Was driving today and smoke started pouring out from beneath the car and hood. Pulled over, thought i had a fire going on and the smoke goes away. I get back in the car and it wont drive forward or backwards but goes into all the gears. The center diff has been whining its *** off for about 20k miles now so it was inevitable. Just would like some pointers on what I should do next. Im going to probably pull the diff out tomorrow. Should I send it to shep and if so how much money am I lookin at? Or does anyone know where I can get a used one? How much do they usually run? Or is it easy enough to rebuild myself? Ive built motors and trannies before but never a diff. Doesn't sound too hard, just a bunch of gears. Any special tools you have to have?

Also this is a daily driver, no real need for some crazy diff build. Just maybe something a little more reliable.

Thanks for any help!

Brett

 

No one?

 

The t-case/diff might be shot. Only reason I can think why it would smoke is because the oil in it either leaked away or you or something recently drained it and never put fluids in it or maybe worst, put a completely different fluid in it.

Either that or something else is smoking. I would jack up the car and look for burn marks and smell around.

 

Well, took the t-case out of the car today. There was barely any oil left in it. Which is where all that smoke came from. Im guessing something took a **** inside and mad friction started happening and burned all the oil up. I notice the bearings on the rear where shot/missing a few. Not sure what the cause was. All the fluids were changed about 5k miles ago including the dif with all mitsu products. Anywho, now on the hunt for a new t-case and looking for money in my ***!

 

I would send to shep. He took care of my transfer case. Dealerships don't even repair transfer cases. I believe the hardest part of the tcase rebuild is shimming everything properly.

 

I sent mine to shep.... did great job

 

Shep helped me out big time today when I was pulling the t-case, but he wants $14XX to just replace the pinion and seal so I dont know what Im going to do now. Found one rebuilt by TRE from a fellow board member so Ill probably ****** that one up for a $1k. He said it only has a few months of driving on it and no whine. I appreciate all the help. Ill keep you guys updated.

Brett

 

500 bucks more for piece of mind of a brand new tcase. When my tcase broke, a member was selling theirs for 750, but I just couldn't do it(piece of mind and didn't know how the previous owner treated the tcase). I hate redoing things lol. So I paid shep to work his magic.

 

Fully understand. Ive been contemplating all night!. I know shep is the man. And I know his work speaks for him. (Friend has a 1000+hp talon on a shep tranny, transfer case kept blowing, sent it to shep, never had a problem again.).

My whole problem is that I have this car purely for a DD. Nothing else, never gets beaten on and still runs strong. I take care of it and it usually takes care of me (78k miles). I dont plan on keeping it much longer than 10-20k more miles before I let it go. If this guy with this TRE built t-case gives me all the right answers I might take the risk. Im sure he isnt bull****ting me. He is a well known board member.

 

I could understand that... just change your fluid often and you'll be find.... The ring and pinion is the expensive internals of the TC, that is why it cost so much $1550 it cost me... and I change my fluid ~ever 10k miles for safety, over kill maybe, but it is suggested to ensure its life.