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Mr. Mindless
Dodge Dakota
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12/23/2003
01:48:12

Subject: 911: my transfer case scattered
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hello all from the lovely city of Sandusky, OH

I'm not really a regular here, but I can use all the help I can
get. questions first, read on for backstory:

immediate background - I'm stranded in Sandusky on my
way from NY to MN with a dead t-case. the front drive half
of the case broke off from the rear drive half.

my questions that I hope can be answered before I talk
to the dealer tomorrow morning:

can I pull the front shaft and limp around with it (5-10
miles to where I can park it until I can do the work myself or
to a non-dealer shop), without killing the tailshaft of the
trans or the rear driveline? if I can, how do I get the chain
out? of course, I left the haynes in the truck (just thought
of that...)

also, unlikely, but if I just pull apart the front drivetrain,
might it even make the other 750 miles? I'm betting it
would depend on what condition the rest of the housing is
in, and whether or not it could support the bearing in place
in front of the rear shaft's front U joint, right? I haven't
taken a close enough look to know the answer to that
question.

will an NP208 off a 727 talk to my RE44/46, whatever the
hell it is? (5.2 auto) I'm wondering if I could use the
RamCharger for a spare part and then upgrade it's 'case to
an Atlas or something....

what would a good stealer charge for a t-case R&R? I can
do it myself, but that involves buying/renting a trailer and
trusting the RamCharger from MN to here and then either
back to MN or on to NY. Luckily, I do have an option for
storage here, so aside from the RC that could work.

I'm getting up at 07:00 tomorrow since the service dept
opens at 08:00, and I plan to rent a car and drive home
tomorrow, so I want to know the best option to leave my
truck - in storage or under someone else's wrench. I hope
you're all up late!

and the how-it-happened:

when I hopped in the truck today leaving my friend Alan's
place in Cleveland, the truck felt a hair strange - something
not quite right in the steering, I thought, but it could have
been just cold or due to having been riding in other
vehicles, or whatever. I wasn't worried. she hadn't let me
down and I wasn't expecting her to.

I hopped on 480 westbound, and all was well. after getting
on 80 west of Cleveland, I noticed the odd feeling was
definitely speed related, and I could hear it a bit, too. I felt
the 4x4 shift knob and it was vibrating more than usual....

then rather quickly the vibration got much worse. I
scrubbed some speed and as I was heading for the right
lane, intending to check it out at the next service plaza
(about 5-7 miles down) when I heard a small crash under
the truck and [other words for poop are apparently too
strong for the intellects found here] hitting the floorboards.
that's never a good thing, I thought to myself....

What I expected to see when I got out was a bad u joint and
the rear shaft slamming around in my safety hoop. the red
fluid on the ground I expected to be from the yoke having
slid out of the tcase. but when I bent over to investigate,
the driveshaft was in the right place. and I could see the
chain through the giant hole in the t-case. the whole half
of the case that the front shaft attaches to had separated,
leaving that half of the case restrained by the front
driveshaft sitting on a crossmember and the chain hanging
off the driving gears.

I got a hook (a rollback, acutally) and the truck is sitting at a
dealership here now, and I'm in a hotel.... hope I get some
responses by morning.

thanks for any input....
--
Mike Maskalans
'98 Dakota CC 0x4 318
'84 RamCharger 4x4 360



Spiller
Dodge Dakota
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12/23/2003
02:30:12

RE: 911: my transfer case scattered
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Message:
Ouch, man.

Right off I'd say your T-case is dead just judging by the fact you can see into it. I would not try to drive it 750 miles in that condition. I doubt you can hurt the T-case any more, may it rest in pieces, but you might hurt something that's still relatively in good condition.

Why don't you check out Cap Part.com and see if you can find one close by. Rent a car, pick it up, give it to the dealer and have them re&re it.

They won't give you a warranty on the part but with any luck they'll install it correctly. $600.00-750.00 seems to be the going rate for a used T-case in Ohio.

BTW, this is not the first time I have heard of a Dakota T-case exploding.

Good luck, I hope I never feel you pain ;).



Mr. Mindless
Dodge Dakota
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12/23/2003
03:06:32

RE: 911: my transfer case scattered
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thanks for the sympathy, spiller. not the first time I've
heard of one going, either, but it is the first time I've heard
of one going unprovoked (this truck drove 300 miles the
day before it went with no issues, and hasn't been offroad
in almost 2 months). the worst I've done is a little bit of
playing in the snow, but I never bound up the drivetrain that
I know of/ noticed in doing that....

anyway, a friend of mine looked up prices from tenafly, and
apparently list on a 231 is about $900, and they sell a new
one for around $550 IIRC. in that case, doing the R&R from
local parts doesn't sound like a good plan.

I think I'll call around tomorrow and see if anyone either has
rental equipment to tow it to MN or a CTD Ram for under
$10k, and failing that I'll store it here for a month and fix
up the RamCharger.



buck
Dodge Dakota
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12/23/2003
17:44:41

RE: 911: my transfer case scattered
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Not much help with your suituation but I do have a NP231 with a fresh rebuild for sale...$400 guaranteed.Email me @ bjmlittle00@aol.com



Mr. Mindless
Dodge Dakota
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12/26/2003
08:08:16

RE: 911: my transfer case scattered
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where are you located, buck?



Buck
Dodge Dakota
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12/26/2003
08:29:19

RE: 911: my transfer case scattered
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Cedar Rapids Iowa...You??



Mr. Mindless
Dodge Dakota
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12/26/2003
08:42:14

RE: 911: my transfer case scattered
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[took it to email] thanks!



Buck
Dodge Dakota
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12/26/2003
09:23:27

RE: 911: my transfer case scattered
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You've got mail



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