Tranny and transfer case help

[nysledge]

I am in the process of a low budget, little talent rebuild on my 74. Until yesterday, I thought that I was making pretty good progress. yesterday however a friend looked at both the tranny and transfer case and found that all of the gears inside were pitted. According to him, I am not far from having both of these units go. For those of you with more knowledge, what is my most cost effective move at this point? I would really hate to admit that this may stop the project for yet another year.
Looking for advice and suggestions.

 

[SHX669]

Obviously any pitting would weaken the gear . But the question is ; how much pitting and how much would it weaken it?
I'm willing to bet that most Broncos have pitted gears - somewhere .
Without seeing the extent of the pitting , my first thought is to put it together and DRIVE it untll you have a problem. -- IMHO
SHX

 

[Viperwolf1]

I am in the process of a low budget, little talent rebuild on my 74. Until yesterday, I thought that I was making pretty good progress. yesterday however a friend looked at both the tranny and transfer case and found that all of the gears inside were pitted. According to him, I am not far from having both of these units go. For those of you with more knowledge, what is my most cost effective move at this point? I would really hate to admit that this may stop the project for yet another year.
Looking for advice and suggestions.

Post some pictures of the gears. I can't see the gears getting pitted unless the boxes were filled with water.

 

[nysledge]

The tranny did have some water in it

 

[Hal9000]

I've seen pitting on gears in transmissions/T-cases/Diffs of a number of vehicles I've owned. Usually it was due to the vehicle sitting for years and condensation forming on the parts that weren't submerged in oil...

That being said, if the bearings are not pitted, you're probably safe. The surfaces will clean themselves up pretty quick and unless the damage is exceptionally severe you'll never have a problem. Just change the oil 50 miles or so after you start running it to get rid of all the muck that will come off the gears at the beginning.

 

[ep67bro]

My brother in law has a dana 30 in a jeep that was full of water and everything in it had quite a bit of rust on it we thought it may have been shot. But first we cleaned everything up as much as we could with out taking it apart. Put fresh oil in it. That was over a year ago the axle has a limited slip with 4.56 gears and 33s and he has crawled some rocks too. NO problems just changed the oil after a few miles to get rid of all the grit.

 

[nysledge]

It is starting to sound as though my friend was being a little too concerned with what he found

 

[Rockin69er]

my first thought is to put it together and DRIVE it untll you have a problem. -- IMHO
SHX

I bought an NP-435 from a good friend and put the adapter and my spare T-case on and installed it. AFTER the install was complete I thought to change the 90 wt in both the trans and t-case. When I pulled the plug about a gallon of water came out before the old oil I removed the top cover and it looked like someone had filled the case with liquid rust I decided it had to come out so I might as well try running it. Filled it up with fresh oil and started driving around town. IT SOUNDED HORRIBLE!!! Put about 50 miles on it and changed the oil, it was red. Changed the oil 3 times, the noise is gone and that was 4 years ago. I drive it to work everyday. I have a spare tranny now and I expect the first one to give up anytime but, so far so good.;D

 

[Stutsmo]

I agree.... I would put it in and try it.