Re: What is the best way to test the TC?
http://www.syty.net/forums/showpost.php?p=623336&postcount=26
There's just ONE of dozens and dozens of posts on the T-case made by DaveP over the years. Rather disingenuous of you to say "no one has ever explained how it works before...". And that in a nutshell is why he deletes his posts. No one seems to read or learn from them in the first place while the thread is fresh, much less search for them later. So it doesn't matter if they get deleted. Keeps his post-count low. He will never be accused of being a post-whore. And DaveP
does know how these T-cases work. But as evidenced by the above "no one has ever..." the expertise, and attempt to educate, seems to have gone unnoticed.
I'm curious: How many of these T-cases have you owned, and / or opened up and worked on? How many vicious clutches have you checked by getting under the truck and pulling on a bar? I'm not bagging on you, for the most part your explanation is pretty good. There's just a bit of hesitance that hints at a lack of hands-on experience.
I currently own 3 vehichles with BW4471 T-cases. I have owned three others in the past. I've had at least 6 of these apart, and have tugged on well over 50 V-clutches while installed in the case, or in the truck. At a SyTy gathering in SoCal in 1998 I rolled my jack under 15 SyTys in attendance, and checked the resistance of each V-clutch. After that exercise, I have a pretty good idea of what a 'normal' v-clutch "feels" like. It's just hard to convey that experience in a post. But over the years I've tried.
It's discouraging to read that people don't learn much from the attempts to transfer this knowledge. Especially given the time, effort, and sincerity with which it is offered. I accept that this is a failure of my teaching ability and skill. My participation is now greatly reduced from former levels, and under an alias as well, but I'll still try from time to time.
Anonymous SyTy Peep
Maybe its disingenuous or maybe more correctly, I'm just flat out wrong.
What should have been stated is "Nobody has taken the time to explain what's going on in there, and the function of those bits, and made it a sticky at the top of this section". I've been surfing this board for a couple years now (looks like 6yrs actually), and I know that up until probably 6 months or so I couldn't have told you exactly how the darned thing worked (correctly at least). Maybe that means this mechanical engineer is just slow, I certainly know I'm silly but that's another matter.
And you're right, DaveP explained it some then (6 mos ago or so), and I've looked at the exploded views posted by George Blake (when he was selling the billet planetaries) and I figured out for myself what / how it was doing what it does.
There's a couple of basic problems here:
1.) One guy with knowledge shares it, and then goes back and deletes half of his posts. That's not all that useful. Means that if you search for something you come up with a bunch of threads that don't make any sense 'cause half the stuff is deleted. It just makes things that much harder to comprehend. Making dozens and dozens of posts and then deleting some of them, means that he may as well have not posted half of them in the first place. If you don't learn from history, you're bound to repeat it. And we're repeating it, again and again, as evidenced by the fact that owners are still asking questions about "how do you test the tcase" or "can I dyno test with the front propshaft removed"?
2.) Problem # 2 is that there isn't a sticky in this section that explains how the darn thing works. That novel concept might just eliminate a bunch of confusion, and the need for this discussion. Not sure how to get a useful sticky created, just pointing out that there seems to be a need (this thread is a prime example)
I can say without any hesitation, that I don't own one of these transfer cases, nor do I own a Sy or Ty, so it's a bit harder to slide under them and tinker. I originally started researching on here to learn about the BW4472 tcase / AWD systems in these trucks in preparation for a project of my own. What I found is that there was some information, but by and large it seemed most owners treated it as a black box. Ultimately, I ended up building a truck that didn't utilize the BW4472. Why? Because at the time, the only 4L80E solution (which is what I wanted to use) involved tearing the trans apart and replacing the output shaft for a cut down resplined unit (obviously that problem has since been resolved with custom tcase parts available from a couple sources). I wasn't willing to do that, since the NV146 / 246 was an easier solution (bolts in / compatible with the electronics in my truck / etc) with similar costs.
That said, I actually have a project in mind that will use the BW4472. Haven't figured out whether I will be able to use it as 32 spline or not, but that will depend upon the T56 trans I want to put ahead of it and the SSR T56 output shaft to make it happen (which is rumored to be slightly oversize relative to a standard 32 spline shaft). And thanks to this board, I know that 32 spline bits are available (at least this week) and that while a T56 doesn't mate up using factory pieces, it is possible (Robert Lone's truck as an example) to make it happen.
I appreciate you being on here, and sharing what you know, because its how we all learn. Don't knock yourself about not teaching well, just the act of sharing is teaching. The take away from this is that the drivetrain section really ought to have a sticky about the tcases and the answers to commonly asked questions. I'm not sure who has the time and information to create such a thing, I guess that's why we don't have one.
Hope you have a great day, keep sharing, and hope there aren't any hard feelings.
'JustDreamin'
:roll:
