I will assume it is not designed to spin the front shaft full time.

For future referenc: I plan on locking my front and keeping the CAD on a cable actuator so I can disengauge and still turn easily. If you go one piece, you will have to go with a air locker for the same results @ three times the cost.

 

well okay everybody i took another look at the CAD again and i think the problem is the fork is not pulling the colar far enough over. So i guess i need to order new fork pads? Anyways, for the time being i just "permanenly" locked the collar in place. It really does not make extra noise, if it does it is minimal. The only thing is, when i go to 4x4, there is a horrible clanging noise coming from (i think) the transfer case. Time for a rebuild? anyone do this?

 

On Dakotas, the early first gens had this CAD setup. Knowing it was garbage, Dodge did away with it in 1991 or so and went to a one piece axle set up. On my 95 there is no CAD, the axle/diff/front driveshaft all spin. This makes the transfer case spin too, but as was mentioned earlier, it helps with lubrication. I have had no problems with it and am rather glad that I don't have all this CAD garbage.

 

does anyone know if transfer cases from autos and manuals are interchangable?

 

Should be.

Does your 4x4 light come on when you put the t-case in 4hi? If it doesn't, you may want to have a look at the vacuum actuator..... Have you ever had to remove that? And if you did, how did you get it out?

 

actuator works fine. light comes on, problem is because the pads are worn, the fork slips to the outside edge of the collar and is just not quite enough to lock the shafts.

 

Then, by all means, replace the little pads, that should be a cheap fix. (unless, to get the pads, you have to buy the whole damn fork...... which REALLY wouldn't surprise me.)

Is there a junkyard nearby that you might be able to raid?

 

They are, but watch the input shaft lengths. IIRC Dodge makes 2-3 different shaft lengths depending on engine size and if its a manual/auto...

 

thanks vaughan, that helped a lot.
Now, there is a very good chance i actually bent the passenger axle. i hit a rock (or something) so hard, it bent the rim so bad the tire went immediately flat. when i spin it, though, it isn't obviously bent though. I suppose I could use a test indicator on it, if I knew the normal runout for the axle. Of course, a worn shaft bushing for lining up the 2 axle shafts would show the same results.

anyone know a way to test for a bent axle, that the worn out bushing wouldn't taint the results?

 

Okay I know I'm bringing a 2yr old thread back to life, but....

For future reference if someone should bring this thread up from a search engine like I did....

Transfer cases ARE interchangeable between auto and manual, what you have to watch is the input/output shaft size and number of splines on the transfercase. They have 3 different ones, and it's not worth swapping out the shafts inside the tcase to make it work. If they have the same number of splines, great. Also the shift lever is different on the manual and autos for the transfercase, so use the one that came on your truck.