Howdy.

Did the NP242 ever come from the factory behind a manual tranny? If not, is it possible to mate the NP242 to a manual tranny? Do any of you know of any full-time 4wd(with lockup) transfers mated to a five speed from the factory, or adapted later? I'm desperate. I gotta have full-time-4wd and a manual tranny!

That should not be a problem. NP t-cases are very adaptable. What transmission are you try to mate it with?

I don't really care. I currently have a W56 toy tranny in my truck, and mating to that would be ideal, but I'll take ANY manual tranny as long as I have the Full Time 4wd. I have yet to see one manual 5 speed tranny with a full time transfer case. The closest I've seen so far is the 4 speed SM465 with a NP203.

Do you think the AX-15 might be easier to adapt? Like I said, I really don't care, considering I plan to swap out my little 22re engine with something larger anyway.

most late NP t-cases have the same 6 bolt pattern at the mounting flange. Sometimes you will have to drill out one hole. And you can swap the input gear as well. GM and Dodge have the most options availiable.

How much power can the NP242 take? You wouldn't happen to know of some GM or dodge 5 speed manual trannies that have NP transfer cases behind them, would ya?

NP 242's have seen duty in durango's, hummers, some suburbans. The have the basic same case as the 241 with the exception of th 241hd which has a wider chain. The NV3500 is a 5 sp that came in dodge and chevy 1/2 trucks. Just match the splines and it would be easy to match up. The nv4500 is stronger and would also be easy to mate to the 242.

I just found some info on the NV4500 here: http://www.hicks4x4.com/transmis.htm Looks pretty good. Any idea what kind of a motor I could get to stick in front of it? I'd like a v6 with roughly 200hp stock. A 3 liter or higher with a turbo, making upwards of 230HP would be ideal. Anything come to mind?

I think I'd rather try to fabricate an adapter for the NP242. My stock W56 is good to over 400hp, and it would be MUCH cheaper to make an adapter(however complicated) than to buy a used NV4500, a used/new motor, and stress over shoving that huge beast of a tranny under my little truck. Yes, even if it exceeds $1000, I think it's more worth my money to just make an adapter. I hope it's possible.

iv got a nv3500 from a 99 tj, 23 spline output if you need one. what spline is your 242?

Don't have one yet. I'm just trying to decide what to do.

Hey, gotta toss my two cents in here. Stay the hell away from the 242's! They're junk. Some 4 wheel magazine was praising them recently and they are idiots. The 242 has the same strength internals as your run of the mill 231 unless we're talking Hummer 242HD. Yup, that's right, same size output shaft, same planetaries, same everything, except the 242 has the POS center diff assembly that MAKES it full time 4WD. They break. The factory doesn't do a good job welding the side pins in and everything walks around in there eventually giving you sort of a ratcheting reverse only 4WD.
There are fixes for this, like :eek: buy a new one and don't try to rebuild an old one, it's a crap shoot.
This is all first hand, I've been through a few of the roaches and always toss 'em out for a good 231.

:cow:

OK, stepping away from the mic, flame if you want but I've seen it.

What kind of a rig are you running it on? What kind of an engine? Hey, if anyone else thinks they're crap, then speak up. I don't want to run something prone to failure.

Then again, I want to make sure you aren't exceeding the power level these things are built to take. Are they crap all the time? Or just when you put too much power in 'em?

Just XJ 4.0 litres. A few of the grenaded ones had been wheeled hard, the last disaster was just a high mile street driver.
You'll notice 242's also never came behind any Jeep manual transmission. Something about reduced torque loading capacities into the front of the POS center diff assembly.
Hey, some people swear by them, I'm not trying to rain on anybody's parade.. when they work right it's a great t-case, just leave it in full-time all year on dry pavement if you want!
It'd suck to do all that adapting and find it doesn't hold up for you.

Um, isn't an NP203 a good gear drive full time case? Or am I off on that?

Hmm... at this point I'd appreciate it if someone could chime in and tell me they've had similar experiences, or if you're just jinxed. :)

As far as I know, the NP203 is chain drive too. VERY old tech. It uses motor oil (10w-30) for lubricant. Many people make the mistake of filling it up with regular gear oil and seem surprised when it craps out. They're plenty strong, PLENTY heavy(300 lbs), plenty old.

Also, there is conflicting info on web pages I've seen. For instance, some list it as a full-time ONLY t-case, with no lockup center diff. I don't think this is correct. I think it has a lock up center diff.

It isn't particularly reliable in full-time mode. It is chain drive, and the chain stretches. Many people installed a part-time kit to fix this, but that defeats the purpose for me.

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