I guess I better think hard about that question. I was wondering if anyone has any ballpark idea on what it costs to have a professional break into the transfer case and fix whatever goes wrong in them.

I bought this POS a year ago after my 1994 S-10 Blazer with 211,000 miles blew a head gasket. I enjoyed that truck for 8 years. It required some work from time to time, but not like this junker at 80K miles. My first experience with the S-10 Blazer was the '83 I bought new and kept for 8 years. This '02 has a failed transfer case with only 80K miles.

I am really disappointed with what Chevy did to the later Blazers. Plastic, cheap, unreliable, and way too much catering to soccer moms.

No wonder GM needed a bail out.

 

I think you are being a little unfair due to your present circumstances. You bought a used vehicle with no idea what the previous owner(s) had done to it... A careless owner or two can ruin any vehicle!

 

I understand your point. However, the only car I have ever bought new was the '83 Blazer-the rest have been used, and I shop the car and the owner carefully. I know enough to be careful about what I buy and who I buy it from. If this car was so badly abused, I would have seen it in other areas.

However, every '02 Blazer I looked at has the same amount of cheap plastic, unnecessary gentrification (pushbutton FWD for instance, not a good old lever), and soccer mom type accessorization.

There is one maintenance item in the Chevy owner’s manual relating to the transfer case-change the fluid after 50K miles. In my experience transfer cases are pretty bullet-proof. I have never seen a transfer case with only 80K miles fail in my 35+ years of driving, owning and working on 4wd vehicles, and pretty serious off-roading. Have you?

Yes, perhaps I am feeling the sting of my transfer case failing. You are right, a careless owner or two can ruin any vehicle, but that abuse is typically pretty apparent in other areas. I think Chevy’s quality went down in this case, and that is the most relevant factor.

 

you know, if you have your location info included in your rpofile, it makes it easier for fellow members to offer assistance or parts.



while i can feel your pain in having a new-to-you ride suffer a catastrophic failure, i agree with Kyle that you're painting the whole fleet with the same brush.

hopefully a fellow member can offer up some local assistance to you. be it a good, reliable & relatively inexpensive shop for a rebuild, or simply having a spare t-case available for sale.

 

Point taken, even though the forum title indicated Denver. I have updated my profile. Thanks for the reminder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by old skool luvr

while i can feel your pain in having a new-to-you ride suffer a catastrophic failure, i agree with Kyle that you're painting the whole fleet with the same brush

I understand your point. Having owned Blazers since 1983, I am familiar with the evolution of the Blazers and I feel Chevrolet added too much fluff at the expense of reliability. I guess we can agree to disagree on that one.

Hopefully someone will offer up a reference to a reliable shop or used parts supplier.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I think you are correct, if you have it in 4H, you should not be able to rotate the driveshaft in Park, and rotating one front wheel should cause the other to turn in the opposite direction if both axles are engaged and the driveshaft is not rotating. If the RF axle is not engaged, then you should be able to rotate that tire without turning the LF tire or driveshaft.

My understanding is that the LF axle is always engaged, but the RF is only engaged when the vacuum actuator receives vacuum and the cable is pulled. Did you replace the vacuum switch, not the Encoder Motor? Or did you replace the electric connector on the Encoder Motor?

 

glad to help out. but you're right, i didn't notice where you said you were. that's the problem when you scroll up from the last post to read the OP, you miss the very top without noticing.


while i've owned quite a few S-series Jimmy/Blazer/Dime's over the last 15 years (something like 8), this is my first 2nd gen. while i absolutely hate-i repeat hate-all of the electronics that drive us nuts with their idiosyncrasies, i must say i've gotten lucky with it. i've yet to experience any of the "typical" issues that seem to cover the forum, and am actually impressed that it stands up to the abuse i inflict upon her.

although i'm much nicer to this one, than i ever was to my '92 Jimmy, it still does everything i ask of it.


damn............i think i might've just shot myself in the foot with that comment.

 

let us know how you solved the problem,i would cut off vaccum and check the wire release at front end diff for gas and risk of tearing down fr axel

 

what?!!

 

Thanks again all for your help. I ended up buying a used 233C from a local used transmission/transfer case vendor. $120 plus seals and fluid and I am in business for $160! After cleaning the replacement case and installing the new seals, it took about 4 hours to do the swap. 2H, 4H, and 4L all work great. The job isn't too terrible, I guess the worst part is adding the fluid with the case installed attempting to avoid leakage. Avoiding leakage was futile. Oh well, the job is done and I did it cheap.

Thanks again all.

 

Hey DoubleD, if you still have the old T-case you might consider tearing into it to see whats up. It good experience, T-cases are painfully easy to rebuild, and well, it's just fun sometimes to rip something apart that was giving you fits!