I had to get a used xcase from msrecycling.com because they wouldn't sell just the tailshaft housing. In that case it only came with the xcase and not any misc. linkages.

There are no tranny gears in the transfer case or extension. The extension/adapter also has no gears in it, just the tranny shift rails. Both the tcase and the adapter/extension bolt on and off easily. I think you have a failed tcasebearing or chain. Buy a tcase and bolt it up. You have to drive out the roll pins in the shift rail fittings just under the shifter, and don't lose them down in the tcase. A magnet is handy to catch them as you drive them out. Also, when you drive them back in, do not let them protrude below the fitting, or shifting will be blocked. The manual is quite complete on this job, except for the above.

Note, the speedo must be driven by the tcase output shaft, or it would act like a tranny tach instead of a speedo. It has to be driven at driveshaft speed.

The gears you see in the shifter hole are the tcase reduction gearset, not tranny gears. If they are chewed up, you found your problem. Metal from the gears has fried the bearings and causes the resistance.

You do not need to remove the extension/adapter, and it should be dry inside. If not, you need to replace the tranny rear seal, and the extension housing should come off for access.

So you think that the reduction gears in the transfer case below the shifter are the cause as to why it will not down shift and why it grids em a little going up thru the gears or would this be the case only in 4x4? I suspect if I am reading you correctly that it is the cause because the transmission fluid was clean and had no metal in it at all. Like I said when I changed the transfer case oil I noticed right away that when the truck was cold it would then free wheel easy but before I changed it when all those tiny metal fragments were in the oil it would act like the brake was on when you tried to free wheel. Once warm up that went away.

I actually wasted my money and put Amsoil synthetic gear lube in the tranny and transfer case. The tranny oil being the expensive stuff is fine but now that I need a new transfer case I actually wasted 45 bucks on the oil I dumped in the old one.

Do those reduction gears in the transfer case slow the motor or slow the transmission shaft down so it can shift smoothly? Are those reduction gears different than synchronizers? Also does the transfer case reduction gears have synchronizers as well for shifting?

I may seem slow to understand about this and I am because I am not educated on how stick shifts and the manual transmission gears and transfer case reduction gears work together when shifting.

You have the:
Transmission with it's own gears and lube and shifter, and it is identical to the 2wd version of the same tranny except the adapter housing is swapped for the tailshaft housing.

Transfer case with it's own gear train. The gears you see are for 4wd lo range gear reduction. WHen you shift into 4wd hi, the shifter fork locks the fwd chain drive to the output shaft, driving the chain and the front driveshaft, enabling 4wd. When you shift further into 4wd lo, you unlock the tcase input shaft from the output shaft, disabling the 1:1 ratio, and lock the reduction input gear to the input shaft, sending the torque thru the reduction geartrain enabling 4wdlo range operation. These gears have zero effect on the tranny gears, except that if you have excessive drag in the bearings of the tcase, it will make shifting hard and crunchy in the tranny.

If the gears you saw in the tcase are torn up, the tcase has to be rebuilt or replaced in any case. After you do that, you can more precisely assess the transmission problems if any.

So I am clear... Do the gears under the 5 speed main shifter lever have anything at all to do with shifting the truck from 1st to 2nd to 3rd etc?

If those gears are chewed up in the transfer case right under the 5 speed shifter lever would it cause it to grind the gears when up shifting or cause it to not down shift when in 2 wheel drive mode or 4x4 for that matter?

Its worth noting that when in 4x4 it does shift a little easier up thru the gears but still will not down shift hardly at all except into 2nd and only at very low speed and some applied force. You cannot down shift it into 1st at all unless you are completely stopped. You cannot down shift it into 3rd from 4th at all. If you try either of those you can feel the gears hitting and sending the sensation right up the shifter big time and it will rattle in your hand like its inches away. Its as if its happening right directly under the shifter.

I have no metal in the main tranny oil whatsoever but you could pan for gold in the transfer case oil and get rich each time you check it.

I notice that the main 5 speed shift lever has a plate with a fork that must slide something back and forth and it attaches to those gears in that transfer case right directly under the shifter itself so this is another reason why I figured that those gears affect shifting somehow and why I thought they were part of the transfer case or "transfer case extension gear housing".


If those gears in the transfer case have "no" impact on the regular shifting of the truck then I will dump the truck because I cannot afford a used tranny and a used transfer case and a carb that I am anticipating I will need to buy along with other minor repairs I need to make.

I have zero resistance now that the tranny oil and transfer case oil has been changed to synthetic but the grinding is still severe and no metal ever shows up in the main tranny oil ever. However if I pull the drain plug on the transfer case metal keeps showing up each time like its chewing the gears more and more each time it shifts. Why is it doing this if they are only reduction gears and have little impact on shifting?

If those gears I can see in the top of the transfer case right under both shift levers have no impact to speak of on shifting the transmission then why is it continuing to produce tons of metal shavings in the transfer case even though its rarely in 4x4 and why is there never any metal showing up in the main tranny oil?

If it was grinding at all in the tranny something would show up in that oil right? If it was grinding for 10 years it would come out looking like the transfer case oil and you could see the metal particles.

Does this manual tranny have a transmission fluid filter that may be catching the metal and making me think the fluid is clean? I have yet to remove the transmission oil pan to see if it has a filter. I only drained the fluid out of the drain plug in the middle of the transmission pan. As bad as it has been grinding I doubt any filter could have caught it all over the past 10 years and if it did the tranny filter would be plugged so bad the fluid would not circulate right and it would still show up in the oil when you drain it from the pan plug even if you do not change the filter or remove the pan. Right?

