'03 KJ, NP242 and 45rfe, no forward power except in 4lo.

I took my stock '03 Liberty off-roading more than I anticipated the other day. After breaking off the exhaust going down the hill I was concerned it wasn't going to make it up the hill.

This has the SelecTrac "full time/ part time" NP242 transfer case and 45rfe transmission.

Coming up the hill in 4lo, every few minutes it would slowly lose all forward power, start slipping, and the Jeep would start rolling backwards. Engine seemed fine but no power to wheels. At these times reverse would work in 4lo, but no forward gears in any transfer case position.

After sitting for a few minutes I would get forward gears in 4lo back.

Bless it's heart because it got me to the pavement, after letting it cool off a handful of times, every mile or so on the way up. At that point I still had no forward gears in anything but 4lo, so AAA towed me home on dollies.

Today I drained the transfer case and the fluid was awfully old and black, but I didn't see any quicksilver or metal shavings. (And I am ashamed to tell you it has been years since that fluid was changed.)

Transmission fluid looked fresh and red. The pan had a nice dent in it, around the front right. I dropped the pan and didn't see any metal in it, no sign of damage on the valve body.

I am assuming the transfer case is fubared and needs to be replaced. Is that a reasonable conclusion? Is there a way to troubleshoot this further?

Your trouble seems to be with the transmission not the TC.
I would get that checked first.

Gyro

Agreed. I would have the transmission checked. Any chance your transmission fluid was low, so that it sloshed backwards on steep grades and didn’t provide the transmission with the fluid it needed except on the flat? I suggest this because I had a similar issue after a botched fluid change at the dealer one time. They just didn’t put enough back in.

Perhaps the pan damage was severe enough to interfere with fluid flow?

I think my plan is to replace the pan and hope for the best. I really don't want to go looking for a new transmission again.

That’s a little banged up!

You might consider one of these if you’re replacing the pan:

Also please consider a transmission skid plate !!
Begle1 has a 45RFE pan.

LibertyTC said:

Also please consider a transmission skid plate !!
Begle1 has a 45RFE pan.

Click to expand...

Fixed the link. Thanks!

Can you recommend me a skid plate?

Well I replaced the pan and the transmission is working like it used to, so that seems to have been the problem. Thank you everybody.

What sort of damage was I likely to do to the transmission by running it on low fluid like that for 30-60 minutes?

I would guess it is completely fine. Mine was in a low fluid situation for about 3 days, where it could drive fine unless it was on an incline. Added fluid and no more issues. That was 100k miles ago. You may not have had enough fluid to build pressure to run it, but it sounds like there was still plenty to lubricate it.