Chevy Duramax 2500 transfer case failure

[Jim Edwards]

I have had a 2001 Chevy 2500 Duramax 4x4 for about 3 years. It has about 86,000 miles on it. I was pulling a 6x12 trailer that with its contents weighs about 2500 pounds. I was going about 55 mph and the transfer case simply disintegrated. I had it towed to a dealer and they said the transfer case was full of metal pieces. I have never towed anything heavy and rarely towed even this trailer. I am told the warranty covers the engine for 100,000 miles but not the drivetrain. So I guess I'm out of luck---to the tune of $2500.00 for the repairs. (Plus I was on a trip and had other major expenses in getting home.) It seems to me that a transfer case should not simply fail at that sort of mileage and that GM should cover such a problem. Anyone else have any light to add on this kind of thing?

[casket_demon]

Did you ever put in 4WD during the 3 years and 86,000 miles?

[327]

You arent supposed to tow or drive in 4wd unless there is mud,snow or slick conditions.

[shadams]

No it should not happen, but it can and does. Things break. It's no good when they do, but your truck is beyond GM's warranty. You have the opportunity to by extended coverage for this sort of thing, but apparently didnt. Sorry.

[69Chevy]

I just put a new t-case in an 05 Duramax with less then 50,000 miles last week. They did use it for towing however. Luckily they had an extended warranty which covered everything but a $100 deductable. I think it came to around $1800. But puttin that much torque from a Duramax through any transfer case has to take it's toll on parts.

[Jim Edwards]

Only occasionally, and never towed anything while in 4WD.

[Jim Edwards]

I never pulled anything with it while in 4WD that I know of. And never drove it in 4WD on non-slippery roads that I know of. Are you implying that the the fact the transfer case failed means that I must have been driving it in 4WD. Maybe it somehow was put in it and I didn't notice. But I think I would have felt it. As you know you can really feel that when turning on dry roads.

[Jim Edwards]

I understand that mechanical things will fail sometimes. But it just seems that a transfer case shouldn't fail at this kind of mileage. Unfortunately I have to say that in general my experience with reliability in the well-known makes of American vehicles compared to many foreign ones I have had is not good. And from what I have read the consumer record for them is not as good. Perhaps this is why they are having a hard time competing and are in financial trouble? I think it unlikely that I will be buying the American makes again.

[redlipp]

Originally Posted by Jim Edwards

I understand that mechanical things will fail sometimes. But it just seems that a transfer case shouldn't fail at this kind of mileage. Unfortunately I have to say that in general my experience with reliability in the well-known makes of American vehicles compared to many foreign ones I have had is not good. And from what I have read the consumer record for them is not as good. Perhaps this is why they are having a hard time competing and are in financial trouble? I think it unlikely that I will be buying the American makes again.

Jim Edwards, next time you're out driving around go to your local toyota,honda,nissan store, find out where the service area is, next go out behind the service area, what do you think you will see? i would imagine, broken down honda,toyota,nissan vehicles, and to take it to another level, go to one of the service fellows and tell them that you have a friend with a vehicle with 80k miles on it, and tell them the transfer case just shelled and you want to know if they will be willing to fix it at no cost. what response do you think that you will get? i would imagine the same one you got at your gm dealership. i am sorry, do you have an extended warranty? i am sorry it happend to you, but sht happens, it just happened to be your turn this time and i very seriously doubt whether it would have mattered what manufacturer it was, the only thing that could have saved you this time was if you were a loyal customer of a dealership and you were doing your maintenance with them a good service mgr could possibly pull some strings with gm to help you out but that kind of service is reserved for only the most loyal customers.

