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Well folks, I'd hoped to drive my M up to work for the first time this evening before tackling the PTO install. Not going to happen: dropped the transfer case drain plug in order to add some thread tape, heard a hearty "clunk clunk", went fishing and came up with 12 needle bearings and metal chips = toast. Fortunately I picked up a serviceable spare last year, in anticipation of this scenario.

Now, where's my impact wrench?!
Gary

OUCH!

Hey, at least I found it at home instead of blowing up on the road....

Bummer, never fun to "make metal". Glad to hear you have a spare you can service and then swap out. Didn't I borrow your impact?

Gary,
Like you said, at least you found this out before hitting the road. Makes it allot easier to deal with.
If you can't find your impact gun, feel free to swing by this weekend and I'll let you borrow one of mine.

Bert

Just curious, are you planning to rebuild the spare first, or just put it in and rebuild the one that's broke?

Looks like the bearing rollers between the front and rear shafts. The large gear in the rear housings have a recess where these rollers go into to support the front shafts rear end. If your bearings have came out it could be as easy as the wire retainer in the large gears recess has come out or you have huge amounts of end float between shafts that lets them separate enough to drop the rollers, or the upper and lower output shafts as they are called have their support bearing ends worn down quite a bit. I have rebuild three cases where the shaft ends have worn down, one due to lack of oil and the others due to prolonged use in low range. You can get new shafts and gears for all the drive ends. The gears are available from VPW and the shafts are available from Surplus city Jeeps. I just bought two of these upper shafts. Bearing kits are available for around $250 or so. The job is a great winter project as well.

Thanks guys! Warren, this one was rebuilt and doesn't have a lot of wear on the rebuild (just some weepy seals) so it's going in as is. Achiem, I've never rebuilt a gearbox of any kind so rebuilding this one isn't a big priority right now.

What IS the priority is installing the serviceable unit-I dropped the old T-case out this afternoon-took an hour and a half, and I used a pair of 2x4s to glide/slide it down, and it worked like a charm. Of course I had to swap the yokes as the replacement case has a different style. Unfortunately I had no lift for installing the replacement so I sprung for a combo transmission jack/floor jack from Pep Boys this evening with about 18 inches of lift and will support 4,000 lbs.
The install is scheduled for Monday, as the snow has begun and my wife and I are off for the weekend.
More to follow,
Gary

Well I hung the replacement T-Case today, and should have blocked up the front with a 2x4 so the angle would be correct, but I was still able to get it hung and bolted in. Still have to hook up all the linkages and such; also need to add a speedy-sleeve to the bottom yoke-leaking like a sieve which it did not do before I swapped the drive flanges.
More to follow,
Gary

Glad you got it in. One thing I've been finding in my last 2 months of ownership, fixing one thing usually leads to a need to fix several more.

Yep, sure does-with every sub-project I've tackled.
Gary

Well today I buttoned up all of the linkages, speedo cable and the front-side drive shafts; also ordered the Speedy Sleeve and another seal for the rear yoke gusher. I"ll take pictures of the seal removal next week and post them because I know it's a hot topic and seems to be difficult for some of our forum members.
More to follow,
Gary