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2G Transfer case rebuild questions

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Yes there on the drive shaft. there is one closer to the shifter area and another a little further back.

Yeah you could check that one out too. But it sounds like it's more connected or closer to the body than the axle carrier bearing.
 
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Swapped out rear diff fluid, looked normal, no change in sound. Gave the driveshaft carrier bearings a look, the rubber all looks good and they turned free without noise while I was under there. I need to pull the oil pump thanks to a leak so I’m going to have to pull the t case again anyways and I will re inspect it. My hunch is excessive backlash in the t case. I could wiggle the driveshaft back and forth about 1/4 inch, is that abnormal?
 
I can’t say what is normal, but mine doesn’t wiggle that much, nor does it make the sound you describe. I changed out the output seal on my xfer (which was a devil of a time to remove). Did this along with the infamous yoke kit on the prop shaft. There was a little side to side movement, but more like between 1/16” maybe as much as 1/8” when I pushed on it, but nothing that I would describe as wiggling freely in there. Perhaps you’ve found the source.:aha:
 
Finally got the transfer case off and some gear marking compound. Tell me what you guys think. To me the drive side looks like it’s riding too close to the edge of the tooth.

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Here’s more pics it seems to change each time I do it. But this one is a little more clear I think

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This one spells it out pretty clear, you can see the drive side and coast side pretty well. So according to the service manual I need a thicker shim to separate the gears more. Could anyone provide input on how much space you usually add at a time? For example go .003 and check it? Just not sure how much affect each increment will have if that makes sense. Backlash measured .003 also.

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Shim that was in it was .010 with backlash at .003. Tried a .030 shim and the marks basically swapped ends with backlash at .008. Going to try a .020 shim and that I’d guess would be about right. So there’s the amount of change you will get with different shim thicknesses in case anyone is wondering. Obviously your setup may vary but that should give a ballpark idea. If I haven’t scared anyone out of attempting their own rebuild I’ll keep trying.

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I'm pretty sure you need to be messing with the middle shim. Like shown here on page 38 step 2.
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And you can get the shims from magnus.
 
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I actually ordered shims from them, the ones that are pictured in your link and they sent me the shim for the side to side adjustment.. so that kinda sucks. Waiting to hear back from them. Just glad that I finally found something that is off and hopefully the source of that noise. I’ll update when I get the right shims and get it tested out
 
Just to give an update, I ordered shims from magnus, got the wrong ones. So I sent those back and waited to see if they have the correct ones on hand which they do not and don’t know when they will. So that kinda sucks. I’ll look to see if anyone else has any on hand. If not I may get creative.. soon as I can that figured out I’ll post a new update.
 
Exactly what are the thicknesses of all the shims installed currently and what have you tried in each spot with your data. I attached a scribble sheet so you can see what I am all writing down when doing a tcase. The one shown is for a Magnus billet gearset which is a whore to set up and at the min/max end of the shim spectrum. I can attach one for more of a normal setup with stock gearset and stock housings if that is what you are using.

**measure pinion sleeve height!!

1. Pinion preload shim:
*thickness
*preload value
*turning feel /torque

2. Mid housing spacer plate thickness
*thickness (most stock gearsets use around 0.008-0.013" thickness, magnus gearset sets up around a 0.005" thickness typically).
*pattern accel/decel (like you have shown in your pictures).

3. Drive gear backlash shim:
(Use a thicker side cover shim to the point of binding when you tighten the side cover bolts to confirm you are under bearing preload while taking your backlash measurement).
*shim thickness
*backlash value

4. Side cover bearing preload shim:
*thickness
*bearing preload value

Example:
Drive Gear Backlash - 0.0058" BL
Drive Gear Side Cover Preload - 0.002" Mid Housing Spacer Plate - 0.01390" Pinion Shaft Bearing Preload - 0.003" P Pinion Sleeve - 2.614"

*Drive Gear Backlash Shim: MD724330
*Drive Gear Side Cover Bearing Preload Shim: MD723603
*Mid Housing Spacer Plate: MD720360
*Pinion Shaft Bearing Preload Shim: MD722086

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Man you know your stuff. The only shim I can recall at the moment is the mid housing spacer plate and it is currently .010 , I am going to try closer to .013 and I think that will solve the issues but I’m still having a hard time finding them since magnus doesn’t have any currently. Oh and backlash was tight, it was at like .003 if I recall.
 
