Probably a grenaded transfer case

[PhatFJ]

Thanks for the offer! Would that mount up to a 22RE? Any chance he's out in California? I'm in Monterey these days.

I'm thinking the lowest cost route forward would be to get an entire t-case and output shaft assembly from a junk yard, a new adapter plate (maybe from Advanced Adapters since they seem the cheapest), and use those parts plus these parts to reconstruct my 💩📦?

This is the tranny for the 22ret. He is in Colorado Springs you would have to talk to him for the details. Let me know and I will pm you his info. Good luck! Looks like you have lots of choices to make.

 

[DouglasVB]

Wonder if the adapter loosened up

I guess it's possible. I crawl under the truck every few months (which usually equals a few hundred to maybe a thousand miles of driving) to visually inspect everything and at least check with my fingers if things appear tight. Didn't notice anything the last time I was under there but that doesn't mean it wasn't happening. I did account for every single nut, bolt, and stud on the entire assembly.

You mentioned that the motor and tranny mounts were Trail Gear and the rearmost mount was a Marlin piece. Where they the same material?

The motor mounts are (I believe) "bomb-proof" motor mounts. I think that's a trail gear product. Not sure of the specific material.

I know the t-case mounts are the HD mounts from Marlin Crawler because I bought them specifically from Marlin Crawler.

Also, if I was Marlin Crawler, which I ain't, I would do a whole lot to try to keep that picture from being spread all over the 4x4 world and make sure you were a happy customer.

I'm going to try and get in touch with Marlin Crawler on Monday now that I have everything opened up. I was hoping to have a "smoking gun" that I could point to and talk with them about but all I have is a bunch of carnage with no strong idea of what happened. My biggest concern is for it to not happen again. My second biggest concern is I need to get this truck out of my friend's driveway and running quickly which may mean I have to buy from a competitor if they have a similar adapter plate in stock.

I didn't build this truck from scratch. I bought it from a buddy who also used to live in Denver and was part of Rising Sun. He bought it from someone who had originally brought the truck to Colorado from California where it was likely originally built. So I'm not Marlin Crawler's customer on this t-case adapter. I've bought plenty of stuff from them when I can (usually stocking issues are the problem) but on this one, I'm not exactly the original customer.

My intent is *not* to name and shame Marlin Crawler. It just happens this t-case adapter has "MARLIN CRAWLER" cast into it. I imagine this same thing could have happened with any of the adapters. An ideal outcome would be finding the source of the failure so that I and others can avoid this in the future.

Best of luck getting this figured out

Thanks! Appreciate it!

Let me know and I will pm you his info.

Will let you know if I decide to go that direction. Still thinking about what I'm going to do.

 

[DouglasVB]

I'm going to try to re-post the broken photos and text from the screwed up post on the last page. We'll see if this works...

Rear output shaft with the Sky Manufacturing driveline e-brake. You can see the seal on the output shaft has walked out. This was taken after I got the truck into a friend's driveway with the help of a flatbed wrecker. The pin that connects the mechanical brake caliper to the lever arm is missing and the yolk on the lever arm is all bent up. I think that happened during the whole situation because a few days previously the brake was working (marginally -- never was a good setup).

You can see the yolk and missing pin. The double U-joint is trashed. You can see some shiny metal on the cab cross-member above the u-joint where the u-joint tried to clearance a new space for it to move when the truck had its problem.

Looking at the crack in the front t-case where it is bolted to the Marlin Crawler dual t-case adapter plate. All the damp spots are oil that was thrown everywhere.

Oil was leaking from toward the top of the t-case assembly which makes me think the crack started toward the top maybe?

Another view of the oil all over the top of the t-cases.

A different view of the bent connecting rod between the e-brake caliper and the lever arm that connects to the e-brake cable from the cab. You can also see the area that the double U-joint scraped on the cab.

Crack in the adapter plate visible from underneath the dual t-case crossmember.

Notice the crack to the right (rear) of the front t-case.

Immediately after dropping the t-case assembly out of the truck (I left the trans in the truck).

Front of the front t-case. Notice the aluminum flakes chilling out in several areas. No clue where they came from.

Another view of the front of the case.

