ok soo my buddy buys a lifted 4 door built by BDS and he's comming down US23 about 30k miles later and his t-case detonates. now its not a rubi but i'm wondering if i should put a rubi t-case back in or if i'll have any problems doing that?? i know the 4 to 1 low is nice to have but is it much stronger?? and i dont think he wants to spend atlas $$... suggestions??
I would go rubicon or atlas.....the rubicon is stronger then the other models, basically bulletproof. If he does rock crawling then get the 4:1 ratio at the very least.
Ive never seen any JK T-case blow up like that, wonder what happened.....
Wow, that’s one hell of an explosion. As far as the Rubi transfer case being stronger than a non-Rubi goes, yes the Rubicon case is a whole lot stronger.
yeah its pretty nuts, I'll put up more pics when i get it out of the jeep. cause that's not the only place its cracked. i have a feeling that its going to come out in 3 or more pieces...
soo this should be fun.... found a dual shift atlas made for a turbo 350 for $1500, advanced adapters makes an adapter to go from turbo 350 to factory 3.8l trans, go figure. so its getting over nighted and i should have every sat. i'll post more pics on the install and what have ya. but on that note its sleepy time.
Wow, that’s one hell of an explosion. As far as the Rubi transfer case being stronger than a non-Rubi goes, yes the Rubicon case is a whole lot stronger.
I'm gonna have to second this question. As far as I know the actual outer case of the rubicon tcase isn't any different that the non-rubi case. So aside form the gear ratio being different I'm about 98% sure there's no real strength advantage of one over the other.
Most tcase failures in jk's w/ larger lifts are due to cyclic fatigue of the aluminum in the transfer case housing caused by driveline vibrations. The vibrating of the driveshaft causes the material to fatigue, stress crack, and then eventually fail. Resulting in something much like the picture above.
It happens in other jeeps as well, I've seen it first hand (at highway speed at that). Moral of the story is don't ingore driveline vibes associated with un- balanced driveshafts, bad ujoints, crappy pinion angles, etc.
i may be reading this wrong... only had one cup of coffee today, but was the transfer case engaged in 4wd whil you were on the highway? The front drive shaft doesnt spin if not engaged does it?
When getting the adapter make sure to check out the input shaft spline count and length required when using the adapter. Some of my group have made a similar change and ended up needing a new t-case input shaft to make the input shaft mate with the 3.8 and the extra length of the adapter...just my 2 cents. Advance Adapters can help with all of this.
ditto on the DS vibration problem esp if the pinion angles on stock DS were not corrected at a higher lift (looks like about 3 to 4 in from the phots).
what kills me about all of this is that BDS bought this jeep new and built it and it only has like 30k miles on it and their going to do nothing to help him out. @ RpckyClymer i'm not sure on what size lift it has but i know its a BDS LA possibly a custom lift on a 37-13.50 i'll get all the details on it this week end when i get on it.
That's why I don't buy vehicles that weren't lifted by me Even if it was lifted by a lift manufacture, you don't know what the vehicle has been put through.
I had a "Rubi" transfer case explode too. I was driving 80 mph when it decided to play grenade! The shop said that it was the front drive shaft that was too long. I had just put the new drive-shafts in 2 weeks before. I was out of town & the dealership was real good about everything. They even called Chrysler to see if there was any way that they could pay for it. Chrysler had them measure the drive-shaft 2 different ways to see if they could pay for it; but it was too long both ways. This was the Jeep Avondale shop in Phoenix. They paid for my towing & gave me a free Jeep Liberty to drive for the week it took to get it all fixed. Good shop IMHO. So, when buying custom drive-shafts, be sure to measure it right.
When it exploded, I could see parts flying everywhere in the rear view mirror. And I could see the weeds burning by the side of the road. I called 911 & my wife ran back & put the fire out (4 ft & 20 ft burned out by then). The highway patrol was real nice & sat and talked about the Jeep until the tow truck got there.
So, I was looking at new driveshafts, but am wondering if I should leave them as the weak point. I think I rather drive home on one driveshaft than explode a transfer case or axle.
So, I was looking at new driveshafts, but am wondering if I should leave them as the weak point. I think I rather drive home on one driveshaft than explode a transfer case or axle.
I wouldn't leave the stock ones. I had one of those die.
If you buy a custom one, just read the instructions carefully. I didn't do that. And, ask questions with the vendor you are buying it from. Good vendors like to talk to folks so that the right part is ordered and the right length.
Oh, and when you bang down on the drive-shaft on a rock, it may need straightening and rebalancing. Good vendors do that too.
Sorry it took soo long to update on why this actually happened. The death wobble was soo bad In this jeep that it caused the dual u-joint in the front drive shaft to explode In turn causing the t-case to detonate. I ended up replacing all of the link bushings front and rear, upper and lower ball joints and installed a dual steering damper as a posed to the single that was in it. Tom woods warranted the drive shaft but I was unable to put the atlas in because it was clocked wrong and installed a rubi instead. Good as new.
That's caused by un-corrected front driveline angle and the resulting vibration. Need to correct that when installing another t-case. The Rubi cases aren't any stronger than that one where the issue noted is concewrned.
FWIW, rather than jack around with another chain drive case, I'd just get an Atlas II and be done with it.
I think that lifting Jk 3.5+ or having drop of more than 5" puts the stock drive shaft in risk of getting out of its happy zone. Or in the case of a user using a double cardan joint and not adusting the pinion angle to be in plane with the drive shaft. Trouble is in a Jeep the front axle to be at the high an angle makes castor about 0 or negitive. also puts every mounting point in a bind. What should be done is the use of a Multi double cardan jointed front drive shaft(4 U joints). Cost more but it is the RIGHT way to go for a high lift Jeep that sees freeway speed. these are used in Land rover and GC.
I went manual hubs (Spyntec). No more issues. Complex, expensive because it requires a switch to 5x5.5" wheels and neew rer axle shafts. The latter's not a bad idea anyway, so you kill two birds. Benefits are much improved driving dynamics on highway, and the usual list of benefits off road. Caost would be same if I'd swapped out the front housing for a PR44. However, I'd already installed Pro Steer ball joints and sleeved & gussted the axle housing. Good to go.
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