99 transfer case in a 96 3500.
 

I bought a 96 3500 4x4. I was had a lot of parts that were not installed due to a clutch change I was told. It turns out this has a 99 241 DHD transfer case and therefore it uses a different shift pattern. Has anyone done this and what shifter did you use? Old or new. I have a 99 transfer case shifter and floor mount coming along with the 99 transmission shifter boot. I have no problem modifying the floor for the later shifter since the rubber on my old one piece boot is shot. But looking fo anyone that has been trough this to see what you did.

I have a '99 NP-241 DHD in my '95. I used the earlier lever that attaches at the T-case, so it works well with the longer throw of the '94-'97 trucks 4x4 shifter.
I had to fiddle with the shifter rod length, which has an adjuster built into the rod.
Yes the shifter pattern is different. I just swapped out the knob for a 24V style with the different shifter pattern on it.

The big thing is there is no speedo port in that later T-case as the 24V trucks get their speedo info from the rear axle. This means getting your speedo and ODO to work, will be a pain.

There is a speedo port in that case and my speedo is working. The tag on the case says it was made late 98. It is possible that they changed the tail housing with the late 97 which also had the 31 spline output. I am not really worried about the speedo since I always have a GPS in the vehicle and that is what I go by. I am mainly interested in whether anyone has used the early shifter on a later case with the swapped shift pattern.

I am surprised to hear the speedo port is there and it works.

If you main concern was getting the early and later 4x4 shifter parts to work together... just follow my earlier comment and it will work fine.

Did you use the long or short lever on the case?

The '94-'97 trucks have the longer shifter lever in the truck cab that works well with the shorter lever on the T-case.
The '98-'02 trucks have the shorter lever inside the truck cab, that works better with the longer lever on the T-case.

So when I use a later T-case in the earlier trucks, I swap out the longer lever on the T-case for a shorter one.

Just picture the way the leverage works. You do not want two short levers as the shifter would take a lot of strength to use. Two long levers you would run out of room before you could shift through all the transfer case options.

Thanks, That is what I have on there now, Long shifter and short case. I might get a chance to work on it today as the weather is finally letting up a bit.

Ok, Back to this mess. I found out the truck had a bad head gasket that was pouring water out under the thermostat. In my test drive after the head gasket I found the speedo is not working. The 96 did use an electronic speedometer. Does any one know if the later sender will work with the older speedo?

Speedometers were electric since '90. This version uses mechanical drive at the trans or tcase to spin a transducer to make an electric signal. The physical packaging changed a little over the years.

Later on (98+?) the speed signal was taken off the rear axle.

Also, there's 3-4 versions of the 241DHD. The early ones (94-95) have the same 32 spline output as the DLD.

Thanks, Looks like I am going to have to source some sort of GPS speedo, preferably with odometer.

I was under the truck and I saw that this is a 1999 241 DHD transfer case according the to tag and it does have a speedo sending unit right on the side of the output housing with a three wire plug. According to the diagrams the three wires are correct for a gas V10 and the diesel. It does not specify where the sender is. My speedo does not work but I would like to know if this is just a bad wire or what. The FSM is very vague on that component and does not give a lot of info in the diagrams. I have verified the colors of the wires and next I will do a continuity test between the sender and the PCM. Any suggestions to try? I did pull the dash out and the connections are clean and tight.