Hi!

I am new to the Jeep world - having worked on mostly Toyotas.

I bought a Jeep last night that needs a little work ('92 Wrangler), but I am starting to think it needs a little more work than I had thought!

I was changing the fluids tonight, and I found that there WAS NO FLIUD in the t-case. It was dry as a friggin bone!

Hmmm.... I though, someone either forgot to fill this, or one of the the output shaft seals is bad.

When I went to tighten the drain plug - CLUNK - the whole tcase cocked to the side. I reached up and grabbed it only to find that it was loose! All of the bolts that hold it to the tranny were loose!

Now, in the Toyota world the tranny and tcase are located with alignment pins - so that even if the bolts work their way loose, nothing will happen (other than losing your fluid). Are Jeeps the same? Am I missing pins, or are there no pins there to begin with?

Althought there was no fluid in the case, I believe that it is fine. It was sitting for a few months, and I believe that the oil must have leaked out during this time. Luckily I trailered it home last night - although I did drive it around 10 miles. It made no strange noises at all (other than a slight clunk like a u-joint - which I now know to be the tcase flopping around under there!).

Thanks!
CAZ

Yep! Your jeep does have alignment pins. At least it did when it was new. They may have sheared off from your description.

Bud

There are no alingment pins/dowels in my '97 AX5/231 combo. However, there are 6 studs screwed into the t-case that bolt through the back of the AX5. That t-case should clock on the back of the transmission.

Paul

Ok,

I pulled the case tonight - and as nasvik mentioned, there are no alignment pins.

What do you mean that the tcase is supposed to clock on the back of the transmission? Is it supposed to have a few degrees of free-play before the bolts are tightened?

Are the studs supposed to double as alignment pins? I measured the stud diameter at 0.370", and the diameter of the holes in the tranny at 0.425.

That is a pretty good amount of play!

Is it possible that there is a special stud that is supposed to be there and that some moron in the past swapped in either the tcase or tranny from another year and did not realize that he needed different studs?

Any help would be appreciated! I am leaving the 2 apart until I can come up with something.

Thanks,
CAZ

Ok, still looking around - trying to figure out what I need to do!

I came across this picture -
http://www.4x4wire.com/jeep/tech/xfer/tera4_1/Dcp02090.jpg

Is the one stud a larger diameter, or is it just an illusion?

My case is actually missing one of the studs... is there supposed to be one that is larger in diameter to align it?

Thanks!
CAZ

my frients 231 blew up on the highway in his 98tj about a month ago (probobly due to lack of lube) and its replacement was missing 2 of the studs and the guy he bought it from told us to go to the hardware store and just get 2 grade 8 bolts the same size and use those and it worked fine, all of the studs were the same size so if the jeep was driven while the case was loose it could of wolowed out the holes in the ax5 and thats why there bigger