To make this easy because I am not to bright on understanding this I will just ask it this way to be 100% certain...... If I change the transfer case and it has all the reduction gears in it like the junk yard claims and they are all in top condition would it even be possible to completely solve "all" the up shifting issues I am having when trying to shift from 1st to 2nd to 3rd etc and could it also solve all my down shifting issues as well?

Even though you have tried to explain it and I cant get it I would just like to know if there is any circumstance under which the transfer case gear issues could cause shifting issues even though its not in 4x4 mode hardly ever?

I'd check the clutch adjustment for the tranny grinding. The clutch adjustment is easy. See the manual.

The shift rails are right above the gears for sure, but the gears have nothing to do with shift quality in the tranny unless they interfere with the shift railsm and I don't believe that would happen unless the tcase grenaded.

I can't guarantee that nothing is wrong with the tranny, but I don't think there is a lot wrong besides clutch engagement. I base this on the following. All the gears have crunch, worse on downshift. Thus just one syncro is not bad, all of them would have to be, or the shaft bearings would have to be very bad and the tranny would be very whiny/noisy.

And you don't need a new carb...

I have adjusted the clutch and it makes no difference in how it shifts. It is adjusted exactly the way it should be and is sitting dead nuts to specified parameters. It was off a little for petal play and distance but after adjustment it made no difference in the way it shifts.

5 things of note:

1, this tranny was completely torn down when it was 1st installed 10 years ago and it was done by a tranny shop and there was no mention of any gear issues or synchronizer gear issues in the main body of the tranny. I would think they would have saw it or at least I would hope they would have

2, There was no mention of any gear issues or synchronizers issues the 2nd time they tore it down do to not shifting properly. My dad was pissed that they returned it shifting worse than the old one did and he saw the tranny on the table completely torn down both times.

3, The tranny after the 2nd tear down shifted the same as the old one did except the new one would not popped out of gear like the old one but it still would grind the gears exactly the same way.

4,They never had the transfer case torn down.

5, There is not a spec of metal in the transmission oil.

Question: If it has been grinding for 10 years and over 25,000 miles there would be some sign of metal in the oil right?

Question: Why isn't there any trace of metal in the tranny oil with it grinding this badly?

Question: Does this tranny have a transmission oil filter in it under the tranny pan?

Question: Why can I feel the gears thunking and clicking and rattling and grinding right under the shifter in my hand as I shift it? You can very gently try to down shift it and push the shifter over real slowly and super carefully going into 1st and you start to feel the gear grinding its teeth right up thru the shifter like its happening directly under the shifter. It will also cause the shifter to bounce or move or bump in your hand a little when you do this very gently on down shift into 1st gear when the truck is still rolling real slow and the clutch is depressed Why?

If the issue is in the tranny how come it makes the shifter bounce and grinding in your hand? Its hard to explain it but hopefully that tells you more.

When I do this the sensation and sound is coming from under the shifter and not forward up by the tranny pan where the gears are. Why?

Question: If one of the hubs was staying partially or completely engaged when out of 4x4 could that cause a grinding issue when shifting?

I do not believe I had a engaged hub problem until very recently but its worth mentioning.

Also the truck has "never" been able to get better than 15 MPG no matter how easy you drive it and it has had carb issues in the past. You might get 15.5 MPG if you drive it down hill all the time and in neutral. Is this mileage typical? I have read that many people with the truck I have get abut 19 to 20 MPG on the E-way??

Mine is a 89 Mighty Max SPX macro cab 4x4 5 speed with the 2.6L motor and it gets 15 MPG tops and has never been better than that since my family owned it. I have no idea of the gear ratio. Manufacturer specs say 19/21 for fuel economy for my exact truck

Look at the factory service manual under 89 Montero chassis and body and go to the section titled manual transmission and transfer case. The pic there on page 21-14 of the transfer case is my exact transfer case. You can see where the shifter levers hook up by noting the square holes in the very top front of the transfer case. Those gears in that transfer case are what I am seeing.

On page 21-49 it shows a blow up of the gears. Gear number 16 is the clutch hub gear and that is one of mine that is chewed up. I believe the other one that's chewed up is the sub gear and one other I cannot identify.

EDIT:

Just talked to 4 tranny shops and 3 Mitsubishi dealers.

Here are the results...... 2 tranny shops said that the transfer case on my truck could interfere with it shifting and be the cause of my issues. 1 tranny shop said no way. The last tranny shop said it is possible but unlikely. Go figure right.... 2 say possible 1 says maybe and one says no!

1 Mitsubishi dealer said yes if the bearing is bad and its causing the gears to shift from side to side or up and down. Kind of wobbling I guess or something like that. 1 dealer said no way. The last dealer said unlikely but possible. Again go figure right? 1 says yes one says possible and 1 says no.

Since this thing cost 212 bucks I will just take the chance and replace it and see. If it has any impact on shifting at all I will update and let you folks know. It will be a while because I need decent weather and I need to get the transfer case ordered.

If it has no impact I will probably sell the truck because I cannot afford a transmission for it since they are 3 times the cost of a transfer case even for a used one.

I wish I had never even laid eyes on this truck

Odd question..... I know my tranny syncros have issues and my transfer case is pretty well worn out but what would the specific reason be for why my truck shifts wayyyyyyyyyyy better when the 4x4 is engaged.

If you know please explain in detail?

I think I mentioned that if I run the R's up around 3100 RPM'S and then shift that it shifts much better but when in 4x4 I can shift at the natural shift points and have better results. When its out of 4x4 you cannot down shift at all and upshifting is a little grindy at the natural shift points. I mentioned some of this already but I want to understand why there is such a noticeable difference.

Why exactly is that happening? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Is there maybe abushing on the bottom of the shift lever that could be worn and not completely shifting gears?
Just a thought.
age 67