Transfer case removal issue

[wintertidenz]

Well, bradc, Richard and myself were working on my car today to swap the transfer case... we managed to undo the bolts holding the transfer case to the transmission after a few hours with a lot of swearing.
Only thing is that now we have undone the transfer case bolts, we are trying to pull the gearbox output shaft and it won't come out. The case is holding on just with that shaft and we have tried to wiggle or even hammer it out to no avail.

We have even disassembled the transfer case in place but this has not loosened anything up.

Anyone got any ideas on how we can get this damn thing off so we can put the new transfer case on?

[elnevio]

SGHOM did this yesterday - hopefully he'll be able to post up later as it's fresh in his mind! Unless the likes of Nutter_John or Richy Rich get in there first. I do recall Derek saying it was the hardest part of separating the engine and gearbox from the car!

[scott.mohekey]

I did this today actually. I got a crowbar in between the transfer case and the gear box, towards the back of the gear box. There's a section of the transfer case that dips away from the gearbox, allowing you to put a crowbar in and lever the transfer case off.

[Subaru ETA]

once the transfer case is loose you shoud be able to turn it. then you get some long bolts of the same thread and wind one in the top and one in the bottom. do this evenly and it will pop it off. all thats holding it on is a cir clip on the shaft

[wintertidenz]

Well let's just put it this way, we even used a sledgehammer and tried to get it off. Didn't budge at all /lol

The transfer case wiggles and turns around on the shaft, it seems that the circlip is stuck... not sure if we tried the bolt trick though, can't remember.

[Subaru ETA]

when ever mike carsten and i do it thats the trick we use and it comes easy every time

[KHK]

i also found it very hard to get it off, as said above the main obstacle is the cir clip

Last time i pried with long iron pipe, this method worked only on passenger side and i got stuck with the driver side. After infinite number of trials and pry again and again with different tools and WD40, finally got it off but number of hrs spent on this drive shaft i think might be over 20 hrs

[GalantOnly]

http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38304

???

[richy rich]

http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38304

???
Thats the way to do it.

[bradc]

GalantOnly, we tried that, even hitting it with a sledgehammer repeatedly.

I'll try the bolt trick today but not sure if that will work.

Dave - do you feel like coming out today? :P

[VR4WGN]

have you guys got a sliding hammer? i made a sliding hammer up with multiple threaded heads and i screw the head into the shafts and then using the slliding hammer it wil ljust come out after a few taps,iv never had probplems except for that nysterious bolt in behind the x-fer case that i thort held it on when it had nothing to do with the case but the actual gearbox,in the end it was the shaft and that came apart very easly,but SubaruETA had the corrct manner mentioned,just be carefull to not over tighten and or crck the housings as this is very easy to do.Good luck Boys

[richy rich]

GalantOnly, we tried that, even hitting it with a sledgehammer repeatedly.

I'll try the bolt trick today but not sure if that will work.

Dave - do you feel like coming out today? :P
If you could not get the shaft out using the slide hammer method there is something wrong.

Id say stop and think off what is going wrong.

[mpau009]

If you could not get the shaft out using the slide hammer method there is something wrong.

Id say stop and think off what is going wrong.

Pretty sure they dont have a slide hammer..

I have the bolts here if someone wants to come grab them, send me a text and i'll go dig them out. Either the bolts or a slide hammer would be the only ways i would want to do it. Id imagine you could bend the shaft etc if you wrench on it too much with a crowbar..

BTW the bolts were a pain to get, they are 1.25mm pitch thread, cant remember how long, but there is a thread around here somewhere. I had to get them from a specialist bolt shop, but still cheaper than buying a slide hammer :P

[VR4WGN]

normal metric bolts that you use in engineering is the same,thata what i used when making my threaded heads

[bradc]

There isn't much else we can think of. I think we'll try what Dave suggested this morning and see how that goes.

edit - Mike can we use the normal screws from the transfer case? If not can you pm me your new address?

[wintertidenz]

We could always try bolting the transfer case up to the trans again fully and see if we could pull it that way? The circlip seems pretty damn stuck though... think we might need to drop the trans out of the car and work on it from there :(

[Eric]

The issue I found was if you unbolt the transfer box before trying to pull the shaft its almost impossible to pull the shaft. If you can re-attach transfer case you may get the shaft out

[swinks]

Very true Eric.

I reckon, that also few wedges from opposite directions and sledge hammer will do work. Just don't use metal/steel wedges cos you'll damage boxes surface.
That method was finally succesfull, wasn't Eric?

[GalantOnly]

We could always try bolting the transfer case up to the trans again fully and see if we could pull it that way? The circlip seems pretty damn stuck though... think we might need to drop the trans out of the car and work on it from there :(

The box must be tightly in place, when pulling the shaft...:inquisiti

[scott.mohekey]

Id imagine you could bend the shaft etc if you wrench on it too much with a crowbar..

I totally misread the original post. I thought they were asking how to separate the transfer case from the gearbox, not the output shaft from the transfer case.

[wintertidenz]

Well we're trying to do the former, but got stuck on the latter :P if that makes sense

[scott.mohekey]

Yeah, I had already done the latter when I did the former. /pan

[scott.mohekey]

Thinking about it.. getting the output shaft out was really easy on the NA engine I took apart. The TT engine I've done I just wanted to split the trans from the engine, so I didn't need to take the transfer case off, just rotate it to get to the hidden bolts. Maybe the NA shafts are easier to get out? (Both were autos 4 speed NA and 4 speed TT).

[VR4WGN]

update guys? hope all went well

[wintertidenz]

Just got home - we managed to crack the bugger off with the two bolt trick. Had to pull the shaft in the end to get the transfer case back on and then a lot of swearing later all bolted up and filled :)

Thanks again to bradc and Richard for their help!

[bradc]

Yeah we got there in the end and it goes well now :) The Turquoise VR-4 also went for a little drive up the road and it goes extremely well too.

[wintertidenz]

Yeah it goes very well now... but I think I got a cracked windscreen on the way home :( will see in the morning.

[bradc]

How did you do that?

[dickytim]

trans seals all was OK?

it was a little worrying seeing all that trans oil coming out.

[wintertidenz]

No idea, think it was either a stone or it was cracked while the bonnet was being held up and stuff was being hit with a hammer.

Yeah trans seals seem all good, there was a huge chunk in the transfer case seal and casing so it might have been that.

[OnBoost!]

Good to hear it's all fixed dude..:)

[bradc]

Any update on the car and the windscreen?

[wintertidenz]

Put about a litre of ATF into the car this morning as it was still a little low... apparently the only ones that sell the ATF are Mitsi (bastards!).
Car has been booked in for the windscreen replacement tomorrow, should take a picture of it as it's a pretty epic crack lol! About half a metre long!

Car does definitely feel a lot smoother driving around and the only annoying noise is from the tyres now :)

[bradc]

I can't recall seeing it when we went for a drive, where is it exactly?

[wintertidenz]

Driver's side down by the tweeter, don't know if you recall the bright orange NAC sticker but it's right through the sticker.