[softail02]

I have also an 01 Duramax and my transfer case went last spring @ 78K we do tow with the truck a few times a year long tows with a boat but nothing a truck like this should not be able to handle. Well when the truck was at the dealer my brother called GM and in turn they called the dealer as asked about the truck condition.. GM cal my brother back and told him they will send a new unit to the dealer and we need to work out the installation with them.. total bill $326... thumbs up GM 38K out and they still stepped up. Not like my Nissan 1200 miles out the shifter went they said sorry please pay us $800 for a new one. SHIFTER in a Auto car.....POS never again buying from the land on the other side of the water... New LTZ Tahoe will be replacing the Maruno next week

[shadams]

Originally Posted by softail02

I have also an 01 Duramax and my transfer case went last spring @ 78K we do tow with the truck a few times a year long tows with a boat but nothing a truck like this should not be able to handle. Well when the truck was at the dealer my brother called GM and in turn they called the dealer as asked about the truck condition.. GM cal my brother back and told him they will send a new unit to the dealer and we need to work out the installation with them.. total bill $326... thumbs up GM 38K out and they still stepped up. Not like my Nissan 1200 miles out the shifter went they said sorry please pay us $800 for a new one. SHIFTER in a Auto car.....POS never again buying from the land on the other side of the water... New LTZ Tahoe will be replacing the Maruno next week

Perfect example of what can happen when you get hooked up with the right folks.

[SnapOversteer]

Originally Posted by 327

You arent supposed to tow or drive in 4wd unless there is mud,snow or slick conditions.

You can drive in a straight line in 4WD (it's actually recommended for 20 minutes once a month). Part-time 4WD binds up when turning because of the lack of a center differential to properly handle torque, so it needs slippage on one or more wheels to compensate.

[GMCdriver]

Originally Posted by Jim Edwards

I understand that mechanical things will fail sometimes. But it just seems that a transfer case shouldn't fail at this kind of mileage. Unfortunately I have to say that in general my experience with reliability in the well-known makes of American vehicles compared to many foreign ones I have had is not good. And from what I have read the consumer record for them is not as good. Perhaps this is why they are having a hard time competing and are in financial trouble? I think it unlikely that I will be buying the American makes again.

That's what you get for buying domestic.
You should have bought Honda's or Toyota's 3/4 ton diesel instead of one from Detroit.

[OKsweetrides]

I find it rather odd that you had a t-case failure.
They are ridiculously stout units. To the tune of 2000ft. lbs. input torque.

You had a freak occurence, and I'm still mystified that it grenaded like that without actually being engaged. I've abused my drivetrain far more than you can imagine and it hasn't balked once.

If you don't like American, go have fun with a toy truck; oh wait... they don't have anything in this league... and they never will (it's out of toyota's fantasy land of pulling cloth over sheeple, same with Nissan)

It pays to be cool with service departments.

[bsnowman]

You may be interested to know that almost all transfer cases are made by the same manufacturer (used to be New Venture Gear - now Magna Powertrain), check out the website http://www.magnadrivetrain.com/ have a look at the the customers and references. Your GM diesel is made by Isuzu, your transmission is made by Allison, there are many components that are all American but there are some that are bought by GM and installed on your truck; just like the japanese vehicles; manufacturers are buying components from companies who specialize in certain components, there is competition to provide a quality product at a competitive price. No company is exempt from this reality now, many of the cars and trucks available for sale today share the exact same components (engines, transmissions, transfer cases, electronics, etc) and have different brand names stuck to the tailgates.
A lot of things can happen to driveline components in 86,000 miles and other than GM no one still has a factory warranty that will cover a truck driveline for that distance, not Toyota or Nissan (Who only make very light duty trucks).
Was this transfer case ever checked to see the condition of the oil that was inside it? How was it used for the first 4 years of its life (Before you bought it)? Has it ever been serviced? It could have been one piece of metal that started a chain reaction, the gears and chain in the transfer case have extremely tight tolerances, if a small piece of metal get between these parts something has to give, a piece of hardened steel from the gears would go through the softer metal of the casing very easily if it was pushed by another spinning gear. If you think that japanese equipment is failproof check with people in the heavy duty equipment business and ask them about the maintenance required to keep those machines running, even with the heaviest equipment failures happen, doesn't matter if its Japanese, European, or American but nothing makes equipment last longer than proper maintenance.