Hey guys,
I recently changed the rear main seal on my 2006 Toyota 4Runner. I drained the Transfer case oil in the process, and forgot to fill it up before driving again. I put probably 60 miles on it (broken up into roughly 20 mile increments) before remembering. Talk about a facepalm.
I filled up the transfer case, drove for a bit then drained the fluid and inspected it. Didn’t see any metal shavings or issues with it. So I filled it up with new fluid.
Could there be any reason for concern? Obviously no/extremely low oil is horrible for it… but I haven’t noticed anything yet anyway. Should I just pull it out and rebuild it?
You have successfully mated the gears.
Honestly there’s a chance some accelerated wear has occurred while there was no oil, although the residue in the case would have helped a little, but there is nothing you can do now except drive it until it stops.
Maybe check for leaks over the next few weeks in case a shaft seal has breached from dry rotation.