Horrifying sound coming from my Bronco!!!

[chuzie]

So yesterday I was driving the Bronco to Chuck's house to do some work with the tie-rod over installation. Coming to a turn, I hit the brakes and heard what sounded like a heavy piece of metal getting thrown around in a thick metal container. I investigated further and noticed it occurred with moderate application of the brakes and sounded like it was coming from the transmission or transfer case.

I immediately thought I had lost either a torque converter (TC) bolt or bellhousing bolt and the TC or flywheel was kicking the bolt around in the bellhousing. I removed the inspection cover and accounted for all TC bolts and felt the bottom of the bellhousing in search of debris only to find nothing. We moved on to the transfer case and could find nothing wrong with the joints or the housing/mounting bolts.

After we finished the tie-rod over (more to come on that in another post) I drove home stumped and determined to investigate further the next day praying that I was not going to have to rebuild the transfer case. I drained it and pulled the inspection cover and the gears were all intact and there was surprisingly little wear on the metals. That was great, but now where was that horrible sound coming from?

I reinstalled the inspection cover on the transfer case and decided I was going to remove the drive shafts and inspect the input/output bearings.

For whatever reason, I felt the urge to take one last look and the transmission. Additional exterior inspection of the bellhousing produced the culprit. There was a hole in my housing!!!

It measured about 1"x.5". The surface material of the hole was fresh and the concave structure indicated it was created from the inside out. The location of this hole was at the 4 o'clock position on the bellhousing (front looking aft) just in front of where a bellhousing to transmission (C4) mounting bolt resides.

I used my dremel to widen the hole so I could get a better look inside for damage and potential loose parts.

I found that the mounting bolt had come completely out of its hole and each time I hit the brakes the bolt slid forward and the little nubs on the outer diameter of the TC threw the bolt into the bellhousing wall. The clearance was so tight that it would not allow the bolt to just fall to the bottom of the bellhousing so this kept occurring.

The TC was a little dinged from the impact but i saw no serious damage and I was able to fish the bolt out as well. I had to make a stop drill in the bellhousing as there was a crack propogating from the damage site.

At this point I am on the fence as to how I will proceed. I know I need to remove the tranny so i can reinstall that mounting bolt, but crap, what a pain for one bolt. Maybe I will let it ride for a bit until I get some motivation. If I remove the tranny to replace the bolt I will likely replace the bellhousing too.

Just wanted to share.