:37 - Front Casting/Interlock Pin
7:16 - Rear Casting/Shim Pack/Speedometer Gear
10:18 - Oil Pan
11:33 - Intermediate Shaft/Gear/Bearings/Thrust Washers
15:24 - Output Shaft/Gears/Bearings/Races/Snap Ring
19:29 - 2WD/4WD Shifter
22:20 - Front Casting Snap Ring/Bearing/Output Shaft
23:06 - Inspection Cover
23:29 - Final Thoughts

[@gmoney9588]

I would just like to say that although there is Rick Stivers , Brian of metalshaper and many others , I think there is a reason we watch your channel . Rick and Brian are guys who have done these disassemblies and reassembles many times and in their sleep , but someone like you , diy’ers like us relate because it may be our first time and the approach is more relative . Yes , maybe we can learn from the two channels mentioned but as you’ve stated , there is a gap in instructions of which your videos seem to fill . Your always welcome to record the inspection and reassembly as you’d like . Never any pressure to , especially under the circumstances , but you know we would like that .

[@Cobra_Ranch_Garage]

Thanks man. Some of the other videos left a few things out and yours filled in the gaps.

[@SunkCostGarage]

That's exactly why I decided to make a more in depth teardown video. If it helped one person figure out the details, it was worth it.

[@ginacoronel6872]

I forgot to mention there are different speedometer gears for the different axle ratios, be sure to get ones that work with your axles which should be 5.38 but it's always good to check.

[@lucianogastonsilva1502]

Muy bueno desde argentina aca no hay ningun video asi de estas cajas y tengo mi jeep y quiero desarmarla nuy bieno seguire mirando mas videos

[@dalecronk4377]

Great job on your video thank you

[@stevenshepard6217]

No the yokes are suppose to be a little tighter then that you have a bad yoke or shaft it's best to change both

[@gmoney9588]

At this point , it’s easy to see that putting your faith in replacement parts when inspection proves that they will need replacement , just takes the wind out of your sails . Don’t wish to remind you of that since we’ve seen the trials of the t - 90 . Respecting that you’ve decided to forge on and get work done , you’ve moved on to the transfer case . Im with you , I’d like to know where they get their parts , since they don’t seem to have these troubles . I know if the replacement were to spec correctly , you’d have this done quick . I do hope though that the polished machine surfaces , like the cluster gear , will,polish up possibly with maybe wd-40 . Not really sure if there is something better , but since it’s a polished machined surface , it’s not porous so it should take a cleaning . I personally wouldn’t seek to do anything to change the tolerance , I don’t think you would either . So using a stone is probably out and I wouldn’t risk emery cloth either . A brass bristle brush with wd-40 would be the most I’d get daring with . I’m not a machinist either , please use your best discretion . I’m not currently up to transmission and transfer case rehab yet and aftermarket parts are testing my patience as well . If I run into the same issues then , I’ll certainly be tempted to reinstall old , useable parts with new needle bearings , caged bearings , and / or sealed case bearings . We all know that if it’s on a jeep , it’s had water in it so we know the answer . Between crown , OMIX Ada , Willy’s overland parts dealers or what name they go by , can you all just vend parts that we can install instead of playing the games of phone calls , emails and RMA ? The next time I see a KZbin video for “ build your Willy’s Jeep “ , I may just block them . Sorry for the negativity .

[@ginacoronel6872]

As metalshaper says, it's a disaster, but that's how most of them are. All flanges are supposed to be tight, so that oil doesn't leak through the splines. Any bolt that has a hole going through the head is supposed to be safety wired, CJ2A has quite a few of those, the ones on the front casting and the ones that hold the ebrake. The front casting does get a gasket, that technically it's also a shim, so it needs to be assembled to calibrate your bearings. I'm with you, I hate to replace original parts, but it seems like you'd have to replace the speedometer gears, the intermediate gear and the shift rods. Great to see you making progress, it's all worth it in the end!

[@notsofast5495]

I’m wanting to address some leaks on mine. Can I remove that front shifter housing without them having to tear into the case to reassemble? I would like to simply pull the front housing off and put a new gasket behind it. Is that possible while still in the Jeep?

[@ultimaniac1]

comment for the algorithm

[@johncapella6432]

How did you get the second stick shaft to come out???

[@SunkCostGarage]

It's definitely tricky. There's an interlock pin in there that keeps them locked a certain way. I think it was something like, you have to pull the side bolts to remove the poppet balls and springs, pull the whole casting out a little, push the left stick in and pull the right stick towards you (as seen from the angle in the video, forcing the interlock pin to go to the right stick), pull the casting out a little more, push the left stick through the casting all the way, past the interlock pin. From there the interlock pin can fall out and the right stick will come free, pushing it through the casting. (Been a couple months but I think that was it.)

[@Tarranttreeservices]

Man I wish I would have watched this video last Sunday.. I fought with this T case for a looooong time trying to get this figured out. I kept looking up Dana 20, but the Case I worked looked EXACTLY like this one but only had 1 pop it ball and spring and the inner needle bearings on the intermediate gear weren’t caged🤔. Thank you for this..

[@blk86trk]

@@SunkCostGarage I had all but abandoned my transfer case disassembly...after hours of not being able to get it past this stage....will try the stick configuration, after reading the above....thanks for the info

[@SunkCostGarage]

@@blk86trk Hope it helps. Looking back, I think the trick is to have the transfer case in 2wd high, have the front casting unbolted and loose, put the right stick into neutral, the left stick into 4wd, pull the front off a little, then push the left stuck through the case so the pin can fall out or be removed with a magnet. Then the right stick will come loose too.