4 Wheel & Off Road – October 2019

32 OCTOBER 20194-WHEEL & OFF-ROAD 4WHEELOFFROAD.COM

COVER SECTION: JUNKYARD SPOTTERS’ GUIDES

OLD-SCHOOL INFO ABOUT ANY

TRANSFER CASE WORTH HAVING

JUNKYARD

T-CASE

SPOTTER’S

GUI DE

S

OMETIMES IT’S IMPOS-

sible not to sound like

a grumpy old man. And

since we are getting

older (we’re told that

beats the alternative)

and probably have been

accused of being grumpy a time or

two (hey, get off our damned lawn!)

we are all right if we sound that

way. We remember a simpler time,

a time before the internet, when

most automakers had the common

courtesy God gave a goat and thus

distinguished between vehicles

with “all-wheel drive” and those

with true four-wheel drive.

The first group is made of cars that have the ability

to send power to one of all four wheels (and may only

spin one tire). The second group includes vehicles with

a transfer case that can at least send constant and

equal amounts of power to both front and rear axles at

the same speed and has the ability to be shifted into a

low range gear. We prefer the latter over the former...

vehicles with what we would call, in our old man voice,

fist in the air, a real transfer case.

To those who are not obsessed with off-roading, this

distinction may seem like splitting hairs, but to the rest

fully ensconced in the love and life of 4x4s (or diseased

by it), this is literally what sets real 4x4s apar t from cute

little grocery getters. We’ve bumped our heads, skinned

our knuckles, and thrown out our backs with the help of

many transfer cases over the years, and despite mem-

ory loss and pain meds, we’ve taken it upon ourselves

to list some of the more common and useful transfer

cases here along with some useful info, and occasion-

ally what you should avoid. This article isn’t exhaustive

and generalizes a lot, but a grumpy old man (or woman)

could write tomes about this. So a scratch at the sur-

face will have to do. Check it out!

BY Verne Simons

[email protected]

PHOTOGRAPHY 4WOR STAFF

AND ARCHIVES

DOMESTIC (Cast Iron/Steel)

SPICER 18

Overview: The first widely available

transfer case with a low range. This is a

very versatile transfer case that can be

built in many ways and can handle a lot

more power than the original 60 hp that

these T-cases first came behind. The main

distinction between these cases is in the

intermediate shaft; it grew through the

unit’s run from^3 ⁄ 4 inch to 1^1 ⁄ 8 inches and

11 ⁄ 4 inches, and hit an apex with the last

18s with the largest intermediate shafts

and heavier cases.

SPICER 18