Happy Birthday to Syclone #1853! April 18, 2001 is the 10th anniversary of the date it rolled off the line at PAS. Unfortunately, the swap isn’t done in time to celebrate, but there’s always next month’s 10th anniversary of the day it was sold…

April 14 - There’s a bracket on the transfer case that holds the fuel lines in place, and because the hard lines are attached to the transmission, the shop manual tells you to take ‘em loose at this point. Of course, the connection is lower than the level of gas in the almost-full tank, so I got doused with 6-month-old Premium before I could get a pan in place to catch it.

Like I said, almost full… The gas just kept slowly siphoning out of the tank, until I finally had a bright idea - I took the air hose and blew enough air into the end of the line to break the siphon. I wish I had thought of it 8 gallons sooner, though.

Wow, those fumes are strong… With the gas debacle resolved, I started getting busy with the transfer case. I found all 5 bolts that hold it to the transmission, but for some reason I just couldn’t get it to do more than wiggle and leak ATF. Finally, I gave up and went home to consult The List.

April 17 - Finally, the effects of breathing a nitrogen/oxygen/gasoline atmosphere all day have worn off. Thanks to the timely responses of many helpful SyTy Listers, I’ve found the problem. The brace that runs from the front of the transmission to the transfer case needs to be removed, too! Duh! In the back of my mind, I knew it was there, but due to my altered consciousness and unwillingness to mix a drop light and a pool of leaking gasoline on the 14th, I managed to overlook it. Just three bolts to remove, but the two on the transfer case end have to be accessed from the top, and the one near the front of the transmission is really long and has limited clearance for a socket wrench.

Did I mention that the two smaller bolts are 15mm, and the long one is 9/16? That was a fun mystery to solve… Anyway, with the brace loose, the transfer case rotates merrily around the transmission’s output shaft, with little leaks of ATF hinting at the fun in store.

There’s nothing quite like trying to lift a 40 pound transfer case off your hand while the transmission vomits ATF… Sorry I don’t have a picture of that for you. Anyway, here’s what it looks like once you drag it out from under the truck. That little white fitting is for the vent line you’ll forget to take loose before dropping the case on your hand, thus giving you the precious clearance you need to pull it free (your hand, that is).

Here’s the front end of the t-case. Not too interesting, but you can see the bracket on top where the Infamous Hidden Bracket mounts.

The shop manual ominously warns you that "every effort must be made" to keep this little ID tag on or with the transfer case if you ever hope to rebuild it. I’m not sure why that’s so, but I resisted the urge to defy authority and rip it loose anyway.

The last hour or so in the shop was spent cleaning up. The transmission displayed the physics-defying property of containing what seemed like two or three times its external volume in ATF, so massive doses of kitty litter were prescribed. I am cautiously optimistic, however, and believe that the transmission can’t spontaneously generate more than 20 additional gallons when I take it off.