NP203 converted to part time

[el ranger loco]

I just got ahold of a new truck & the owner told be the t case has been converted to part time. WTF is he talkin about? Flame away.

[TheDrip]

The NP203 is a full time case. That is, it's always in 4wd. In normal 4wd, there is a differential (open) in between the front and rear driveshafts. This is how you would drive it on pavement, and it allows the front and rear wheels to turn at different speeds in corners, in exactly the same way a differential in an axle allows the left and right wheels of that axle to turn at different speeds. The 203 has a "lock" position which locks the front and rear outputs together, giving true 4wd, like most guys are used to. When you install the conversion kit, you are disabling that differential function, so that in 4H or 4L, it now operates like 2H or 2L, while 4H-lock and 4L-lock become a normal 4H and 4L. Hopefully he has also changed the front drive slugs for manual hubs.

[sewerzuk]

Originally Posted by TheDrip

The NP203 is a full time case. That is, it's always in 4wd. In normal 4wd, there is a differential (open) in between the front and rear driveshafts. This is how you would drive it on pavement, and it allows the front and rear wheels to turn at different speeds in corners, in exactly the same way a differential in an axle allows the left and right wheels of that axle to turn at different speeds. The 203 has a "lock" position which locks the front and rear outputs together, giving true 4wd, like most guys are used to. When you install the conversion kit, you are disabling that differential function, so that in 4H or 4L, it now operates like 2H or 2L, while 4H-lock and 4L-lock become a normal 4H and 4L. Hopefully he has also changed the front drive slugs for manual hubs.

Exactly right...emphasis on replacing the front hubs with locking ones; your front gears will wear incredibly fast if you're driving it around with the solid hubs (speaking from experience ). The ring and pinion will grind themselves apart because the ring gear is not meant to be a drive gear for extended periods of time. I've seen this happen on a few rigs where people paid for the part time kit, but didn't change the front hubs (kinda defeats the purpose of the kit, but it seems to be a fairly common thing).

[el ranger loco]

Thanks I get it. FWIW Ive got manual hubs. Seems like a good thing to have the part time case, I like the option to have 2lo.