Exploded T-Case

[Chris]

This is 4x4 related but is really chat.


Actually, I don't know what the hell they did, but whatever they did was good enough to bind the driveline so intensely that the transfer case exploded rather gratuitously.

http://jalopnik.com/the-worst-one-i-ever-saw-i-worked-at-an-aftermarket-eu-1689402074

[Jim]

yowza!


From the title I was concerned it was YOUR t-case!

[Brian]

Oh dear! :eek:

[redneck23ms]

my guess would be driveshaft too long. when it compressed it broke the front output section off.

[dieseldoc]

Wow some people just shouldn't drive!

[Chris]

From the title I was concerned it was YOUR t-case!

Sorry, I didn't think of that Jim! My JB Weld patch is still fine after 2 years. :thumb:

[Patrolman]

Yeah, I was thinking it was yours too having known the history of your t-case. Glad yours is still together!

[Hypoid]

Ahhh, the articulated T-Case!

http://www.frontrange4x4.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=24434&stc=1&d=1327759786


My bud thinks the front output bearing locked up and snapped the case. When he called me, I could hear the noise over the phone as he limped down the shoulder on I-25. A few hours later, AAA-Colorado had his XJ home, and me on my way home. A few days later, he had a different T-case installed. :)

[Jim]

the articulated T-Case!

:lmao:

[The StRanger]

Duct tape. It needs Duct tape !!

[Brucker]

I unfortunately know this pain as well. Back in 2001 all I had was my 4Runner. It was decently modified with a SAS, locked and geared front and rear, rolling on 38.5's, etc, but I still used it as my daily since it was my only vehicle. And I was young and dumb, and treated it like the red headed step child I was. Needless to say, one of the many victims was my tcase and front drive shaft.

They let go on the way to the trail on fine afternoon. Yes, I said on the way to the trail... I was traveling down I25 at normal speeds (75 mph) with a good buddy following me in his TJ. Out of nowhere, the tcase locked up, although at the moment all I knew was all 4 tires instantly locked up with no notice. Just as it started to skid sideways, my tcase blew out, taking the front drive shaft with it. This freed the wheels and I was able to regain control and pull it over to the side of the road. The explosion was violent enough to send pieces through the floor pan, into the passenger compartment. If there had been a passenger, they would have lost or badly injured at least one foot. It also sent pieces and oil all over the highway and back towards my buddies TJ. And pieces of it actually set the side of I25 on fire. Luckily there were some construction workers near by who heard and saw the entire thing. They quickly jumped into action and put the fire out. Meanwhile, my buddy and I picked up what we could, cleaned up what we could, and stated the recovery process. In the end, it was what lead to me putting dual cases in, so good times.

