While many vehicle owners may have never heard of them, a lot of four-wheel drive owners know all about transfer cases. These mechanisms, also known as the transfer gear box, transfer box, T-Case or jockey box, are a major component of the drive system for four wheel drive vehicles.
What Does a Transfer Case Do?
The T-Case takes in the power from the transmission and distributes it between the front and rear axles of the vehicle. Sometimes the driver can select if the transfer box is going to send power to both the front and rear axles or to one axle only (four-wheel drive versus two-wheel drive mode) and in some instances transfer cases are automatically locked into four wheel mode.
Types of Transfer Cases
In terms of drive systems, transfer cases can be gear driven or chain driven. Gear driven transfer gear boxes are usually stronger and heavier, and are popular in larger trucks. Chain driven units are smaller and quieter, and tend to be popular in compact pickup trucks and other smaller vehicles. Transfer cases can be “married” or connected to the transmission, or they can be “divorced” or separated from the transmission. They also come in either manual shift on the fly or electronic shift on the fly, which affects how the driver can change between two wheel drive and the high and low gear ratios of four wheel drive.
What Happens When a Transfer Case Fails?
When transfer cases fail, it’s generally bad news. At the very least, you’re going to find it hard to shift into four wheel drive mode. Eventually, you will lose the ability to use four wheel drive mode at all. If you continue to drive with a damaged transfer case, you can damage the drive shaft and find that your vehicle will not move at all in any mode. You will be aware that your T-Case is failing because you will hear ominous grinding noises from gears or hissing sounds from leaking vacuum hoses or you may see transmission fluid leaking from the box. In any of these cases, it’s best to get the vehicle checked out before the problem gets worse.
If you suspect problems with your transfer case, get it checked out today by the experts at Trannyman.net. Also, you can see BBB accredited business reviews of Trans Works Transmissions before entering our shop.
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