general problems of the 2003 Chevrolet Silverado 2500

The component that failed according to the Chevrolet dealer is the "transfer case pump clips", which came loose inside the transfer case and wore a hole through the case causing the oil to come out. If I would not have noticed the oil on the back of my truck, I could have continued to drive the truck, which could have caused the transfer case gears to lock up the front and rear axles while driving and could have caused me to wreck, causing injury to myself, my family or someone else. I marked the area of the leak with a sharpie as depicted in the photos.

I had to replace the replace the housing on my transfer case as it wore a hole in and was leaking. At a cost of 1200 dollars due to myself catching it early as later with a fully disabled case would have been 2600 dollars. My mechanic who deals in transmission repairs told me this a very common problem for chevy trucks from 1999 to 2006. He claimed he had done 7 transfer cases in one week and was actually replacing a fully wrecked one for 2600 dollars as I brought mine in to be worked on . It had worn a hole through the transfer case and was leaking. As this seems to be a serious defect . I feel it should have been under a recall and reimbursement should be in order for those who paid out of pocket for repairs. My mechanic also stated that he has replaced them at 35, 000 miles and on up. No rhyme or reason to when they fail or leak.

While returning home from a 2 week vacation (30 miles from home) slowed down to make a right turn on a city street in woodland, CA, the truck just shut down, no steering, no brakes, no engine, total electrical shutdown. It was everything I could do to make the turn and pull to the right. At the time I was pulling my 2009 bighorn fifth wheel trailer. It was a scary time. I finally stopped, lucky there was no cars parked on the right near the curb. I put the transmission in neutral and restarted the engine. Then we continued the trip home to winters, CA. I took the truck to imler diesel in sacramento to check the engine out. They replaced the injectors which we had agreed to do prior to making the two week trip. The next trip was to bodega bay on January 14, 2014. We traveled about 100 miles. Again we were pulling our fifth wheel trailer. Slowing down from 55 mph to 15 mph, preparing to make a left turn in doran beach park at bodega bay, the truck shut down again. I came so close to hitting a tree. Oncoming traffic stopped just in time as the speed limit at 55 mph seemed to see what was happening giving me time to restart and move off the highway. My wife and I were both shaken up a bit, but also feeling very lucky not having a crash. We continued home 4 days later. We parked the truck. The milage was 143579 at the start of the trip and 143819 at end. I have not used the truck since. I do not feel it is safe to drive. I was lucky twice, don't know if I want to risk a third try. Looking back, the shutdown did happen two other times but I was not pulling the fifth wheel trailer, I can't remember the dates. Chevrolet lt 2500 hd 4x4 diesel 2003 truck.