This is the cross-member. Both t-case mounts are good as far as I could tell. They're about four years old.

Looking at the back of the transmission. There are a bunch of aluminum chips in the bottom but I have no idea from where. Seal on the back of the transmission is good. No leaks. No evidence of where that metal came from. Spinning the output shaft by hand, it felt nice and buttery (no evidence of bearing issues or gear issues).

Another view of the piece of the cab that the double U-joint contacted.

Front t-case. Everything looks good. No bearing play. A little wear on the one gear but nothing crazy. Note the broken chunk of t-case housing in the upper left.

Close-up of the broken chunk. I bet it could be fixed with some good TIG welding...

Closer look at the gears. There's a little bit of wear or distortion on the teeth of the lowest and closest to the camera gear. I think the cracked look of the housing around the upper gear is what it looked like the last time I had this open four or five years ago. Probably just some casting imperfections?

Looking at the front of the Marlin Crawler dual t-case adapter plate. Check out that crack!!! 😬

Gears all looked good. Bearings were all good. But that triangular plate is bent!

Check out the bend in the plate. I think it's from when the thing cracked and all came apart.

The broken off part. Looks like genuine Marlin Crawler.

-----

Okay hopefully this post works with all these images to replace the one from the last page that didn't work.

 

[DaveInDenver]

This sure smells like the result of frame/mounts/cross member misalignment or impact(s) stressing the case.

 

[DouglasVB]

This sure smells like the result of frame/mounts/cross member misalignment or impact(s) stressing the case.

I suppose it could be! I've suspected for a while that the frame is tweaked and has been like that at least since I've had it (and probably much longer). There's some old front end damage (broken sheet metal inside the engine bay at the front) and evidence of the tailgate having been replaced that makes me think the truck was in a pileup at some point.

The t-case crossmember bolts to the frame with four bolts per side and has slots in it to allow adjustment. The last time I put the t-cases and trans back into the truck ~4-5 years ago, I believe I loosely bolted it in place and then adjusted it side-to-side so it looked well aligned and wasn't trying to move one way or the other (basically let it self-align to its desired position which was pretty much dead centered). I don't *think* that it shifted in that time. I don't recall any major hits during that time, either. Since I have to drive this truck home after wheeling, I try to be pretty careful 😅

 

[DouglasVB]

So I think the prevailing theories from here, Instagram, the 559 Yotas group on FB (my local Toyota FB group), and my personal FB are:

• Misalignment or big impact on the t-case crossmember, frame, etc.
• Double u-joint (cardan) bound up momentarily
• Bolts/nuts/studs connecting adapter plate to everything else came loose
• Incorrectly sized front driveshaft

And based on the markings in the casting for the adapter pate, it was one of the really early production adapter plates.

I'm hoping to be able to talk with someone at Marlin Crawler tomorrow to see what they think, and see what their lead time is for a new plate. Then I need to decide if I need a new front t-case housing and a new output shaft assembly or not. The front t-case housing has a chunk taken out of it but I think I could JB Weld it back into place... maybe. The output shaft assembly got a little chewed up in between the inner and outer seals on the rear shaft. And of course I need to get the rear driveline rebuilt.

 

[DaveInDenver]

So I think the prevailing theories from here, Instagram, the 559 Yotas group on FB (my local Toyota FB group), and my personal FB are:

• Misalignment or big impact on the t-case crossmember, frame, etc.
• Double u-joint (cardan) bound up momentarily
• Bolts/nuts/studs connecting adapter plate to everything else came loose
• Incorrectly sized front driveshaft

All of them sound plausible. The driveshaft being too long and bottoming is interesting.

 

[DouglasVB]

All of them sound plausible. The driveshaft being too long and bottoming is interesting.

I thought they all sounded plausible, too.

Once I'm off my first work call this morning, I'll give Marlin Crawler a call to see if they have any thoughts. But I'm afraid I'll end up with an Advanced Adapters plate based on the big "OUT OF STOCK" notification on their adapter page. Then again, $720 versus $380...

