alright went out today and did some wheeling.  my transfer case is making a growling noise now when I am letting off like coasting down a hill in gear.  put it in netrual and 5 th gear. no noise at all.  I believe its the output shaft bearing.  is that a common prob?

88.5 samurai.
stock gearing in case

also decided to run 32 inch tires on it I figure when the cast is apart now is the time to regear that transfer case.
what ratio is the best to run.  I still need this thing to run on the freeway to work and not tach 4000 or more.
any ideas of which set up will work the best.?
thanks

well guess its the rear diff.  jacked it up and found that its making the noise.  I have a front pumkin at my house will that fit in the rear? and work.  did the samurais have diff. gear ratios in the stock running gears?

All samurais have 3.73 (3.727 actually) diff gears.
You can use a front third in the rear, but....
you will have to change out the sidegears....fronts are 22 spline, rears are 26 spline.
some front carriers are 3 pin (or 4 pin, depending on who you ask), and some are 1 pin (or 2 pin, again depending on who you ask).  All rear carriers are 3 pin (4 pin).  So you want to make sure the one you are swapping in is a 3 pin/4 pin carrier.
With any third you plan on swapping, make sure you compare the pinion flanges...some are small bolt pattern, some are large.  You can redrill the large with the small pattern, but I don't recommend drilling the small for the large pattern.

Posted by: yzf438  Posted on: February 05, 2011, 05:00:31 PM
what ratio is the best to run.  I still need this thing to run on the freeway to work and not tach 4000 or more.
any ideas of which set up will work the best.?

yzf438,  I use the link below to figure what would work best for my gearing mods.  It will compare modifications to stock.  Skyhiranger has pointed out to me that additional considerations should be take for the tire's mass.  in other words it will take more energy to get and maintain speed as they are larger not only diameter but also width.

I wouldn't suggest doing 100% of your reduction in one location (Tcase/R&P).  My endstate is 33"x12.50" tires completely off road  In between stock and endstate I have been planning each step.  For example, I'm running mine up and down the highway on 30"s with no reduction.  I don't like doing it but due to money and time I got no choice.  I'm in the process of procuring a Tcase with a 4.16:1 gearset it it to assist/compensate for the larger tires.  Once the Tcase is completed I will start looking for R&Ps for Samurai or other axles.  You don't have to start at the Tcase!!!  I'm just doing it based on parts available and play cash on hand.

The biggest thing you can do now is research.  Identify what your endstate is and start looking for parts.

http://www.lepayne.com/gears.html

Identify what your endstate is and start looking for parts.

Always good advice.

check your ujoints and make sure your pinion angle and exit angle on the t-case are close to the same. The growl may be a bearing or it could be vibration from the above mentioned items..