Labor Cost - Installation of Used Transfer Case

[rars11]

First, some background: I bought an 88 Ix back in December. A red coupe, manual. Beyond the fact that it's a beautiful car, I bought it in order to rectify my lack of knowledge and experience with cars. In that regard it's been a success, because the car has been nothing but trouble since I bought it -- I've replaced the ignition coil, cam shaft sensor, and the clutch slave and master in the four months since I bought it. I know a lot more about cars than when I started, but will end up in the poor house if my interest continues.

Anyway, about a month ago, it suddenly developed a horrifying metallic sound coming from the transmission, and an accompanying vibration that I could feel in the shifter.

My mechanic initially says it's a bad throwout bearing and I need a new clutch. But when he pulled the transmission out of the car, the clutch was fine. He did find some pretty bad cracks along the underside of the transfer case, very near to where it is bolted to the transmission. Thus: I need to replace the transfer case, and presumably that will fix the problem.

I'm not actually under any illusion that a replacement transfer case is necessarily the cure for this, but I probably need one anyway, because hey, the old one is cracked. So, I obtained a used transfer case. I'm having my mechanic install it.

Questions:

-- How many hours of labor should I expect?

-- Are there any pitfalls to this job? I have confidence in my mechanic, but want to let him know if there are any issues to be aware of. I also want to know what the possible problems will/could be in the aftermath. Murphy's law, etc.

-- Do you think that the cracks in the transfer case (and what is likely some resultant shimmying in the drivetrain) is the source of the horrifying metallic sound? I will supply pics of the old transfer case if need be.

Answers to these questions, and any general advice or wisdom regarding my tragic interest in these cars, is greatly appreciated.

Riley

[rars11]

I meant shimmying in the driveline. Not drivetrain. I'm a noob.

[nrubenstein]

Well, it should take about 30 minutes to swap the transfer case since he's already got it sitting on the floor. The big part of the labor is getting the whole assembly out.

Make sure you rebuild the shifter mechanism - replace everything as you have to pull the transfer case to get to a bunch of it.

[rars11]

I appreciate the advice. I went ahead and ordered a shift bushing kit from Pelican.

HOWEVER, there's a problem. The "shift arm bearing" is no longer available.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/smart/more_info.cgi?pn=25-11-1-221-569-BOE

I'm hoping that the old part is not worn out and will work with the rebuild kit. Does anyone know if that's going to be a problem?

[nrubenstein]

That part isn't so important. I would get a delrin bushing for the front of the carrier.

[jute91]

pictures tells more than 1000 words.. you got any?

[Danny]

25-11-1-221-569 is NOT NLA. There are 15 in the country and over 600 in Germany.

[rars11]

Jute, when I get a chance I'll snap some pics of the cracks in the transfer case.

Danny, do you have a link by chance? I've searched around and found some sites that purport to have it, but it's kind of expensive. $40 or so is the cheapest. If it's not that important, and the old part will work, I'd rather go that route.

Nrubenstein, I appreciate the Delrin recommendation. I will probably order that in lieu of the Pelican part ...

[Danny]

Email Steve@blunttech.com with the part number. He'll take care of you.

[rars11]

Thanks, Danny.

[dirty30]

Buy a delrin carrier bushing instead of that gummy bear factory one. I just rebuilt the shifter in my IX and it feels fantastic with the delrin bushing.

[rars11]

Buy a delrin carrier bushing instead of that gummy bear factory one. I just rebuilt the shifter in my IX and it feels fantastic with the delrin bushing.

Hey, Dirty. I did indeed buy the Delrin bushing, and thank you for the advice. What's your take on the "shifting arm bearing" part that's so hard to find (part no. 25111221569, discussed above). Everywhere I look it's priced at about $100. Did you pay that price when you rebuilt your shifter? Do I even need it (since I can likely use the old part)?

[dirty30]

Hey, Dirty. I did indeed buy the Delrin bushing, and thank you for the advice. What's your take on the "shifting arm bearing" part that's so hard to find (part no. 25111221569, discussed above). Everywhere I look it's priced at about $100. Did you pay that price when you rebuilt your shifter? Do I even need it (since I can likely use the old part)?

I did not replace that when I rebuilt my shifter, I think Garagistic sells a delrin one of those if I'm not mistaken though.

http://store.garagistic.com/ocart/e46%20oval%20shifter%20bushings

Its in the drop down menu at the above link.

[rars11]

Dirty (and others who have rebuilt the shifter mechanism),

How long did it take you? Again, I just want to get an idea of how much this is going to set me back.

Thanks again for your help.

[dirty30]

Dirty (and others who have rebuilt the shifter mechanism),

How long did it take you? Again, I just want to get an idea of how much this is going to set me back.

Thanks again for your help.

It took forever but I did the linkage with the transfer case in the car. I'd imagine it wouldn't take more than 3-4 hours to have the transfer case swapped or trans and transfer case in and out. I've pulled my fair share of transmissions in BMW's but everything AWD or 4WD ive done has been toyota or Audi. The IX looked pretty straight forward though.