Spicer 18

churchy

Bigger Hammer
Oct 16, 2012
92
Woodland, WA
First Name
Adam
Willys Model
  1. Wagon
Willys Year:
  1. 1956
I rebuilt my spicer 18 transfercase a while back. Finally got my 64 cj5 out of the drive way for the first time in a long time and noticed my front drive line spinning. Hi/neutral/Lo shifter works. It seems like the shift rod for the engage/disengage slides back and fouth, i can feel the poppet ball working the notches, but cant get the front drive line to stop spinning while driving. The hubs are unlocked. Could it be that I just didnt get a shift fork tight enough? Any other suggestions? Think I can just pop the transfercase bottom cover and fix the problem?
 
Jack up a front wheel and spin the driveshaft by hand. That will tell you what is going on. Maybe a locking hub is malfunctioning. The Spicer 18 is kind of a fail safe system if it's assembled right.
diggerG
 
Digger, I was hoping for a response from you. Thank you! With a front wheel up and the engage/disengage shift rod pushed to the rear of the transfercase, the front drive line spins freely by hand but when driving, still spins. Fast, slow depending on the speed I'm going. Is this normal? With a front wheel up and the engage/disengage shift rod pushed to the front of the jeep, the front and rear drive lines seem locked.
I used to use this jeep as a daily driver but its been so long I cant recall exactly what spun when. I suppose your key words are "assembled right".
 
I popped my front differential cover and discovered no oil. Woops. I replaced the spider gears many years ago. I was able to spin the front drive shaft by hand and check the gears. No obvious teeth defects. Im going to seal it back up, put oil in the diff and enjoy as is...or until something breaks. Going to have to pull the front and rear axles at some point to at least redo seals.
 
Huh, put some oil in the front diff and front drive line stopped spinning. Go figure...
 
That means the transfer case HAS oil. The sloshing was torquing the driveshaft into spinning some so that is what you saw. The extra friction in the front axle with actual gear oil stopped the driveshaft. You Win! I'm jealous!
diggerG
 
Well, at least you fessed-up to the 'no-oil' glitch. And when you mentioned the front drive shaft spinning, I remember that sometimes front drivelines will maybe spin slow while going down the road with everything disengaged.

Back in 1996 I had just rebuilt a Ford 400M engine and installed into a '77 Crewcab pickup. I fired up the engine and waited about 6-seconds for the oil pressure to jump to life on the gauge. Nothing ! So I shut off the engine and went to step down onto the shop floor. Below me was a large puddle of oil. Great-Scott !! _ _ _ what a mess. I had forgot to install the spin-on oil filter cartridge. Dumb-me.
But, as I tell the wife, if we don't ever do anything, we will never make mistakes.

Maybe there is something to be said for checking fluid levels on a regular basis. "preventative" maintenance.
 
Ha. Good one Greaser! Ya, if its stupid and in my realm I've done it or will do it. I just try not to do it twice...mostly.
 
Well, at least you fessed-up to the 'no-oil' glitch. And when you mentioned the front drive shaft spinning, I remember that sometimes front drivelines will maybe spin slow while going down the road with everything disengaged.


But, as I tell the wife, if we don't ever do anything, we will never make mistakes.


I prefer Wayne Gretszki's comment : "You never make the shots you don't take."
 
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