tcase or crawler bearing going out?

['00Tacosinger]

I've got screaming bearing noise coming from, I think, the tcase or crawler. The sound is definitely a bearing but the source is still in question. The tranny shifts fine in all gears and the oil is nice and clear. crawler oil is nice and clear. I have to drain some from the tcase and check for any burning now...next step.

The sound is at its worst in 5th gear, hwy speed, when applying just a slight amount of skinny. Let it coast and no noise; add more pedal and sound is less. Same noise in 4th under same conditions but not nearly as loud and it gets barely noticeable in 3rd. No noise in 1&2 that I can hear. The noise has gotten louder after two trips into SF and back in the last two days so I'm parking the truck for now.

thoughts?

'00 5sp Taco, SA, 84k miles

ok, the crawler and tcase oil was pretty nasty...very dark, too dark for oil that is only 4wks old with maybe 500 miles. Crawler oil was the worst and that was changed about 3wks back with one trip on it. I'm thinking crawler bearing now...found a couple of small shavings on the plug..about .5mm or so in width and maybe 7mm long. that shouldn't be there after this many years and several oil changes

[Tacoma_Kyle]

What metal? That could give you some ideas.

[Wheelie_Pete]

Yup, I would suspect crawler bearing. 4rnRick lost one before. His bearing was one of the ones pressed into the adapter. It Was making a pretty bad noise, but there was a ton of junk (shavings) on the magnetic drain plug in the crawler adapter when I pulled it out.

['00Tacosinger]

Originally Posted by Tacoma_Kyle

What metal? That could give you some ideas.

two types, aluminum (from fixing stripped drain hole threads) and some little slivers of steel that I cleaned with degreaser and then was able to confirm they were steel with a magnet. they kind of looked like finger nail clippings if that makes sense.

The oil in the crawler was nearly black with a pretty nasty smell...I'm guessing cooked would be the word And since I'd changed it about 3 weeks ago and the truck had maybe 500miles on it since then...problem found.

I'll get the tcase/crawler up to Jim at Inchworm and have Clint tear it down and figure out what went wrong. Shtuff happens in this business

The oil in the tcase wasn't much better so I may have issues there as well. I might as well have them swap out the output shaft for one of the new bling bling chromos while its out.
The output oil seal on the tranny (coupler) had started to allow oil into the dead space at the back of the tranny so that will need changing as well.

['00Tacosinger]

Originally Posted by Wheelie_Pete

Yup, I would suspect crawler bearing. 4rnRick lost one before. His bearing was one of the ones pressed into the adapter. It Was making a pretty bad noise, but there was a ton of junk (shavings) on the magnetic drain plug in the crawler adapter when I pulled it out.

I wonder if a more specialized oil would work better in these things with the rpms they turn.

[Sillyneck]

Maybe if you re-engineered the bearing lube cavities so that it allowed the noises to flow outward rather than travel into the cab. I mean that's what I did to stop the noises on this one fj cruiser I built.

[Dickfoster]

Unless I have it wrong Marlin uses that space for extra oil, Chris. More is better I suppose. I don't know what Jim does but I'm pretty sure that's what Marlin does with his crawlers. It's been a while since I've had mine outta there so you'd want to verify that.

My tired old memory isn't what it once was. The longer I live, the more shit there is to keep track of. Maybe I should just be more selective.

['00Tacosinger]

Originally Posted by Dickfoster

Unless I have it wrong Marlin uses that space for extra oil, Chris. More is better I suppose. I don't know what Jim does but I'm pretty sure that's what Marlin does with his crawlers. It's been a while since I've had mine outta there so you'd want to verify that.

My tired old memory isn't what it once was. The longer I live, the more shit there is to keep track of. Maybe I should just be more selective.

yea, just recently he has changed his front adapter pattern to allow for oil to fill that space. the older models like yours doesn't.

