Darn it, now you guys have me worried that I need to pull the transfer case, replace the seals, etc. This will be my first time messing with it so I have plenty to learn. I was hoping it would be a nice bearing replacement, which seemed like a fairly easy job.
Maybe I should have outlined all the history in the first post. Sometimes when you do that people don't want to read a book so I kept it short. I have a habit of writing long posts but I try to keep my questions to the point. Anyway, here is the background.
Over the last few rides a noise has been developing from what I *thought* was the rear axle. At first I thought it was just a rub I could ignore (mud on disc brake or something). After it a bit it squealed enough I figured it needed attention. I put it up on jackstands and gave it gas while it was in drive. With that, I could tell with full certainty that the grinding/squealing was coming from the t-case. On top of that, it seems to be coming from the back of the t-case on that bolt on housing for the rear output. It has tera HD outputs. Finally, there is play in the rear output. I took some video of it that you can see here:
http://just4fun.org/images/buggy/wrenching_1-6-07/MVI_0795.AVI
All this made me think, it's the bearings. That explains the noise and the play. When you couple that with the fact that the driveshaft just broken going slow on a hill I can climb in a ford focus it make me think the driveshaft, which wouldn't expland/collapse, just put wear on the t-case and ruin the bearings.
As I type this up it still sounds like a pretty good theory to me. But I also worry that as I added too much fluid to the tf999 that I might have caused it to push into the t-case. I've been adding fluid because it would slip at steep angles.
