afroman006
1/2 ton status
Before I moved to school about 4 months ago, I installed a 3" body lift on my suburban. I did everything that the kit told me, steering lengthen, column shifter lengthened, etc. Well shortly thereafter whenever I tried to shift my t-case (NP241) into 4 low it made a godawful grinding sound and I had to do a stupid pattern of putting the tranny in neutral and park before shifting into 4 low. Anyway a few days ago I went to install the slip yoke eliminator kit and as I disassembled the t-case, I noticed the range fork and sproket it attaches it, as well as the input shaft of the t-case (which is what the sprocket fits into) were all worn very badly. Down in the bottom of the case, I found some broken pieces of the pads that were supposed to fit in between the fork and sprocket, they had aparently not been in the correct place for quite some time as the above mentioned parts were worn beyond use.
I had hell locating new parts, I couldnt even find a complete case to cobble parts together from. I finally found the parts I needed in a city 3 hours north of me, and had them put the parts on a grayhound bus and overnight them to me. So I got them today and the damn range fork wont fit, the other two pieces are perfect but I think they sent me a range fork for a driver's side drop case and mine is a passenger side drop. My original fork was made out of stamped steel and the one they sent me is cast aluminum (although it does have alot better designed pads...damn). So it doesnt fit. I had already bought a full set of pads for both forks from the dealership so I decided to "fix" the old fork. I used the grinder to re-open the little slots the pads fit into and grind down the sharp edge the sprocket had made.
When I am putting the case back together, I notice the pads on the mode fork are very badly worn on one side, then it hits me. When I did the body lift I did not adjust the t-case shifter because the kit didnt say anything about it. From inside, the little orange square was not exactly on the correct range but it was close enough that I didnt worry about it. Today I realized that since its been body-lifted, the shifter has been slightly pulling on the forks which cause the severe wear on the pads which caused me to spend 4 days and $250 on parts. So I managed to get it all put back together tonight (with all new pads on both forks) and will adjust the shifter tomorow. I might have to fab a new connecting rod but that will be easy. Anyway kids, the moral of the story is dont neglect your t-case shifter when doing a body lift or it will bite you in the ass.
I had hell locating new parts, I couldnt even find a complete case to cobble parts together from. I finally found the parts I needed in a city 3 hours north of me, and had them put the parts on a grayhound bus and overnight them to me. So I got them today and the damn range fork wont fit, the other two pieces are perfect but I think they sent me a range fork for a driver's side drop case and mine is a passenger side drop. My original fork was made out of stamped steel and the one they sent me is cast aluminum (although it does have alot better designed pads...damn). So it doesnt fit. I had already bought a full set of pads for both forks from the dealership so I decided to "fix" the old fork. I used the grinder to re-open the little slots the pads fit into and grind down the sharp edge the sprocket had made.
When I am putting the case back together, I notice the pads on the mode fork are very badly worn on one side, then it hits me. When I did the body lift I did not adjust the t-case shifter because the kit didnt say anything about it. From inside, the little orange square was not exactly on the correct range but it was close enough that I didnt worry about it. Today I realized that since its been body-lifted, the shifter has been slightly pulling on the forks which cause the severe wear on the pads which caused me to spend 4 days and $250 on parts. So I managed to get it all put back together tonight (with all new pads on both forks) and will adjust the shifter tomorow. I might have to fab a new connecting rod but that will be easy. Anyway kids, the moral of the story is dont neglect your t-case shifter when doing a body lift or it will bite you in the ass.
