That thing still has another trail in it. Lol
CK5
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'91 K5 Four Wheel Camper
This is the build for my 1991 V1500 Blazer, AKA the K5.3. It started out life being sold to the U.S. Government with a 350 TBI/700r4/241 combo. 4 years with a 5.3/700r4 Combo and now moving to an 8.1L Vortec and NV4500 5-speed.
I know what’s wrong with it!
Probably! I almost hopped in to take it to work the other day. I miss driving it.
Yeah it’s broke!
Damaged , yes
Broke , no it still worked to get off the trail.
Broke , no it still worked to get off the trail.
Very true. I'm curious to see what issues are inside once I open it up. I spun the front output by hand after I had it out on the table yesterday and it rolled smoothly without feeling gritty/chewed-up bearings.
You shouldn't have to worry about much internal damage.
I have drove a NP246 case that was run without oil at 80 mph on the interstate for 100 miles, because the seller had driven it long enough around Glenwood that it wasn't wet when my son bought it and drove it home. We drove it around here for a few more weeks before parting it out. It was working fine, even in 4 low, nice and quiet.
I'm not surprised by that. We didn't lose a drop on the driveway when we pulled it. It was fully evacuated of fluid for sure. I bought a rebuild kit anyway, because it would be nuts to have it that far apart and not replace any bearings that looked iffy. I didn't get a chain though.
Though way back in the beginning of this saga on the '91, I was going through the 241 one to reseal the pump housing and found this garbage.
No fluid was in it either. Just a black gritty mess.
I ended up getting a second 241 for parts and it ended up being in better shape than this one. But I ended up needing the 27 spline input out of the original because I fell into a unicorn 32 spline vss 241 on a whim from a local boneyard. So we tore it down and found this goo over the magnet.
Like I said it was ugly inside. But this is the housing I've got stashed to fix the one I broke.
Got the t-case apart finally. Also, I need more parts. Upon further inspection, the front half of the housing has a crack that I didn't see before. That's not a big deal as I have both halves from my old 241. But the more pressing issue is the rear output housing.
I'll just get into the carnage...
The slip yoke housing was not broke when we started. I pulled the bolts and just bumped it with the palm of my hand to break the seal of the rtv and it snapped the corner off. Odd.
Robbie noticed this crack prior to pulling the bolt out of the rear output housing. I pulled the bolts and it was pretty obvious when it the chunk stuck to the housing.
It's no good.
With the rear output housing off I pulled the three chunks of the rear case half off. Pulled the magnet out of the sump and found chunks. No teeth were damaged to any part so I was pretty stumped wondering what the hell they came from. The wire ring was stuck to the magnet.
Upon further inspection it looks like the chunks stuck to the magnet came from one of the three blocks in the synchronizer. The ring came from it too. You can see one of the blocks missing in the synchro.
So on the hunt for parts again...
I'll just get into the carnage...
The slip yoke housing was not broke when we started. I pulled the bolts and just bumped it with the palm of my hand to break the seal of the rtv and it snapped the corner off. Odd.
Robbie noticed this crack prior to pulling the bolt out of the rear output housing. I pulled the bolts and it was pretty obvious when it the chunk stuck to the housing.
It's no good.
With the rear output housing off I pulled the three chunks of the rear case half off. Pulled the magnet out of the sump and found chunks. No teeth were damaged to any part so I was pretty stumped wondering what the hell they came from. The wire ring was stuck to the magnet.
Upon further inspection it looks like the chunks stuck to the magnet came from one of the three blocks in the synchronizer. The ring came from it too. You can see one of the blocks missing in the synchro.
So on the hunt for parts again...
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Glad you are getting it sorted out. Guess I should start looking at mine, or at least put the full top back on. 
Any chance 241 driver drop will have some of the same parts?
There is a lot of those in the wrecking yards.
Not sure. Need to research that bit.
Internal yes.
External not so much
You can weld up that extension housing.
Martin
Martin
He beat it like a baby seal while in Moab. It was a predictable outcome
But I’ve seen the sides of those do that before. Like the way it’s machined it too close so it grabs. Even seen flush mount do that if it’s sealed so fantastic that the aluminum breaks before the seal
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Torque king 4x4 has some good you tube videos on rebuilding transfer cases on you tube and they carry some parts that are hard to find elsewhere.
torqueking.com
torqueking.com
I was looking at torqueking last night. They have the little parts I need for the synchronizer. They also have the housing I need but they want $300 for a used one.
If I get lucky at a boneyard I could get a whole unit for that price.
As far as what broke that ear it was probably me just getting to rough on it, though that side was as far away from impact as one could get. Most of the time those break on 241’s from installing with the pump ears mis-aligned and sandwiched the pump between the two. Or overtorquing. Seeing as how Larry assembled it when we had to swap the 32 spline input back in I know it was put together right. I wouldn’t have made it 2 years if it was wrong.
Hell I could have broke it trying to get the housing off after I removed the bolts. I swear my son saw the crack prior to that though. I looked it over a lot from under the truck and never noticed that crack either nor did it have any sign of fluid leaking from that area.
Looking back at pics and what I remember we did have three small chunks of aluminum inside the main housing when we got it apart. There is a couple of areas on the rear bearing housing with raised ribs that index inside the large round opening of the rear case half. The little broken off chunks were from that raised rib. One of which would have been part of the corner that broke off.
I’m guessing the only way that housing should come off is by pulling straight up and away from the rear case half. If it is twisted or try to break the rtv seal by tapping to the side it would be a cause of it breaking.
I use a gasket scraper or a putty knife to cut through the rtv and then pry it open with thin chisel. Takes time but never breaks the case..
I learned the hard way so I broke one before.
I learned the hard way so I broke one before.
This is where the other two chunks came from. The lack of any sign of contamination from fluid pretty much tells me this happened when I took it apart for sure.
You can see the rib where it broke off from with the chunk that is missing from the housing.
Sucks I get to learn this way but it is what it is. Now I know better.
Sucks I get to learn this way but it is what it is. Now I know better.
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So are you still converting to SYE?
If not I have the tail housing from when we did the SYE on my Crawlabago you can have.
If not I have the tail housing from when we did the SYE on my Crawlabago you can have.
