transfer box

[matt bristol]

N o doubt this has bene asked a million times before but here goes. The transfer box on my 95 300TDi seems quite noisy and has what I guess is a lot of slack. I currently have the front prop off and I can turn the output from the transfer box about a quarter of a turn before it stops/engages against the whatever is inside that makes it turn.

is this excessive or are they fairly agricultural and noisy bits of kit?

[cipx2]

That play is irrelevant for the noise you have.

Assuming the handbrake is on and the transfer box is in neutral and/or the gearbox is in neutral, the play/backlash you see that way is in the differential part of the transfer box and it can't be the cause/source of the noise when driving in a straight line.

Since you have the front prop off, do a test run like this (10-15 miles to heat up the oil in all the boxes and diffs a bit) and see if the noise is the same like with both props on.

Then repeat the same thing with the rear prop off and the front prop on.

While removing the rear prop for the last test and before reattaching the front prop, you can test the transfer box without the props attached (the oil in the TB should be at least warm, say 40-50 degrees, and difflock should be engaged). You can use the inertia to add a bit of load to the TB (repeatedly accelerate the engine) and/or use the handbrake (just don't do it at high speeds or for long periods of time - this won't make the handbrake happy anyway).

All these tests are for making sure the noise comes from transfer box (or gearbox) and not from the diffs or propshafts.

You can see a 'both props off test' (and handbrake removed in my case) I made not long ago on a noisy TB (noise coming from the gears in the reducing part of the TB) here:

[matt bristol]

Thanks for the reply, looks like I have a weekend under the disco. At least it will be nice to work on something other than the head for a change!