I've owned an 89 ix automatic 4 years now

[gts1k]

I've owned an 89" ix automatic 4 years now. got her as payment of a debt. transfer case went out within three months. haven't found an affordable replacement to restore her back to awd. She's been sitting unused about three years.( was never really diagnosed ,repair shop told me to get rid of it)
Have you got your original TC/trans. ? If so, are you willing to sell at least the TC ?

[nando]

so the shop just said it went bad, never diagnosed, and it's sat for 3 years?

how sure are you the TC went? usually the car will still drive just fine if the VC is bad, 90% of people probably wouldn't even know..

also, out of respect for the OP, you should start your own thread.

[z122643]

Yeah you should get rid of it. I've got a trailer ;v)

[barbierij]

I didn't know mine went on the '90iX until I did a one-wheel peel up the driveway back in november.

[fresh_TD]

Pics of the car?

Sent from my Samsung Note 3

[Q5Quint]

My front diff exploded and I could drive around the block with no front driveshaft just fine. With no rear driveshaft, I could drive around the yard. That is how you know the vc is working, but doing that too long/fast will melt it. Once it melts you will no longer have awd... but you will always have rwd.

If the transfer case chain breaks... you might be sol for either. There have been chain repairs before....

[nando]

if the VC goes bad you still have AWD. it doesn't make it RWD - it's just an open differential at that point.

[Dirty325ix]

So you have to break the chain to just have rwd

[nando]

that would only work if you had a good VC. if you had a bad VC and no chain the car would be no-wheel-drive.

FWIW it's virtually impossible to "break" the chain. IIRC it's rated for something like 300-350 ft/lbs of torque.

[Q5Quint]

If the viscous coupling never grabs the front driveshaft, all the power will always go to the rear wheels. It grabs based on difference in speed, so if the rear wheels spin faster than the front, it will grab the front shaft. Thats it. If it is blown it will be too slippery to grab the shaft. heh heh heh

Although I think there will always be 'some' power that goes to the front shaft even if the chain wasnt there, due to the spur gear differential. So if the ix is 35/65 front rear split normally, you will still have 35% trying to go to the front even if the coupling is blown. Ie if you just took the front shaft out and drove around with no care for the coupling.... you may have a much higher drivetrain loss than normal because you are trying to spin something that isnt there.