Since it seems that Mike and I are the only ones who didn't pay to get it installed. We thought we would share with everyone how to do it yourself.

First off we removed the torsion bars and the crossmember which holds the rear of the torsion bars as well as the exhaust hanger right behind the cross member. Disconnect all electrical hook ups to the t-case and drain Both the t-case and transmission.

Next we removed the front and rear drivelines and removed the shifter linkage to the t-case.



Then get the smallest transmission jack you can buy or rent under the t-case and begin removing all the bolts where the t-case meets the transmission. The top four bolts have to be removed from above by lifting the shifter boot housing in the interior. After all the bolts are free get a long screw driver and a rubber mallet and break the case loose from the transmission. The transmission jack is very handy since the case is heavy and not easy to balance.



Once you get the t-case out you can finally start using the Calmini instructions. The directions skipped a few small steps but its pretty easy to tell what bolts need to be removed on the back half of the case. The pictures with the instructions are great in guiding you along.
Place the T-case on the floor and start removing the housing bolts and popping the seals. be careful not to damage the input shaft, a thick blanket or styrofoam padding on the ground is good.



Once the t-case is apart the directions tell you what needs to be removed and which parts of the case need to be ground down. You have to reuse the some of the bearings and install one new bearing. Here is what the new 4lo gear looks like with the bearings pressed on.


Using paper plates or bins or what have you. Mark with an ink pen wher the bolts came from. We took digital pictures of each step so we could retrace our steps if we felt we were in error.



There are a lot of small parts in the case, the neutral check balls are easy to lose so be careful and take your time when dealing with them inside of the t-case.



Install the new gears, bearings, and housing shim. Reassemble the housing using plenty of the supplied RTV sealer.

We decided to let the RTV sealer dry overnight to insure we had a good no drip t-case. Then reinstall the case and reassemble the truck. Fill the t-case with the supplied gear oil and refill the transmission. You are now done. Time for BEER!!


The gears are expensive, but they are worth it the first time you get it in 4lo. The gear reductions will blow your mind!! 4lo 1st gear at 3500rpm is about 2mph.

4Hi is completley unchanged.

A complete set of quality hand tools, a grindin/cutting tool, lots of swearing, and a few mechanically inclined buddies are all ya need to do this in your garage. The only thing that most people don't have is a bearing press which can be found at dealerships and machine shops. Usual labor rate is about $40 for them to press the bearings.

Nice write-up. (and I'm jealous! )

Ian - might be a good one for the "Reviews" section, eh?

I'm working on mine.

Nice work guys. Although I pulled the t-case myself (btw, I highly suggest a 2nd pair of hands), I was too chicken to crack the case and install the gears.

You forgot to tell everyone why there are towels all over the floor. "Uh, did the directions say to empty the transmission first? "

And where's the picture I took of you balancing the transfer case on your head? J/K!

Good stuff yeah of the owners I know I would say about 1/3rd of them have done this job in house.

Would be nice to have a better crawl ratio but with a auto & toque converter I can get by considering the X is my backup vehicle when I want to get into the crazy stuff anyway.

BTW you may want to lube that front shaft (marine grease works well) rust is not your friend, doesn't look like you ever put in a grease fitting to replace that set screw?

We tried to find a zerk that fit in it but couldn't? It wasn't a 6mm or an 8mm? Can you tell us?

Thanks!

Rick, to grease the front drive shaft you will need this fitting for your grease gun:



Just remove the bolt, add grease and put the bolt back. My drive shaft was bone dry when I went to grease it at 50k on the odo.

The bolt on the front drive shaft is a zerk fitting, it's a needle style. It is not designed to be removed.

Don't worry, I personally made sure that the driveshaft got greased. Probably about time to do mine again.

Ian; you must have soemthing different than we do? Ours just have a little screw that comes out and I use one of the rubber fittings like Huey to get grease in. Never have been able to figure out how to poke a needle through a steel screw?

Yeah, what he said!

got a set sitting on my floor right now. Don't have the tools do do it myselft tho. Can't wait to get them in.

Hmmm...maybe it's a build date thing.
I have what looks like a small hex bolt head that is slightly concave. It was covered with undercarriage protection paint & when I scraped it off, there was a small spring-loaded steel ball in the middle that could be pushed in for greasing.
Interesting I guess.

Hmmm, I haven't seen one like that. All those I've seen just have a regular screw.

I've looked at various years, and they have the zerk. Look at the backside of the bolt, if it has a hole in it, it's a zerk.

I'm fairly sure I've a bolt with no hole in it. It's been a while since I last looked at it, but I remember it being solid.

Yes same here my square set type bolt was totally solid, no hole what so ever and I've seen at least three of them on 2K's that are exactly the same.

I replaced the bolt w / a grease fitting years ago ~ 10k when I noticed the shaft was dry and I re lube every once in a while. Much easier than removing the bolt each time, I can take a measurement of the bolt size if needed but I don't think I used a metric size one since I know the zerk fitting kit I have is all standard sized.

Excuse my ignorance, but why does the front driveshaft need to be lubed anyway? Besides sliding in/out, what moving parts does it have?

I've wondered why it's designed to slide in/out, too, since the IFS and front diff is pretty much a fixed distance to the t-case.

I agree, they are pretty much fixed in relation to each other, but there's still some potential for a little movement and it's better to let a slip yoke absorb that than have bearings stressed.

Brent

Hmm. Following that line of logic, why does the rear driveshaft not require lubing? More specifically, why is there no slip-yoke on it? It seems to me that the rear driveshaft has more potential to stress bearings than the front...

The front diff is rubber mounted, so the drive shaft needs to adjust to that movement.

The rear drive shaft slides in and out of the transfer case via a slip-yoke.

Yup, you can pull the driveshaft right out of the t-case once it is unbolted from the diff flange.
Calmini is working on a slip-yoke eliminator for the Nissan t-case, putting a fixed flange in place instead and allowing for a driveshaft with a built-in slip-yoke to be utilized instead for those that modify their suspensions to the point that the t-case slip yoke would not be enough slip to keep it from dropping out.

Brent

That also allows you to drive home without a rear driveshaft if you manage to break one.

How did this get so off topic??? I was looking for anyone else who had done the gear change themsleves and what difficulty they had.

Can the moderators get rid of all this driveshaft stuff?

Thanks!

Rick -
Yes, the drive shaft posts were a bit off the original topic, but were IMHO, related. Even better, no one flamed anyone. Mean spirited flames would be toasted as this is a technical forum, not the ALR.

dave and xtoy - if we edited every post that drifted, we'd be here forever