ARIZONACLASSIC

I have an chance to purchase a wrecked 2001 with tons of needed parts, and one third the miles of my truck. I would like to swap the transmission and transfer case, but the tranny housing is broken where the two meet. They seperated from each other, with the bolts and some of the transmission case staying with the transfer case. The transmission shaft looked fine and I didn't see any collateral damage. It seems to be just parts of the housing 'ring' that broke off.
I would like to not have to reuse my original tranny for parts if possible, but only for resale reasons. What would need to be replaced? Is swapping cases a solution, or is there more to it? I have a 2002 2WD tranny available to use for parts. I do not know trannys so I don't know if this is a huge deal, or something I can repair myself.
Any advice?

dozer12216

It is possible the extension is all you need. Did the whole housing break or just a few inch long crack?? Small crack perhaps no damage to shaft. Big break almost certainlly bent shaft. Major headache with a 800 pound killer spring right in middle to unmake your day. 2WD and you 4WD parts are not conpitable for repair needed.

ARIZONACLASSIC

I was on my back in the dirt and didn't get a great view, but this is how I describe the damaged area:
On the transmission, on what I thought was the end of the trans, there is a circlular mounting flange. I believe this is where the transfer case is bolted. They are connected to each other by six bolts if I remember correctly. Pieces of the flange, where the six or so bolts go through, broke off and remained attached to the transfer case. There is only an inch or two of shaft exposed from the transmission with the two units seperated.
This break was caused by one of the rear wheels getting hit by something which pulled the rear end back towards the rear of the truck. I'm not sure how that caused the housing to break instead of just pulling the driveshaft out, but it did.

BY THE WAY - Both my truck and the wrecked truck are 4X4s. Sorry.

dozer12216

There is a good chance the shaft is now bent. What a bummer.

ARIZONACLASSIC

Thank you so much for your help. I have one more question. If I use my transmission for parts, how difficult would it be to repair the lower mileage tranny? Is it just a matter of swapping parts, or is it more like a teardown and rebuild. I am good with tools, but I do not have any experience with transmission internals. Bands, servos, govenors, etc are foreign to me.
Thanks again.

nitrousn

Every one that I have seen broken off were from the front drive shaft getting pushed back. Does this truck have damage at the left front wheel?

ARIZONACLASSIC

Good point, and as a matter of fact, the left, lower trailing arm was bent upwards. I thought it was forklift damage and paid most of my attention to the rear of the truck. The wheel and axel seemed fine up front, and the wheel must have been centered enough in the wheel well that I didn't notice an impact. With a smack hard enough to the front end to brake the transfer case off, I guess I can count on some internal transfer case damage. That's too bad. I did decide to buy the truck this morning though and it should be in Saturaday or Monday. I guess the first thing I'll do is rip the cab and bed off to get a better look at the carnage and decide what to do from there. Thanks for all the input.

slowflyer2112

It sounds like the truck was in a accident and the front diff was pushed back which bent the front arm, pushed the front drive shaft back which pushed the transfer case and snapped the overdrive housing.

Ask me how I know, done that.

I bought a used housing for 125.00 and had it put in for about 500.00

I found out that its a pretty easy repair when you get the housing. You do need to check the shaft to make sure its straight.

If you look at my sig. you'll notice that my truck now has radius arms in front.

ARIZONACLASSIC

As it turns out I was lucky and the repair was super easy. I was able to buy a very nice used overdrive case/housing off Ebay for $50. That unit is easily removed from the transmission without any special tools, but swapping the cases is a different story. I took my overdrive unit and the replacement case to a transmission shop my dad has been using for years and they did the swap, checked shafts, replaced one seal, and lubed something(?), all by lunch the same day. Total repair cost... 2X 12 packs. My old man is always complaining that I get discounts from his friends becuase they like him but he still has to pay full price.
With the unit back on everything worked perfectly.
Thanks for all the input and advise.