Gotta love my money pit

[BUNNY15]

Leaking fluid from tcase and drive shaft=


3 different shops
4 weeks to repair
$360 drive shaft lengthened 1.5 inches and new s.y.
$185 tow bill
$415 transfer case rear half, seal, and fluid
$400 labor
Temporary delusional thoughts of "FOR SALE BY OWNER"=

Still happy that I kept it!

[guruerror]

I had a similar leak...not enough to drip, just enough to keep the transfer case and drive shaft wet. I had a rattling at speeds of 80 and over which I didn't attribute to the leak at first and didn't really notice any other side-effects. They had to replace the back half of the transfer case, seals, fluids, etc. $750 serviced at my local dealer.

It took them 2 days to order the rear of the case and about 4 hours to do the work. Luckily mine was completely drivable while I waited on the part to come in.

[iwillnc]

What exactly caused the rear half to need replacement? Was it something that if fixed when first found wouldn't have resulted in replacement?

[BUNNY15]

Originally Posted by guruerror

I had a similar leak...not enough to drip, just enough to keep the transfer case and drive shaft wet. I had a rattling at speeds of 80 and over which I didn't attribute to the leak at first and didn't really notice any other side-effects. They had to replace the back half of the transfer case, seals, fluids, etc. $750 serviced at my local dealer.

It took them 2 days to order the rear of the case and about 4 hours to do the work. Luckily mine was completely drivable while I waited on the part to come in.

I would have been happy with that considering I dropped it off the day before a week long vacation to Puerto Rico. My drive shaft angle after the lift needed to be corrected which is why we believe the leaking occured. Apparently there was a struggle to remove my drive shaft from the tcase to begin with. Once they muscled it out, they noticed quite unusual wear rings in several different places on the s.y. And recommended a replacement. After seeing it for myself, I was okay with that. They also stated that after having such a hard time freeing the d.s. from the tcase, they weren't positive that they'd be able to get it back in without opening the tcase. They said there was a brass sleeve inside the tcase housing that possibly was the culprit of the uneven wear. The only way to know would be to open the tcase, and if I was going to open it, I may as well rebuild or replace it which they didn't specialize in. Well my H2 is an early production 2003 from what I understand (pretty cool I think), but with that said, it was also like a guinea pig in design. My tcase is a Borg Warren or Borg Warner, can't recall exact name, and apparently there aren't many floating around in the parts department aftermarket world. Called one of place and there was a 3 to 4 month wait. I was like screw that, just send my d.s. out to get lengthened, and let me check with a rebuild shop. Towed it to the new shop, and it was ready within a week. Replaced the back half with a new once where the seal is pressed in and not cast as part of the case like my original.

[guruerror]

Originally Posted by iwillnc

What exactly caused the rear half to need replacement? Was it something that if fixed when first found wouldn't have resulted in replacement?

I prolly banged mine up at RC at some point.

Originally Posted by BUNNY15

...Well my H2 is an early production 2003 from what I understand (pretty cool I think), but with that said, it was also like a guinea pig in design. My tcase is a Borg Warren or Borg Warner, can't recall exact name, and apparently there aren't many floating around in the parts department aftermarket world.

Hmmm...but their all Borg Warners...#4482 or 4484. If you run the part number they're listed as cross fitment parts for nearly every GM truck made from 2003-2005; Escalades, Avalanches, Silverados, HUMMERs you name it.

http://parts.nalleygmc.com/products/.../89059498.html

I do remember the 2003-2004 H2s having a problem with the original cases cracking or something which might have attributed to your problem, but they upgraded the exterior design of the case adding extra structural fins which became standard in mid 04 or 05; and those new case (listed above) ran for 3 years (4 in the case of the H2), so they're should be a lot of them and parts around. They shouldn't be terribly 'rare' especially given how many GM trucks would have been sold during that 3-4 year period. Weird...

...well, at least you've got it all sorted now.

[BUNNY15]

Originally Posted by guruerror

I prolly banged mine up at RC at some point.


Hmmm...but their all Borg Warners...#4482 or 4484. If you run the part number they're listed as cross fitment parts for nearly every GM truck made from 2003-2005; Escalades, Avalanches, Silverados, HUMMERs you name it.

http://parts.nalleygmc.com/products/.../89059498.html

I do remember the 2003-2004 H2s having a problem with the original cases cracking or something which might have attributed to your problem, but they upgraded the exterior design of the case adding extra structural fins which became standard in mid 04 or 05; and those new case (listed above) ran for 3 years (4 in the case of the H2), so they're should be a lot of them and parts around. They shouldn't be terribly 'rare' especially given how many GM trucks would have been sold during that 3-4 year period. Weird...

...well, at least you've got it all sorted now.

Yes you are probably correct because one shop did tell me I could use a tcase from a Silverado 1500, BUT when I asked if it would be sufficient for the size tires I'm running, the guy was like, "oh never mind". He said something about the belts or ??? inside the tcase would be smaller in the 1500 case vs the H2 case) therefore the addition of oversized tires would not be good . (I'm sure belts is not the correct word, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about). So back to square one I went.

[guruerror]

You may be on to something...the case seems to be cross platform but the inerds is likely to be different...especially when you consider that the deuce is if full-time 4WD. I'm pretty sure all the other GM trucks can drop down to 2WD.

[BUNNY15]

Originally Posted by guruerror

You may be on to something...the case seems to be cross platform but the inerds is likely to be different...especially when you consider that the deuce is if full-time 4WD. I'm pretty sure all the other GM trucks can drop down to 2WD.

Yes I would venture to say that's probably close to 100% accurate. I used my VIN when inquiring about a complete replacement from a company in MD as a matter of fact I think, and they were the ones that mentioned the 3 to 4 month backorder. They rebuild cores on exchange with warranties, but said my particular case per my VIN was hard to come by. Keep in mind this was not an authorized HUMMER dealer though. Just a powertrain mfg co.