Topic: Possible to weld transfercase leak?

[Yota4life]

  Im pissed today when i took off my fill plug on my transfercase i notice the place its been leaking is the stripped plug and theres a few cracks around it.
   i made it even worse and the only thing i can do is replace that part of the housing or weld up those cracks. I was woundering if its possible to weld that? its made from a cast..
Man i just put my aussie locker in and i havent even had a chance to wheel it and now i got more problems....DAMNIT
If anyone has any other ideas on how to seal this leak let me know. Maybe some epoxy or somethin can do it

[BigMike]

You can tig weld cast alumn. I've only seen it done with the housings apart and clean+dry. I don't know what it would be like to do it in the vehicle..

[mr4x42u]

I would just replace that part of the t-case..There is this place I know of,,its called marlin crawler..they could probably hook you up with that half of the case..its only a few hours to pull your t-case out and switch the case shell..

[derek]

i need to build another crawl box soon, so you can have that section off of the case if you want.
will give me a reason to start working on it. 

derek

[BigMike]

Good idea. I mean we have so many housings we punch out the bearings/dowel pins and recycle them because they are taking up to much space.

[Yota4life [OP]]

For that back part of the housing will i need a press or anything special to swap it out? I need to get this done ASAP. Anyone around sacramento want to sell me their housing? If not then could i just pay marlin a few bucks to send me that peice?
Iv taken my dual cases out before and the only thing that was hard was getting them back in. The reason for that was because the old crossmember mounts are still there and they get in the way big time. Guess its time to pull out the Angle grinder

[toybuilt]

A bud of mine just did a dual case and has everything but the reducion box

[Yota4life [OP]]

A bud of mine just did a dual case and has everything but the reducion box

Does he live around Sac? If so could you get ahold of him and let him know that i want to buy it.

Ill give marlin a call.

[toybuilt]

Lives in Auburn he might be home today.

[derek]

no need for a press.
just a rubber mallet and normal sockets.
not that hard to work on.
might as well replace the gaskets while your in there.
and some good rtv is good to have also.

derek

[ntsqd]

Being a TIG welder, I can tell you that it would be ugly to try to weld it in the vehicle. It would have to be oil free. On the Sprint Car cyl heads I've fixed I require that they be hot tanked first.

In this case, another part is a far easier repair.

[Yota4life [OP]]

Yea all i got is an arc welder so thats out of the question. Im going to replace it. Im going to get some new gaskets also. One other thing, Is it possible for the tranny to push oil into the transfercases? I think this might have happened....

[derek]

i wouldnt think so. it would have to have a plugged breather and not be able to breathe through the shifter to build up enough pressure to force the gear oil into the t-case.

derek

[Weldo]

Being a TIG welder, I can tell you that it would be ugly to try to weld it in the vehicle. It would have to be oil free. On the Sprint Car cyl heads I've fixed I require that they be hot tanked first.

In this case, another part is a far easier repair.

I agree completely, when welding aluminum it is very important that the base metal be clean.  To weld it properly you would have to remove the panel anyway and clean it very well, so you may as well replace it.

Hey, ntsqd, you mentioned you were a TIG welder, do you mind if I ask where you work and what you do?  I'm an aspiring welder myself, graduate welding school in June, and I'm very partial to the TIG process.  It'd be my dream to get a good job TIG weldin'.

[Yota4life [OP]]

i droped the cases and decided to JB weld those cracks. i put it all over the fill plug threads and then threaded it into the stripped housing and filled all the cracks with it really good and let a thick layer on top of them. There is no way this will ever leak again! I will just have to fill through the shifters evey time now but thats not a big deal because its easy.Another thing i found out is from when the first time i put my cases in i messed up the seal on the transmissions yoke way bad and the tranny oil was being pushed into the t-cases. So when i emptyed the oil out of them like at leased 5+ quarts came out! Thats twice as much as they are supposed to have in them. im going to replace that seal and pressure wash all the oil and mud off the cases
Heres a pic of how it looked when i was done

[mr4x42u]

to awnser your question,,yes its possible for trans fluid to get pushed into the t-cases and vis versa..there is a shaft seal between the two..And if the jb weld don't work just replace it..thats a really easy section of t-case to swap out..if those really are cracks they they will grow over time and you will end up swaping out parts anyway..