Here are the few photos I could find:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/SY9KX_9MbAgb7x09qWbhucR3CPKwMwFfKQh2GsUP8S4AMFBWp1 YmpvxlSmEefrRiPx3oiG8zcEz3vaxmrN0f9mPEuEQT8OL4sNqh 2WOu1qeyG9L9JImanx4coeKD0QweUvEeMwPwVZQy6-RB9t6LIJpITyFHq5P68bHt3UaicxB3SKEGLIDko-xizKDRwst5omvaQLX3CPYK7RdKCiyF79TvDJn2rr0IcHx9lou0 pQ0CzeSFCD4jktkQJYAGMiIPfYcp6GmeAvHydtp9T-V1N5AmoFP1nJLx5AYBCv7fdxjBoJgaOsmJRce8z7lQ5y1QpjO9 LyAWFpbDktpd0uJoNs52m525uY3D8nX6vQqgcek_T2GmPiC34v kCSVuoldjN9MlxIda5oPrgBwCdPCdDrhNahhFx7qSseBHJkYb1 G2zCQAKnj60b3s74IQ133rwcJhm_bR4kb1iLJLFSTot_6YD3yu 5Vq3K4XaW3eNyH1XvsX3lb3T9nGE-cUXVvX6ODKEWJjt9wVvePgA4apDEEE9Dla170oEZKEGSYLq9E1 Lmz9SMs226ysVuPRhtpJrOk4CNYykNfI_fR6ZfBgu96RqB2hGh EO-oH=w714-h952-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/tyb2vd3X3kwN_QeDCSEVbKaI__CLGcy2WnXt8aHmcuVDHUwdHB OtVNn4YamG1EGbj6i6RnQ0wRhTFOLC1l_3b7xRu9TzT9S6AaL8 1HkOgNUHdjYl8EkOpoj_TuTxaPaSPEiY05BjMyqjGJry10H0WO 7SjQQHi8SJ9UG8Nr7CkvNoDzStQmRStP68m54r1qkszH1mC0Pv qKBizD5jWPAEDkJxMoFxa4dhZ4dvGOjOn1oUdOGNj-lAv_SbgJIMCi5YUVnVfNY7AwsseTzx08HHLMHhZeeEwiP8MiQc uvdNauYaXFxLXQzj4vmEXiMa0O2PjMIcFBJ2LS-zgTRkVUO4IBfZjvzRHUKc85joijkJ2LKCiCPanSC7qVEo638k7 l4RdKjihGzeV61S56zIDwhZYHhhoaMzWCBifVaXBLf3_I2U9rO xOxA8UDAKSNxYq-r_XhMAmvgCmOLj5Sby3bDJD8h7MrYIOD5dWbZI4lDiocGqte-FLaYz5iTVq7TV7_9muLsMpaiba1YQHPPUvSTh0HVUdJJq0dMlU wCk96j92jIvD8mBPDZXKnjp74V-IePwjFbeZ-vd-zbz7CoulGH2Xap4s3VNZngO=w1270-h952-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Xp8b5m6Ikq5l6ipFbPyJGNDwpzvLfDVtjqQVaGiOOhTOcnVRad FrACBnNu_wroKAzwVEMGgcACCm242NJgOxTBXQAKJbVau8QmY4 WDCVqGtjbHVXDFMZnyPHFXPJu1YM_a7sWbYqybkuQWVJ1jMlms kkoZs1LscOsIUgGbs3DcRMGQ7NU7SoVX94VLRxT3gbUB_PshUb SnhCawn0SLAVotTiNJLlqJ0D_edsnitzkCaQTZ9iQaMWNQGJ4I UkSJtZE1YNZtUjx9EA3qThhGNzg-Lv1aKKCpY1DWxPyPYTh53n7mtfIQx5lRupGT5XdipQD-24845QV_-NBcuMRYx8nEx4ardhdZIc_VNZk9nYR_kgBmzORaIkRTDX7SQQX NM1l60JE1jqBApCf3VlHubIzuMsmjwv3zG5_3xW_1uyPU-Vn0xtKdQlt46TyL5ZHzUmR7VHGu7lW5LY-AqnNamVkesZdGlyDiHx00_eZ_xX-JM6tdQT5cvchkQ4xnks_mr97U-NGqdylZIxk-LfUNJRD71O6pxsqGk01R4ZsKkwL62gg0a-BsNk6Z8YQ8RLbJw12WvBx6B2gwPmzv-o9l_X2eUksYA_P3XP=w1270-h952-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/BufGWu5RJS144NIoDaRwSonD5j9UPFCC3ttXacFBDfgLWzPK2R VTaNTqHMbcF94mYSzGK2wnOAZNo67KnW6lwL9cy7e12Uqmlzs6 wFknsrfkxz_8dP3h-WzukXeSdf0BKRid-iVaFSvTIOg-AHJPXpbXzjfm7bxQzFC3HPpKofymNB_BrLQz5s11Iz8rEV2V1_ rk6-m8mxxy0owfLLzHy4sJU5ew7YbJv8SHeL_Bw0vhlNM9_ob8sOJ1 9wX2MvrjoiskDNP_VewT06gytHy3AxtYjVDhGXO881CstE2oai qBjk2lCJbET5hgD04GFIN0zAcnVBa0u_xn7P3XXisarIcW9RwU Ynley50FyXONLlhJf8bPUncMB-LwZEM6wIW8-lEQX308ANuO0eLRJpSKy4hoY3-Xgf5sRlzIMYtENmw6zPpMSP5908UhBdPzcHDRaRvpKX3l7gK2H Ql_AiLWbBh2aWR_NxcqrU32oUuU2_SlcN0CJpbtrhT_5otd7gl YQOE8n6npMH_7FpvRpj4oVlLUCG8ZH2eTx-iiCwHIysGgqFfpS7BKXPdsjVOUKpcl7VzuEKwPe-jwGtjYUNW8NUn1DCXGSlLZ=w1270-h952-no

I will try to dig up some more photos from that day. Was an impressive site and scary as hell....

