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NP208 pop out problems

S

socalmudtrucker

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I have an '87 Burb 4X with a 350/TH700/NP208 and 6in lift. She has no problem
staying in 2Hi or 4Hi for the most part but when I put her in 4Lo
she wants to slip out with any little bump and goes right to
neutral. :confused: After some grinding and frustration I can get her back
in gear. Shift fork? Rebuild needed(cost?) linkage? In addition
when shes cold under acceleration she will go as usual but from
2nd to 3rd goes to neutral for a second and then on like nothing
happened. After warm up is fine. Anyone with opinion or similar
experience? Thank you.
 
It probably has worn shift fork pads, it's a common problem on the NP208/241 t-cases.
 
socalmudtrucker said:
how much do you think it would be to have an average shop replace them? I know i could probably do it. I just dont have the time :(
Click to expand...

I have no idea as i've never had to have mine done (if I need to I have a friend who owns a trans shop anyways and it wouldn't cost me anything and he'd show me how to do it). I have heard that it's an easy job and not too time consumng to do either.
 
4X4HIGH said:
I have no idea as i've never had to have mine done (if I need to I have a friend who owns a trans shop anyways and it wouldn't cost me anything and he'd show me how to do it). I have heard that it's an easy job and not too time consumng to do either.
Click to expand...
Thank you much. Im gonna call my 4X shop tomorrow and get a quote. Ill post it for others future reference.
 
One thing. When it pops out, unless its unsafe to do so, do not try to get it back in with the engine running.
Under those circumstances, the safest way is to stop the engine, then shift it.
Putting the tranny in neutral will not work, because the automatic tranny will still be spinning the gears.
Trying to put the tranny in park, will just cause lots of noise as the parking pawl bounces trying to engage with those gears spinning.

If you try to engage it with the engine running many times, you may find you have more problems due to damaged gear teeth.

I see this a lot with my F250.
When I am using the PTO winch, the transfer case is in neutral.
Once I shift the PTO out of gear, it gets really noisy trying to get the transfer case back in any gear because there is no load on the transmission and all the gears are spinning.
If I leave the PTO engaged to load down the transmission, it is really hard to shift it out of gear under a load, so I shift it out first.

After over 30 years of dealing with this problem, I have developed a trick, but I don't recommend it.
I put the transmission in neutral, wait for a second for it to shift.
Then, briefly shift to reverse.
Wait for about a half second and then into park.

If I time it right, I catch it midshift. The gears that were spinning forward, are just stopping and starting to spin backward.
In that brief time, they are not moving much at all and it will slip right into park.

Once into park, the output shaft is locked and not turning, so there is no grinding when I shift the transfer case.

But its tricky, and you have to know your transmission. Easier to just turn the engine off for a second.
 
I've heard of some people who have a body lift and the cab floor hits the shifter when going over bumps. Don't know if you have a body lift but might be worth looking at.
 
I would also check shifting linkage too. Ive got several np208s for free that were popping out of gear and work fine for me.

Ive also got a couple that have worn shift forks and do the same but checking shifting linkage is free.
 
I dont know the proper method of adjusting it but Ill see if I can explain what has worked for me.

There is a lever on the top of the t-case that is connected to the shifter with an adjustable rod. I take out the rod and then move the shifter all the way foward (2wd) and then push the lever on the t-case all the way towards the rear of the truck. Then adjust the rod till it fits back in place without any kind of force or movement of the shifter. This usually gets it done for me but you may have to adjust that rod in or out till you get a good positive shift into all gears and go try it.

If you cant ever get good positive shifts then I would assume that the fork is worn and must be replaced.
 
Checked the linkage it's fine. Went to 4 wheel parts (where they overcharge from past experience) got quoted 650 for labor and 800 for rebuild ha ha ha yea I'll pay that as soon as I need it gold plated. Time to go get a real quote or find the time to do it myself. Thank to everyone that answered. I'll post the end result and cost later
 
Yah 208s are so plentiful for these rigs you could easily get a known good runnin one feom someone on here for a couple hundred easy. And was that price with u removing it or a shop removing it?
 
I was in a similar situation, truck was my daily driver so I didn't have time to remove, teardown, order parts, wait for parts, rebuild, reinstall, hope it works. So, what I did was remove it and bring it to a local trans shop. Had it back the next day and reinstalled after dinner. Cost me $600 to have them rebuild it and that included new shift forks cause they were toast. The guy knew what he was doing too, prob had rebuilt/repaired thousands of those old NP208s.

My suggestion, take the hour or so to remove it yourself and then bring it to a well known trans shop near you. Then reinstall when you get it back.

Or bring the whole truck to the trans shop. It's your wallet not mine. But not 4WP.

You could take a chance on a used one. It may last for years.... or a week. The first t-case I put in this truck was a "good used" one. I got a year out of it. After that one failed I brought it to the trans shop. I'm not into swapping t-cases on a regular basis.
 
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