transfercase advice sought

alright, i went and put in the twin stick conversion the other day. everything was great... it sat for two days and didn't leak, it looked cool, and it finally let me shift into 4wd again. unfortunately, like any other project we have a problem now. the case is growling at me like it has never done before. i rebuilt this thing a summer or two ago after it ate some teeth from the intermediate shaft and it was fairly quiet before i tore into it this time. all of the same parts went back in where they were taken out, i took out the smallest shim of the pack because i was using thicker silicon sealant, and it was on the looser side when i went through it before. the intermediate shaft looked to be good. it was polished where the bearings ride, but other than that it was decent (couldn't feel any wear on it....not that that's a good test). and everything went back together as it should.

now for the interesting part... it only makes the noise while being driven. if i'm coasting then it's as quiet as it ever was, but step on the gas and you have a problem. i don't know what would cause this, and am really not looking forward to ripping the thing apart again. any advice would be greatly appreciated (aside from ripping it out, buying the novak kit, and throwing it back together... that's just a heart breaker)

 

Pull the bottom cover off and check for play in the intermediate gear between the thrust washers. Sounds like you have something moving around or the drive side of the teeth on one of the gears is pitted/rough. One other thing I'd do is pull the pto cover off and check the input gear engagement to the intermediate gear. It's possible the input gear has come loose on the shaft and not engaging correctly. Let us know what you find......
Nickmil.

 

ditto what nick said
I also would check the driveline, make sure u-joint is seated/mounted properly
also the rear output nut, while you might have the shaft out again

 

check the were pattern on gear(s). something not right.

 

i think i'm going to step away from it for a couple of days and then come back and look at everything. working on a cold exposed slab of concrete with wind wipping around at 30 degrees gets old really quick... and is most likely why i'm in this situation. first thing is going to be the input gear, then the intermediate, and lastly loosening up the tail to see if it really neded that 2 thousandths shim. other than that i'll be giving the guys at novak a call to set things right again if the above doesn't help.

 

After you pulled that shim, did you check the end play on the shaft?

 

boy do i feel freakin stupid. it looks as though i've got the low range gear turned backwards, along with the fork after looking at things for a half-hour and trying to figure out which way it went. guess i need to start a new thread looking for pics on the way the shafts go. otherwise the detents won't line up with the outside of the shafts and the fork detents won't line up. it's got to come back out, but i don't knwo how it's going to go in any other way without growling too much. gotta look at the gear to, seems as though it was grinding on the case a bit...