Then I think need to track down a whole t-case. Looks like there's one on eBay out of Iowa but it looks a wee bit oxidized. I'm not finding any 4x4 Toyotas in any of the regional wrecking yards (tons of 2WD though). https://www.ebay.com/itm/85-89-Toyota-4runner-Transfer-Case-1st-Gen/402644540380

I'm still not *positive* that I need to replace the output shafts (especially the rear output shaft bearing plate). The reason to do that is there was a little bit of wobble at the end of that rear output shaft. I can't remember how much wobble there was when I opened this case up five years ago. The front case with the 2.28:1 gears has the cracked off part that holds the threads for the top drivers side bolt to connect to the adapter plate. Pretty sure I should replace that versus JB welding it 😅 Maybe a good TIG welder could fix it but at that point, it would probably be the same price as just buying it again.

Then I need to get my rear driveshaft rebuilt. The local 4x4 club recommended these guys who are about two hours away from me to get that work done: http://southbay-driveline.com/ I need to make sure that the double cardan joint is machined for more clearance than stock cardan joints. The existing joint is trashed from impacting the floorboard.

 

[aprosise]

My experience with drive shaft issues...Driveshaft being too long may not be what it sounds like.

I had a driveshaft made for my FJ60 after trashing it on the trail. Couple years later, and rupturing my ear drum, I couldn’t hear the impending death. My rear diff grenaded while daily driving it. I had nearly 3/4” of pinion thrust. It wasn’t that my driveshaft was too long, but I twisted the splines, not allowing the slip yoke to slip past where it was twisted. Every time I hit a bump, the drive shaft pounded into the pinion, but didn’t have any affect on the transfer case.

To me, it looks like your U-Joint failed and beat that poor transfer case around like a rag doll, causing the breakage.

 

[DouglasVB]

My experience with drive shaft issues...Driveshaft being too long may not be what it sounds like.

I had a driveshaft made for my FJ60 after trashing it on the trail. Couple years later, and rupturing my ear drum, I couldn’t hear the impending death. My rear diff grenaded while daily driving it. I had nearly 3/4” of pinion thrust. It wasn’t that my driveshaft was too long, but I twisted the splines, not allowing the slip yoke to slip past where it was twisted. Every time I hit a bump, the drive shaft pounded into the pinion, but didn’t have any affect on the transfer case.

To me, it looks like your U-Joint failed and beat that poor transfer case around like a rag doll, causing the breakage.

Yikes!! 😱 that doesn't sound good at all.

The slide on the front driveshaft feels smooth. No binding. The slide on the rear driveshaft is a little rough (like as in it's time to grease it again) but doesn't feel bad.

You might be right with the double cardan joint binding and beating the t-cases to death. When I go check the truck later today, I'll give that double joint another close look. I remember that there was stuff in between the two joints (maybe caps from the insides of the joints?) and that it was not rotating very good when I tried to move them by hand.

But also the beating to death stopped when I was in neutral with the transmission. So when I was able to coast a little after the bad thing started happening, no noise, the transfer case and transmission sticks weren't jumping all over the place, and I just rolled along without a problem. Maybe it was an issue with the double cardan being loaded versus unloaded.

 

[DouglasVB]

Talked with a nice sales guy on the phone at Marlin Crawler just now (didn't catch his name). Took about six minutes from dialing to talk with him so that's pretty good response time. He had never heard of something like this happening but he though it could be related to the age of the t-case adapter. They're 3-4 weeks out on having the new Marlin Crawler billet adapters back in stock.

They have inchworm adapters in stock that I could order over the phone for $699 (not on their website). He said they're a clockable two-piece adapter. I don't think I really need something like that. Just a fixed adapter should be good enough.

So then the question is can I get away with leaving the truck in my friend's driveway for a month and should I spend the $730 on a Marlin Crawler t-case adapter, or should I go hunting for a Trail Gear or Advanced Adapters t-case adapter that might be in stock?

They didn't know anyone in the area with a Toyota junkyard like Denver has with Yoda Jim's and the Yoda Yard (to get a full t-case assembly out of a wrecked truck).

I'm going to try and give the local 4x4 shop a call (Lavender Brothers) and see what they might have kicking around. They do good work but are very expensive (all shop rates in Monterey are very expensive) so I try to use them sparingly and only when I can't do something myself.

