All,
Happy belated turkey day!!! This past week; for the first time since buying my 93 in 7/06 - I tried out the 4wheel drive. Needless to say I did a lot of hunting and grinding, to find 4 low, 4 high, and 2hi. The truck has the A518 auto, so I put it in neutral & locked the hubs. I also stopped the truck when I put the truck into 4whee drive. Anyway; 4 low doesn't to seem like 4 lo, as compared to my 70 Bronco with a Dana20 t case, manual 3 speed, and 3:73 gears. The Dodge has I believe 3:56 diff gears? I guess with the diff gear ratio of the Dodge, along with an auto trans, the 4lo feeling is different then my 70 EB. The Dodge also has radial tires, which could play a part? Besides my 4 lo issue, I have a hard time going from neutral on the t case, to 2 hi. A lot of grinding I also have a hard time going from 4hi to 2hi. Seems like 2hi pops into 4 hi. Also seems as if the shift from 4 hi to 2 hi is very short!!! Like a 1/2"? I just changed the T case gear oil in the Spring, with GL-5 oil. Maybe I should try a synthetic gear oil in the T case, such as Amsoil??? I know the NP205 has a bullet proof reputation; however, the grinding I have done the last few days has me worried. I probably did 10 years of wear on the t case I will probably tear it apart (if I have time) when I yank out the A518, for a Dave Goerand trans rebuild. Any suggestions as to a 4x4 shop in the mid west, to handle an NP 205 rebuild? I am in IL; 20 mi north of Chicago. I don't know if Dave also handles t cases? I have to give him a call to arrange a time in the spring, to drop off my A518. Any input here is greatly appreciated!

 

Donty worry to much about the grinding. I did the same when i got mine. All is well. Shifting from 2hi into 4hi is short. When shifting from 4hi to 2hi dont try and do this sitting still. I found that if you start rolling up to at least 20-30km and just release the throttle to give the drive line slack it will come out of 4hi real smooth. With 4low dont try and come out with the wheels turned. Same thing it needs a bit of drive line slack. In neutral just starting to roll and it should come out. With 4hi you can go into it at any speed as long as the hubs are locked and you let off the throttle to give a little slack. Dont try and engage 4hi moving with the hubs unlocked. the frt drive shaft is not spinning and all you'll get is grinding. Never try for 4low when you a driving, you'll just get grinding. The 2 shafts you are trying to join a spinning at 2 different speeds. Hope this helps.

 

4lo is a pretty lame ratio in the 205....2:1 I think. Add that to tall-ish gears (3.54's and a fairly tall 1st gear in the 518 and, yeah, not too inspiring as far as slow crawling goes With an auto CTD, I don't think neutral is where you want to be to get 4lo. Try tcase in N, tranny in P then shove ahead to 4lo. Like tron says, it's all about having a little slack in the drivetrain and can be a pain right in the rear at times.

 

I was about to post something similar to this. Shifting from 2hi to 4hi is no problem, but shifting to 2hi from 4hi is really frustrating because it seemingly takes a lot of effort to push the shifter forward and I usually overshoot 2hi and end up in neutral. All this while I am trying to maintain momentum on a road, or even worse, in traffic. I am guessing it should not be this hard to push forward?

The instructions for shifting state that moving forward a small amount then shifting into reverse and moving a small amount can help out transfer case shifting, worked for me when it would not go back into 4hi the other day.

 

The 4hi and 2hi throw is very short. Mine was funny til I got the hang of it being my first 4x4. There are all kinds of tricks and tips to operating it. And it seem the more i used it the easier it is. 4hi-2hi works better when rolling. Always stop before shifting into 4lo. Backing up about 10 feet works for me when 4lo is stubborn. With the 5spd in 1st and in 4lo with the plow on its tempting to drive up stuff and push it over and thats with 3.07 gears.

 

Thanks all for the great t case input! I am definitely printing this out for future reference I think I just need some seat time, to get use to the NP205. G; I agree that 4 lo is very uninspiring!!!! - with my 3:56 diff ratio, and the auto factor. Man; that grinding really freaked me out Never did that too much on any other 4x4 I've owned. All have been manual's though. Thanks again for the feedback!