ok, a little update. i didnt end up getting the posi lock yet, because i found out that the hard lines for my cad unit were all rusted and had holes in them. had some coated brake line laying around so i bent up some new vac lines and put double flares on them. works good as new! as for the front drive shaft.....its toast, the cardan joint is bad, and can no longer be used. good news is im picking up a new drive shaft from the same guy im getting my motor from. hes only gonna charge me 20 bucks for it!

now onto the t-case. all winter i could use 4lo(got stuck a few times and forced me to use it) now this spring it wont work, was binding, and wouldnt go in. now that the front drive shaft is out, the t-case grings when you try to put it into 4lo and it still binds. what could be wrong with it? could the snap ring be bad, and have caused the t-case to screw up? it will still go into 4hi just fine, just not 4lo.

any input is appreciated, i know some of the guru's will chime in eventually.

as for parts im getting, next week im purchasing the t-case saver, and possibly a new t-case if needed.

also, what year t-cases will work with my truck? ram 1500 auto np231hd

thanks guys!

 

no one else is going to chime in? wow.......

 

give it some time redneck ram, I just read your posts, both of 'em. and I am on here for several hours a day. I personally can't help you much as I haven't had t-case issues. but your post will get replies. my thoughts are check your t-case fluid (atf+4) and aside from that is it possible that without the front drive shaft installed there may be some free wheeling going on in the transfer case that the drive shaft if in place would prevent and since I don't believe the t-case has any kind of syncros you could be getting the grinding noise. install the new/used front drive shaft and try 4lo. now a question, when you try 4lo even now, how do you do it? are you rolling pretty good (10-20 mph) or just kind of creeping? I probably use 4lo as much or less as you and it's not second nature to get it to engage without some grinding and I am very in tune to my trucks systems. If the fluid level is good and you don't recall any one incident that may have taken the t-case out, it's possible that just fixing the front drive shaft and relearning how to "finesse" it into 4lo may be all there is to it. also there are adjustments on the linkages under the truck. you could pop the rod off and see if you can engage 4lo by hand to rule out a t-case issue and adjust linkage accordingly and reconnect. hope this helps. Jeremey EDIT. I apologize, for some reason I must have clicked "last page" on this thread and didn't read the first two pages. I will leave my above post in case there is any usable info in it. but I know you have probably worked through most of this by now.

 

4lo worked great all winter. got stuck twice and had to use it, also plowed with 4lo a couple times. this spring backing my camper into my yard i went to shift into 4lo and it wouldnt go, it was binding, no grinding though. now that the drive shaft has failed and since been unbolted from the t-case it grinds and still resists. shifting into 4lo i have the truck at a dead stop in neutral and go from 4hi, or 2hi and just push the shifter forward as firm and as fast as i can, and it has worked every time. i even tried shifting into 4lo rolling in neutral at 3-5 mph as suggested. im willing to bet that the snap ring has failed(172k on it) and has messed something up. i found a used t-case out of a 98 2500 its a 231d, and from the same guy a 97 2500 with the 241 hd. i want the 241 for upgrading purposes, but im not sure if it will fit.

 

yeah, I am pretty sure the 2500's used the 46re as well, I mean what else was available? so t-case should bolt right up. I think for some reason the front and rear drive shafts were different though. as long as you can work through that if it is even the case, just upgrade and don't look back.