Recently, had the loss of transfer case linkage between manual shift lever and tcase. Got new linkage and bushings, installed and adjusted correctly. Goes into 4 lo , 4 hi and 2 hi easily. But there is a large rattling noise coming from the front of the transfer case area right behind the transmission. Louder than the diesel engine. Most noticable in park and neutral or when setting stopped in gear. Drained fluid from t-case, found no material in fluid or lower cleanout hole. Is it worth my time to pull the transfer case and order a rebuild kit, or do I need to bite the bullet and swap out a rebuilt? Any suggestions? I have looked at breakdowns for the t- case and best I can surmise without getting into it is the shim washers between front low planetary and hi may be gone or nearly so. But wouldn't that show some signs in the fluid? Need advice from some more experienced drive train experts.

 

OK. Unfortunately found the cause of the noise. Torque converter lost one of the welded on tabs that bolt to the flex plate. Because when we inspected the area last there was no sign of loose bolts or missing pieces we assumed that noise was in the t-case. Now after towing truck home and pulling inspection plate under trans and flex-plate I find four bolts and broken tab rolling around the torque converter and flex plate. Bit the bullet and ordered a re-man torque converter- billet machined flex-plate. When I pull trans this weekend, I will find out what else could have gone wrong on the engine side-- just hope crank is still good. Wish me luck! For others with similar noise-- check the bolts from flex-plate to torque converter. Pull the lower inspection plate from under the trans. ON the passenger side of engine there is an access cover in the transmission adapter plate on back of engine to get to the bolts. A special barring tool can be used to rotate engine to get access to all six bolts. I just used a small pry bar on the teeth of the flex-plate to rotate. Make sure that all are tight, any loose ones need loctite when re-tightened.