I've got the driveline at the DL shop checking for possible problems there (neede to get the damn things lenghtened anyway). the next guess will be the tranny, probably output bearing. The thing is, the tranny oil was completely normal when I drained it while the crawl box had the 'toasted' color to it. The tcase oil was dark but nothing like the crawler box.
Something cooked that crawler box oil.

the mystery continues...

I'll pick up my spare tranny from the Cloverdale ranch on Sat on my way back from Willits...just in case.

Jim agrees that more oil is better...duh...
but...he's trying to talk me into a "Lefty", LOL, which would definitely be stronger since the front case would go back to stock ratio (2.28) with the tcase at the 4.7 gearing...less stress on that input shaft. but, my rig will never see anything taller than a 35" tire and with the 2.7 I don't think I'll have issues with what I have.

[Sillyneck]

Originally Posted by '00Tacosinger

damn, what a great idea I could incorporate some sort of muffler into it with special muffler bearings

Excellent idea.
If you wanted I could come inspect your rig and verbally rebuild it for ya too like you did for my customer

[Sillyneck]

Originally Posted by '00Tacosinger

feel free

your customer? I thought it was yours

and don't forget to fix all that stuff I pointed out

I wasn't there. That was one of the vehicle owners. All I heard was "blah blah I'm wicked smart and tell people how to do things I've never done blah blah".

[Sillyneck]

I'd just love to hear what you had to say.

It's one thing if you had built one of these in a similar manner but considering it's #2 to be driving.... I'd have to say that whatever you noticed in your mind that you could have fixed or made better was pointless, not possible given the parameters, or the ever popular... unfinished.

Of course what I got is 2nd hand info so I'd like to hear it from the horses mouth I can put it to rest.

[Sillyneck]

If you could have sang it to me in opera it would have been much more classic. I responded in PM but once I found out about the opera thing I really stopped caring haha

[Inchworm]

Originally Posted by '00Tacosinger

The flaws that I pointed out were very obvious (both Jim and Clint agreed)

Chris,

The only discussion I remember having with you about this rig was that it wasn't yet finished and that they had more to do.

Anybody who is willing to explore uncharted territory to make their rig more trail worthy has my respect.

[Dickfoster]

Lefty or righty?

I'd say leave it alone. So far mine and most other are OK and you've had enough trouble with that SAS already without starting all over again.

IMHO That was not a good thing for Jim to suggest as it's total tunnel vision and not looking at the entire picture.

['00Tacosinger]

Originally Posted by Dickfoster

Lefty or righty?

I'd say leave it alone. So far mine and most other are OK and you've had enough trouble with that SAS already without starting all over again.

IMHO That was not a good thing for Jim to suggest as it's total tunnel vision and not looking at the entire picture.

nah, he's just trying to sell me more bling bling stuff

well, so far the tcase and crawler are fine and the driveline has checked out. Next is the tranny and the rear diff...wee...

[Dickfoster]

If burnt oil and metal came out of the crawler, how can it be OK? If that came out of one of my gear boxes, I'd definitely be bustin the case open to see what's what.

['00Tacosinger]

Originally Posted by Dickfoster

If burnt oil and metal came out of the crawler, how can it be OK? If that came out of one of my gear boxes, I'd definitely be bustin the case open to see what's what.

metal was Al from rethreading the drain hole and a couple tiny shavings of steel that are still a ?. The oil may not actually be 'cooked' as I first thought...looking mainly at the color. The inner coupler was worn (prototype, being replaced) so could have accounted for the dark color as well as some metal. I know, sounds strange but they tore it completely down and found nothing wrong so what do you do?
the tcase was perfect.

[Dickfoster]

If it was cracked open and given a good look see, then it's OK. Maybe the whole thing is a figment of your imagination. Perhaps you need to change your meds.

['00Tacosinger]

Originally Posted by Dickfoster

If it was cracked open and given a good look see, then it's OK. Maybe the whole thing is a figment of your imagination. Perhaps you need to change your meds.

could be. the noise, however, was not imagined