How To: 271 transfer case rebuild

[nts007]

So since I'm in the middle of doing this I figured I would do a little how too. This is more of a guide for those who are not quite confident doing this alone but I'm here to tell you it's not so bad.

Alright the big things.
You need a 13mm socket for the tail housing.
10mm for the case bolts and one is 13 mm
Couple flat screwdrivers
Needle nose pliers
A really long and strong set of c clip or snap ring pliers. For the massive retaining snap rings that this thing has. I used needle nose and flat screwdrivers but it's hard as hell. One took an hour cause they spin on the shafts which also spin
A medium hammer of some sort.
Rags, gloves, a decent place to work. A heated shop would be nice. I'm lucky to just be out of the wind.

Now drain every bit of oil you can. If you haven't already.

So zip off the tail housing bolts then lightly tap it to the rear away from the case. Be careful. It's aluminium and you can crack the case. Do not forget this.
With the tail housing off you can remove the oil pump. It slides straight back off but has the feed line in it. Use needle nose to pull it out and away. It's quite flexible just stiff. Don't worry about hurting it. Just get it over so the tube clears the pump then slide the pump out

Once the pump is out you will see the rear bearing. There is a snap ring holding the bearing to the shaft. Pull that one out.
Now go ahead and pull the bolts outta the main case halves.
Once you have them out use the hammer and gently tap the tabs on the back half away from the front. When the case is starting to separate the hammer sound will start to sound much deeper and more hollow. That means it's separating. Once you have a good gap pull the back half towards you while using your abs to push the output shaft forward. Should be easy. If not just wiggle gently

Well once u got the rear half off everything is pretty simple. The two chain sprockets have snap ring retainng clips on them. Pop them out then pull both sprockets off the shafts with the chain still on. It slides off easy.

Well then now just slide off the spline slides and shift fork. It all just slides off the back easy. Do not forget which way the collar goes. If you put it on backwards you will have issues.
Just make sure as you pull pieces off keep track. I just stack them the way they came out. It's easiest.

Now just grab the main shaft and pull it straight out. Slides out clean.
Now all that's left is the input with the planetarys.
Flip the case so the input is facing up. Remove the seal with a flat screwdriver. Then you have to reach in and pull of another snap ring. When u get this one the planetary and the input will drop to the table.

Then just pull one final snap ring off the planetary carrier and the input slides right out

Now throughout this you will have possibly wrecked one or two seals. I only damaged the one round the input. I also am not changing out the bearings as they are all still good. I will drop the case again in 100k and rebuild it completely.

So now to put it together it's just reverse the process. It's not that scary to do. And why pay someone else to do this. Give yourself 3-4 hrs and you will be fine. It's harder work getting the case out and in from the truck as far as I'm concerned. Here is some pics. I will post the assembly later.

[nts007]

And some more pics.

[nts007]

Hope this helps. I will post assembly when I get the last parts I need.

[azracer]

Nice work.

It has been years since I did my 231 but it is very similar.

Are you going to do a SYE while your in there?

[nts007]

Nice work.

It has been years since I did my 231 but it is very similar.

Are you going to do a SYE while your in there?

No my rear d shaft is new and the failure rate is very low for the setup we have. The sye is great if u wreck the rear end and can keep front drive though.

[coder]

Nice write-up and pics excellent work.

[Colibri]

Thanks for taking the time to right this up!

[RustyPW]

Nice work.

[flattire]

Why are you rebuilding?

[nts007]

Why are you rebuilding?

I stripped the splines outta my 273. The 271 from the pw has a smaller input shaft size. Instead of replacing the piece into the 273 I'm putting it into the 271 for the manual shift. The one I pulled also has 300k on it. This one has less than 60k. The cases and internals are nearly identical aside from the shift mechanism and a smaller Spline input. Just changing the input and cuttin a hole in the floor

[AllanDickerson]

I was actually wondering if you could put a manual t case in a 08 diesel but there isn't much info about it online.

[nts007]

You're right there is almost no information. I have yet to find out how it affects the computers. I have the correct plug for the t case position sensor. But with the actuator disconnected I will find out if I get a service 4wd light. We shall see. I may have to put a resister on the line where the motor goes. I've always disliked the electric system and while it works nothing beats a manual shift

[AllanDickerson]

I was thinking about selling my camaro and buying a 07 5.9 mega cab diesel and swaping and manual t case in it. I'm no computer expert or truck expert but it would seem like you could get the t case harness from an 08 power wagon or something with a manual t case and plug it up to your truck so it gets the right resistance and what not to make the lights all work. You might have to hook up a computer to tell it it has manual t case now instead of the auto so the service 4wd light doesn't come on. Again I'm not an expert.

[nts007]

I have the wire off the harness and the connector. I am hoping it's not too bad.

FYI!!!! The input spline you need to mate to the diesel is $350. That's what I paid for it. The cheapest I could source in a week was 330 so I went to the dealer and next day for $352. Part number 5086311aa. Here's a pic for reference. And you may need the input hub bearing which is another $94. I'm hoping between 2 transfer cases I should be able to save one of the bearings.

Truth is if I needed to and didn't have the manual I would just stick with the e shift. Realistically in a megacab how much off roading are you doing to justify doing this. A good tcase will set u back $500-1000. Rebuild bearing kit is 2-300 and the input another 350-450.

I wouldn't be buying the input except neither t case has one that works right now. And it helps I have a 09 pw parts truck sitting in my yard. So why not

[nts007]

Alright I got it all together. I changed out the main shaft bearings. In the front and rear case. Changed seals and back together.
Here's a comparison between the hemi and the diesel inputs. The diesel has the larger spline and is longer as well. Aside from this part and the 271-273 gas and diesel are identical. Not counting shift mechanism. So if you were to swap them this is the one part u need. Cost me $385 after tax.

Hope this has been helpful. When I planned to do this I found practically 0 information. Now it exists.

[TwinStick]

So, that is a HEMI shaft on the left & the diesel shaft on the right ???

Maybe it is just the picture but the shaft on the left seems to have a thicker wall thickness ?

What gives the diesel one more strength ? Is it because there more splines, longer splines or both ???

Sorry for the questions, just asking what others are probably also wondering.

[nts007]

Yes. The hemi is on the left. The weak point isn't the wall thickness it is the splines. This setup gives more splines and the output shaft on the transmission is thicker. It's a balancing act I'm sure design wise. But the 271-3 is rated for over 2000ft-lbs input power.

[TwinStick]

Thanks for the answer.

I wonder what my t-case is rated at ? The Hemi w/g-56's 6.28:1 first gear ratio, 4.56 r & p & 2.72:1 low range makes for some metal ripping torque.

[nts007]

I just did some reading and apparently I was conservative in that rating. It's max rating is 7890ft-lbs of torque and continuous is over 2000ft-lbs