Well today we went to install the part time conversion in the 80, we got up to dropping the oil when things started to get a bit iffy, there was max 500ml of oil in the case, however no bits of metal on the magnet or in the case/oil. All the gears looked brand spanking new, meshed with no backlash and bearings were new. Anywho we pulled her apart cleaned it up and reassembled with new parts, everything is going fine till we goto put the rear of case back on, slapped some gasket goo on and bolted her up, HOWEVER we were doing the last bolt near the bottom oil plug, and we spotted a crack, we thought "fuck maybe thats why there is shit all oil in it" went to undo the bolt and CRACCCK the fucking thing near split in half. So now we have to find a rear case from the wreckers, I just wanted to make this aware by people out there that the alloy in the case might not be the best.
We spent ages trying to figure out how it could have broken but we came up with nothing, pretty certain its been there awhile since it had been black painted over and the oil level was just below the crack.
Keep an eye out for this if you are doing anything to the transfer case peoples. Meh another day in the life of a landcruiser owner
