NP 246 T-case blew up kinda weird!

[diesel4me]

Wish I had a camera and could post a photo of the NP-246 saw that a friend replaced the other day,after I helped him locate the source of a strange scraping grinding and clunking noise by putting it up on his lift and me getting in and putting it in drive and racing up the engine--driving the truck,it felt like the rear diff was junk,but it was the transfer case making the noises.................................................................................................He tells the owner the T-case is fubared probably,it had over 200K on the truck,so it was likely toast--salvage yard wanted 900 bucks for a used one with 90K on it,so he decided to buy it,rather than spend 1600 at Autozone to get a rebuilt one,or 2K at a dealer for a GM Goodwrench one...........................................................................................................................................................................................................My friend showed me the blown up one yesterday,I got there just as he was about to put the "new" one in...all around the case after the input shaft about 6" back,there was a slot cut right thru the case,about 3/4 of the way around!..another few miles,I bet it would have sawed itself right in two,and dropped to the pavement!..the owner had been commuting 50+ miles to Boston daily in it too,right up until yesterday!...guess you cant say GM's aren't dependable,even when they are ready to come apart!--weird thing was,we saw no evidence of lube splattered under the truck,all that came out of it was metal filings that looked like brake lathe dust!...and the peices inside that did the cutting looked like large shims or clutch packs like a automatic tranny has...it must have been empty a long time!...

 

[K85 Octane]

pictures

it's what I came in here for!
if the pictures aren't too exciting, mash it some with a mallet

 

[JDNobodi]

I don't know the inside of these transfer case but I know the np261/263 have pump rub problem wears holes in the case.

You should have taken pictures with your cell phone.

 

[diesel4me]

CELL PHONE??......I aint got no steenking cell phone!...never wanted one...but I suppose I could get a free "obommaphone" if I wanted too...I do have a old digital camera I barely know how to use but I'm clueless about uploading photos,and my computer cant because the camera uses floppy discs and the computer has a dead disc drive....I'll see if I can get someone else to snap a photo before he scraps it--its not that impessive as carnage goes,looks like someone was inside it cutting their way out with a hacksaw blade,a nice thin slot!...maybe we should have test driven it longer,till it sawed itsef in two...

 

[Larry]

NVG246 tcases are junk anyway. Those are the electric shift “Auto Trac” units that have routine clutch failures, encoder motor failures, not to mention the issues with components not directly related to the tcase itself, such as the TCCM and control head (shift buttons), etc. However, what happened to this is actually pretty common on the NVG 261 and 263 as well where the chain guide/tensioner thing wears out allowing the chain to saw right through the case. I’ve heard of this happening on a lot high mileage GM 4x4’s of this generation. The driver should have noticed as they make a lot of noise with a lot of sloppy clunking before they totally shoot craps. There was a NVG246 on CL around here not long ago for $500.

 

[diesel4me]

Makes me really want to "upgrade" to a newer GM truck,when I see ones only 5-10 years old having their frames,steel brake and fuel lines rot away to dust already,and have many electrical problems,trannies that cant take much abuse,and now,transfer cases that aren't exactly beefy...also,this truck I mentioned still wont go into 4wd,so evidently it has electrical issues....what was so bad about reaching down and pulling a LEVER,and knowing it would be in 4wd for sure anyway??..I hate all this computerized ,electrically controlled crap they are putting on everything lately...old school was much better if you ask me...

 

[80' 427]

Maybe it is just me but most trucks up in your area are gone in that amount of time. Besides I think 200k is plenty long for a Tcase to last. Maybe you forget where the 208s came from. I have had 4 newer chevy trucks between 2000-2006 and I never had a problem in the first 100k miles I owned each one. The belief things should last forever in todays products is silly. We all know know this is now a throw away world. The engine tech is light years ahead of where we were 20 years ago even knowing how light things are being built.

I love old school stuff owning 3 trucks built before 1984 and a older camaro. All you old guys tend to romanticize older stuff. You do realize how bad stuff was. 30k mile rebuilds, points, carbs with manual chokes, manual brakes, mechanical lifters, splash oiling, bias tires,.............. Computers are here to stay like it or not. You can fight them but they aren't going away. One of the finest things to ever happen to a GM truck was TBI. You can tell me I am wrong but this simple little fuel injection still has a strong following 17 years later. Technology is the reason you can get to 200k without cracking an engine on nearly every truck built where as in the years of the Qjet you would be lucky to see 100k without significant oil usage. You can tell me how bad it is now, but then I will let you drive my grandpas 46 chevy fleetmaster. You will soon see how great it has become. Sure I can almost rebuild it with a 9/16 and a screw driver but like a famous Allis Chalmers Ad once said that sure there clutches couldn't be easily replaced in the field because they don't need to be replaced all the time.

