It's been a minute since I've updated this thread, which is largely due to the aforementioned Seadoo project taking on a life of its own and not wrenching on the TJ at all. I ended up buying a total of 5 skis, 2 trailers and a dock and am almost through fixing and selling what I'm not keeping.
The TJ has just over 2k miles on the swap and has had its first real issue that had to be addressed. A few months ago I was out running errands, shifted to reverse to back out of a parking spot and was met with a grinding sound that makes nails on a chalkboard seem pleasant. The best way to describe the sound is like trying to shift a manual trans into gear without using the clutch. Oddly enough, I shifted to drive and the noise went away and the TJ continued to run and drive fine, except for the grinding noise which would occur fairly random. I learned through trial and error that I could shift the transfer case into 4wd when reversing and the grinding went away, so I was confident the transfer case was where my problem lied.
Long story short, the grinding got too frequent for me to ignore so I parked the TJ a few weeks ago until I could diagnose the issue. I pulled the transfer case this weekend and found the fluid to have some super fine metallic color to it, but no large pieces. I had the transfer case sitting on a table with the input shaft facing down and stared disassembling it to find the problem. Disassembly revealed that the gear that engages the planetaries for low range had wear on the face of the gear teeth, like was attempting to engage.
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That didn't really make sense.
What also didn't make sense was how the shift collar that engages the front output didn't seem to have the travel to disengage the front drive, which I also knew didn't add up. I laid the case on its side, grabbed the input shaft and found 1/2" of play front to back.
That's DEFINITELY not right.
Look at the gap from the snap ring to the bearing:
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I looked at parts diagrams and confirmed I wasn't missing a shim, so next was to check the bearing size on the Dodge transfer case (remember, don't throw ANYTHING away until you've been done with this swap for a while!) and sure enough:
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Found it. I'd swapped the input shaft and hadn't verified that the bearing was the same which was causing the input shaft and planetaries to shift front to back. I reassembled the case using the Dodge front half and reinstalled the transfer case with no issues. A rigorous test drive will be conducted this evening in the form of an ice cream run, likely for Bruster's Southern Banana Puddin'.
The TJ is on deck to make a drive to the beach in September, so the push is about to be on get it road trip ready. If that trip goes well, the next outing will be a road trip in October to Ashville, NC then to Knoxville, to Nashville then back home. There should be a day of wheeling at Windrock in there somewhere, so this trip will be my goal to get the TJ completed (well, as 'done' as a jeep ever gets, right?)