[96EXXLTinCO]

and scary as hell....
And I've now added depends to my wheeling supplies. I almost crapped myself just reading about it!! Pretty sure I would've been singing some Carrie Underwood in the heat of that moment, though probably more screaming it than singing it: "JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL!!"

[Brucker]

And I've now added depends to my wheeling supplies. I almost crapped myself just reading about it!! Pretty sure I would've been singing some Carrie Underwood in the heat of that moment, though probably more screaming it than singing it: "JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL!!"

No time to say anything even though everything seemed to go into slow motion. Everything done was out of pure instinct, muscle memory, and shear luck. I think my buddy had a harder time dealing with all of it than I did. Although I didn't even notice the grass fire until in was pretty much out.

You can see how much force there was when the tcase locked up. Take a good look at the tcase mount in this photo. You can see that it is almost ripped in half...
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/icDGqk3oTLtvl6zh-0f1FJ3cHPlkNHeKaTsRj2LG7A4h7MPn0C657M6jKXanl6WgF4Z Wp6lsZo5irw3NKCBxfYuk-tDRfYgsftc9AWyNNUuJFpHjtYc9cglmdMS_7D8ybCRHpbHNmxh _95H5b0tAth_KC69LZ1b3ynR9gsTg4jQ9ccOTSmM49_L7MRrpn UpP2_SX-EtHNWWQPa013tQW_mJf_QRX5eyhmhla2h1htDScLWAvd5PLtZ0 KIwe0Po2ZRJqYORGO9Z-VgJBmqSYXWwLls1XGBT2CjVld6an2BICDJIv9Sl6uSKrYSvlpY osNPB-xHxE8rNwZzBZdq2XWh9vy0tuB6lniy_m7xGqgOOC7SjfnFtpHf n3ypLiUskVmzv8KPl4LqjSWr40bgjqsnnErnzGgif72eyqQR3e VuuqGdy4ONw11gD8TJav0-6VJq-5i4iSfPsLtkgflTTr_9X-ahCOHBdzAN-_DYfpjaQVquFsil7ymUeU1j1clO4Oqz4ZXRwhjyZGOYiuI2h3D XbUBLfaw0UzqXtNgjn-zIO41Uy6rIoO04aSprB2KRGd-I4URJucTEs0LqA1-JeVMp4ctEne9jO4s=w1270-h952-no

[96EXXLTinCO]

So any idea what would cause a t-case to just lock up out of the blue like that? I don't think I've ever heard of this before. Grenading them on trail sure, but not just cruising down the interstate. Anyone know?

[Brucker]

Having a hard time finding anymore photos. The passenger side floor had 3 to 4 baseball to softball sized holes through it. Oil was everywhere. I later discovered that it had taken out pieces of my transmission housing and punctured the bell housing and pan. It also took out my front pinon, seal, and yoke, speedo cable, and cracked my sunroof.

Was a pretty unlucky day for yours truly. But it could have been much worse...

[96EXXLTinCO]

Was a pretty unlucky day for yours truly. But it could have been much worse...
It's all fixable, and for some of us, that's part of the fun, but that is the ONLY way to look at. Glad you were able to keep the shiny side up, and your instincts were on point that day.

[Brucker]

So any idea what would cause a t-case to just lock up out of the blue like that? I don't think I've ever heard of this before. Grenading them on trail sure, but not just cruising down the interstate. Anyone know?

Our best guess was abuse and maybe that I cracked an output or gear on an outing sometime before and when it let go, it got caught up with something else. It was weird where the case blew out as it was the whole passenger side of the case, meaning the front shaft was effected and not the rear. But hubs weren't locked and it was in 2wd high. The output was broken in multiple places and almost every single gear had missing teeth or worse. It could have even been parts of the twin stick failed and pieces got caught up in between different gears. Really hard to say after that much carnage, and missing pieces to the puzzle...

[96EXXLTinCO]

Man. Not a pretty sight, but you said it best. Couldve been worse!!