Well I finally figured out where my gear-oil leak was coming from. It was dripping down on my crossmember from the flat machined part of the transmission. I thought it was the transmission at first because the shifting is starting to get notchy and clacky. But I checked the fill plug and it was still good. So then I checked the transfer case full plug. Nothing came out, stuck my finger in and couldn't feel anything! So I got my giant dental pick (for elephants
) and found the gear oil is about 1" low in the t-case.
The only thing I figure is leaking is the input, in between the t-case and the transmission. Is it a fairly hard job to pull that down and change that seal? IS there a seal?
At the same time, I've only recently discovered that the 75w90 synthetic I put in the transmission and transfer case is no good. I could not find any GL-4 fluid anywhere, so I figured GL-5 would be fine. Nope, it actually can corrode the brass synchromesh rings and cause rough shifting. My transmission actually shifts better when cold but when it's warmed up it's clacky pretty much going into any gear. Funny it only started doing that this winter though.
Since I couldn't find 75w90 GL-4 ANYWHERE in stores
I ended up ordering some RedLine MT-90 through Carquest. It comes in on Tuesday. Will be replacing both the transmission and t-case fluids with that.
By the way, can the transfer case fluid be circulated in Neutral? If the transmission is in 2nd, and the transfer case in neutral, engine idling, can the fluid circulate? Enough to warm up the transfer case? Long ago I read in an owners manual for a Lada Niva that procedure should be done for 15 minutes to warm up the gearboxes before driving in frigid Russian winters. Just wondering if it would be a good way to warm up my transmission and t-case before working on them.
James