 

[DouglasVB]

Talked to a nice guy at Trail Gear (Nathan? Lincoln?) just now. They've got a whole pile of their current design adapter place in stock and ready to ship for the 21 spline application (what I have). List price is $549. They also suggested I give these guys https://sidetrackedoffroad.com/ and these guys a call https://www.yodaman.net/ to see if they might have used t-cases kicking around. I'll give them a call in a bit.

I've got a question in with https://www.lavenderbrothersauto.com/ so I'll probably hear back from them later today.

 

[DouglasVB]

Talked to Trey at Advance Adapters just now. Really nice, knowledgeable guy. They had never heard of an adapter plate failing this way (he chatted with the other guys in the shop about it). I'm going to send him a link to this thread so he can take a look at the photos.

They've got everything they need in stock to send out one of their adapter plate kits to me in about four business days. Their list price is $393. He recommended Tom Wood's Driveshaft out of Utah (https://4xshaft.com/) who he said knows how to build good driveshafts for trucks like mine.

I'm going to try and give the Side Tracked Offroad and Yoda Man guys a call about used t-cases and then after that I'll see about calling up Yoda Jim.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Back in 2008 when I sheared my leaf pack on the Rubicon I gotta say Larry (Yodaman) came through with a stack of leaf packs for me to use to assemble a Frankenpack to get home. He'd be my go-to out there if at all possible.

 

[DouglasVB]

Talked with Sidetracked Offroad in Folsom. They have one t-case but they need it so can't give it up.

Talked with Yodaman out of Santa Rosa (your go-to guys, David). They've got several 1979 t-case assemblies that the guy on the phone (didn't catch his name) said would work with some upgrade parts they have kicking around. He said they had one or two later model t-cases as well He said to give a call back tomorrow when Larry (the owner) is in to talk details if I can't find one closer to me. They don't ship that stuff so I'd have to do the 3 hr (without traffic) drive up there to pick it up. He figured it'd be somewhere in the $300 ballpark for the '79 cases plus the parts to make it work on my era of mini-truck.

Going to try and give Metric Offroad in Grand Junction and Yoda Jim's in Denver a call as well but it'll have to wait until after some work calls this morning.

 

[MountainGoat]

If you're checking in Denver, you could also try Yota Yard.

Hope you find what you need to get her back on the road Douglas!

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

I'd think that so long as its a top shift case you're good. They are basically the same from 79 to 95 (except the forward shit cases).

 

[DouglasVB]

Talked with Mike(?) at Metric Offroad in Grand Junction. He said they have a couple around but they're getting really hard to find. $250 and they *could* box it up and ship it to me but it'd be an hour of labor plus whatever to ship. My aunt lives in Glade Park so maybe I could ask her to help on that end.

Talked with someone at Yoda Jim (might have been Jim based on his voice). $350 plus $150 core. About $125 to ship.

Talked with Randy at Yoda Yard. $300 plus $50 core. About $100 to ship.

When did these things get so rare and expensive?!

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

age, tons of the spares are in dual cased rigs now.

 

[DouglasVB]

Okay so this is what I'm planning right now:

• Adapter plate from Advanced Adapters purchased via Summit Racing (where it's cheaper and with free shipping but will take a couple days longer) - $377
• T-case assembly probably coming from a friend who may have a spare one in decent shape - $TBD
• T-case seal kit from Marlin for the output seals and o-rings (MCSE-452) -- not sure if I'll use those paper gaskets or not - $49+shipping
• Permatex green gasket sealant (for gear oil applications) - $10-ish depending on how much I need
• Driveline rebuild from South Bay Driveline - $TBD ($400?)
• Gear oil - $75ish?

I'd *really* like to ditch the Sky MFG driveline e-brake while I'm at it by upgrading the full float kit I have in the rear to the integrated drum e-brake from FROR. I believe this is what I'd need but I think I'm missing something because that seems too cheap ($499)... not that I've got that money right now lol: https://frontrangeoffroadfab.com/drotor-backing-plate-kit/ Are there other parts that I'd need?

Otherwise, I need to get some new yokes and all-thread and pins to replace the damaged linkage on the Sky MFG driveline e-brake. Ugh I hate that thing. So hard to work on. I'm going to use my angle grinder to grind some holes in it so it's easier to bolt and unbolt.