My truck is a 2006 Ram 1500 4x4 5.7L, just ran an errand to town yesterday and heard a noise coming from the drivetrain. I initially thought a brake was not letting up but after some investigation I found that the noise was coming from my transfer case, I attached a video to the post here so you can hear it. The noise is definitely internal in the transfer case and only shows up when going forward, not in reverse, does anyone have an idea what it could be? The truck has 174k miles on it, am I looking at a rebuild or replacement of the transfer case at this point?

EDIT: The transfer case is a 243 D (see picture below)

I have never worked on a transfer case before but have completely rebuilt the rear end on this truck and done plenty of other work so I'm looking for input on what is required to do a job like this, any special tools or risk of not getting something put together right if I take it apart and attempt the work myself? Or if I look for a rebuilt replacement I'm guessing that isn't much of a job to swap out? It looks like ebay has some for around $800-900, anyone have experience with that option?

Thank you!

 

Which transfer case do you have?

 

good question, It's a 243 D (added to the info in the original post now)

 

Does that one still have the snap ring on the output shaft that likes to fall off? 231 and 241 suffered from that...

 

I believe there is a snap ring on the output shaft, I'm guessing that is behind the output housing? I haven't taken anything apart yet but I'm considering picking up a rebuild kit and just doing it. It looks like the rebuild kits I've found don't include the drive chain, would it make sense to replace that while I'm in there or isn't that really necessary?

 

If you are going to rebuild it, replace the chain as well. They tend to stretch.

Snap ring should be fairly easy. Drop the driveshaft, pull the tailshaft housing, and there it is. Or.... isn't.....

 

Ok, I removed the driveshaft and pulled the back housing off the transfer case, the snap ring on the outside of the bearing was still in place and seemed to be in good shape, the noise is definitely coming from inside the transfer case so it looks like I'll be picking up a rebuild kit at this point.

 

How much fluid in the t-case?

 

Fluid in the transfer case was good.

I had some time today to finish pulling the transfer case off ... and found out the noise is actually coming from inside the rear end of the transmission, turns out the sound was traveling down the drive shaft making it sound like it was coming from the t-case. So I guess I'll be rebuilding the transfer case as long as I have it off, and I'm going to find a decent shop to tow the truck to and let them deal with the transmission.