 

[JDNobodi]

Those in the rust belt may not see it, but the zinc coating on the bodies are making the bodies last much longer. 20 years ago, even in California, it was common to find 20 year old vehicle with rust damage. My old 73, which I got in the early nineties (less than 20 years old) was a rust bucket with the floors rusted out. Now, we've gotten past 20 years when auto makers started zinc coating the bodies and a lot of the vehicle are solid.

Engines is where they have made great strides. Transmissions too, but it seems that the transmissions aren't keeping up with power level the engines are making now.

The 350 engines in square body blazers have a hp rating between 155hp to 210hp though out its 19 year run.

I do think the auto makers have made some stuff that not up to stuff in recent years. I thought gm went backwards with the np208 transfer case, but improved it with the np241, then backward again the NP261/263. That pump rub problem is a big problem.

The IFS gm has is joke and does not measure up to the old 10 bolt solid axle.

 

[diesel4me]

Well,I cant get any pictures of it--it went to the scrapyard yesterday in the trunk of a KIA they were scrapping to add more weight to it...they also stuffed a Ford Ranger 3.0 V6 in the trunk,and filled the entire car up with scrap rims,rotors,etc--it must have weighed 4 tons when it went on the ramp truck.........................................................................................While I wont disagree the "old" cars had their issues,I just feel more at home under a hood of an older vehicle,one that you can work on yourself,without the aid of a scanner,multiple expensive tools,a LIFT,etc,and you can actually SEE and TOUCH the offending parts that must be replaced once in a while....I'd much rather put a water pump on a straight six chevy,or a small block,than one on many later vehicles...anyone ever try changing the water pump on a Mopar 2.7 v6??..its INSIDE the engine,under the timing chain cover!....it'd be easier to install a whole engine that do that job in the chassis....while fuel injection has improved fuel mileage and power,and extended engine life by leaps and bounds,I'd rather rebuild a carb once in a while,or replace a choke pull off,etc,that try figuring out unusual trouble symptoms when an EFI system or computerized ignition starts acting up..................................................................................................................................................................................................................I like trucks you can fix on the side of the road if you blew a radiator hose,a fan belt,etc,without needing a tow to a garage with a lift,and a day to do it...and do it in 15-20 minutes instead of hours....ones with no "chips" in the keys to screw up,leaving you stranded miles from home,that cost hundreds of dollars to have replaced and the vehicle re=programmed,things like that I feel are retarted,they never should have gotten that sofisticated...like most "security" systems end up locking the owner out of the truck often,and prevents him from driving it,more often that it keeps theives from stealing the truck--maybe I've just been spoiled, having grown up when things were built to last out of cast iron and steel instead of die cast crap and plastic,and didn't have so many electronic issues--I dont know.............................................................................................................................................................................................................yeah,a lot of things might last longer now,despite being shoddily built compared to the stuff of old,but I saw nothing wrong with the old SM465's and NP-205 t-cases and solid front axles...todays trucks just cant compare to the way the used to build them...I also think old trucks had more style than todays "blah" cabs and uninspiring looks overall too..........................................................................................................what I dislike the most about late model vehicles is the seemingly constant problems with check engine lights or ABS lights not going off,preventing them from passing inspection,the expense of everything that commonly fails like catalitic converters,fuel filler necks,and dozens of sensors that always seem to fail one after another...and the fact they make them SUCK to work on,packing everything in such close quarters you cant get at them...the old trucks were bad enough!...I like them simple....dependable...owner repairable!..............................................................................................I'd feel safer taking a cross country trip in a old GM truck vs a 1990 or newer one ,because I'd most likely be able to fix anything it needed myself..I would not care if it were less comfortable to drive either..I'd be much more uncomfortable knowing if I was in a newer late model truck and something went amiss,I'd be forced to have it towed in to be fixed and to pay whatever ransom they charged me..