I've got a 99 1500 with 4WD and the 5.9L V8. I started seriously using my 4WD (the way a truck should be used) this past summer when I installed a wood stove in my house and began crawling through New England state forests collecting logs for firewood. I did this for about 5 months without an issue, but about a month ago (for snow now, not rutted woodland trails) I started to hear a grinding noise in 4WD. This noise was apparent when going straight or turning and increased in intensity with an increase in speed.

So, I took the truck to my local Dodge dealership and described my symptoms. I spoke with the tranny guy and he agreed with me that it was "probably a transfer case issue" but he wouldn't know till he got it on a lift. That was was I wanted to hear, so I told him to take a look and left. 30 minutes later, the "desk guy" called me and said his mechanic hasn't gotten to my truck yet but told me transfer cases are usually just replaced rather than repaired and he tried selling me on a new one (his tranny guy hadn't even looked at my truck yet!) at a cost of $1700 + labor [231HD].

Long intro to this question: are there that many transfer case issues that are not repairable? I know the dealerships are in tough shape right now, but telling a customer to just replace a major part like that seems rather unethical to me. Am I over analyzing this?

 

You can get a rebuilt one for like 5 to 6 hundred at your local tranny shop and replace it yourself. It's pretty easy to replace.

 

I had mine rebuilt about two months ago for $750.00 which included removing, rebuilding and replacing the transfer case. By the time that dealer adds his labor charge, you could have bought THREE transfer cases. Shop around and find yourself a good rebuilder.

 

get your truck out of there NOW before they take it apart and tell you its going to be $2000. take it somewhere else. search here for 'snap ring' on the output shaft. its a real common problem and an easy fix. there's also a replacement collar for that snap ring for about $30-40. its called t-case saver.

 

Thanks for the replies. The shop was closed today for Presidents Day but I'll have my truck out of there first thing tomorrow.

 

My transfer case has a rattling noise when it is in 2wd then when I put it in 4wd as Im rolling a hear a grind then a loud click then it is in 4. The last time this happened though during a snow storm 4wd didnt work even though it was engaged. My cv shaft was no good but I replaced that. Anyone has a pic or link where I can see pics of a tcase. Im going to take the cover off and inspect it. Thanks

 

This may not apply, but my TC was a little noise all the time. I ask dealer to check oil level -- he said it was just fine. Maint manual indicates noise can be caused by low oil. Thus I got under my unit and check myself -- was near a pint low. Serviced to correct level and TC runs quite. Lucky I hope there was no damage.