Well, get exact measurements of what you are using for shims and confirm your backlash, current side cover preload and contact pattern in both directions. Mid housing spacer is going to change pinion height and pattern position.

I have a lot of shims.
 
Well I finally got the oil pump, timing and water pump stuff done and got the transfer case back on. I ended up going with a thinner mid case shim to get the contact pattern more centered. Then a thinner side shim to ease the backlash. Ended up with .0045 so felt pretty good about that. Set preload also using solder and it felt really nice. I’ll include pics of my contact pattern.
Long story longer, took it for a drive and it still has that stupid noise. I think I’m officially ruling out t case. Unless anyone sees anything wrong with it. I’m leaning more towards something in the transmission again. Is it possible to get noise with certain trans fluids? I’m sure some shift better but anyone notice more noise? Maybe I’ll look at the rear diff. I’m kinda sick of trying to find it honestly, part of me wonders if I’m just hearing normal awd noise but it seems loud and not typical. Worn gears maybe?? Maybe a nice 3” exhaust will be the fix. Thanks for all the pointers Tim that was a big help with the transfer case. Next time I’d rather just ship it out to you, that took forever and is one of those things I’ll probably leave to the pros in the future.

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If you have all new bearings in the tcase, and you know your carrier bearings and u joints are good, take a moment with the trans and the rear. The tcase pattern looks pretty good, maybe a slight bit offset accel vs decel side, but not anything severe. You would be able to hear if there are harmonics by setting it up with the tail housing off, output shaft in a vise with soft jaws, and spinning the gearset in the mid/front housings by hand in both directions.

Have you opened up this trans yet? Could be something stupid like worn intermediate shaft bearings, or damaged center diff, noisy front diff roller bearings, chipped teeth on intermediate shaft, etc.

With the rear diff, could be pinion bearing play from not enough bearing preload.
 
I have had the trans apart but it’s been a few years ago now. If I remember right it seems like the intermediate shaft had a lot of slack in it. I figured that was my problem since space between gears would make a sound like that so I re shimmed and got it looking good. Maybe I missed something in the trans though. I’m leaning towards that honestly. It seems like it’s loudest in 3rd gear and gets quieter as speed approaches 50. I’ll probably check out the rear diff then go over the trans. I wish I had a spare 5 speed laying around I could re do then just swap so I’m not down for months
 
Disconnect the driveshaft at the rear diff pinion flange and see how much turning slack there is. If you can, slap a 27mm socket on a 1/2" impact and give it a few hits tighter to see if it changes the flange turning slack. Then we know we are dealing with at least rear diff pinion bearing endplay that could have been causing harmonics.
 
I got it all rebuilt, thanks to everyone for the help. If anyone has the desire to do their own I’ll post a pic of all the bearing and seal part numbers. Got them all from autozone, Chinese made which sucks but it got me back on the road for just under $150 bucks. Helpful tricks I learned (disclaimer- this is not the way a pro would do it- but how I did it and it worked well) go get two 18” pipe wrenches, put one on the splines and then use the other to twist that giant nut off. When you reassemble you need to get the correct preload on your bearings by torquing that nut to 109 ft lbs. What I did was used the pipe wrench while checking very often the preload. Go get a digital readout torque adapter (30$ at harbor freight) and then duct tape a socket onto the end of the shaft. Sounds crazy, but worked well. Once you are within spec stop tightening. With the bearings they all came off either by cutting a notch then a chisel or by just heat. Stick parts in the freezer and bearing in the oven at 200 and they will slide right on. There you are, good luck to you if you want to try this. It was kinda fun. Just excited to not hear that gosh awful sound of the t case about to grenade while driving.
Here are the part numbers, they all show the numbers on the box and hopefully you’re able to read my handwriting of what part is what.

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Disconnect the driveshaft at the rear diff pinion flange and see how much turning slack there is. If you can, slap a 27mm socket on a 1/2" impact and give it a few hits tighter to see if it changes the flange turning slack. Then we know we are dealing with at least rear diff pinion bearing endplay that could have been causing harmonics.
Here I am like two years later getting to this but I wanted to post what I’ve found in case someone else is going down the same road. I dropped the driveshaft today and I’d say it will rotate 1/2” or more before moving the axles. I’m guessing that’s a problem.. trying to find a 27mm socket to tighten that down. I’ll post a video if I can figure out how.
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