np203 only has 3 gears please help

[thecutt]

Hey yall i have a question about the np203 in my 78 chevy k10. I recently bought the truck and it had no drive shaft when I bought it I am currently stationed in San Diego and not really in need of a front drive shaft out here. anyway I never bothered to check the transfer case out when i got it because of the lack of drive shaft...... well I just went and tried it out to see if it would at least spin the front when i put it in 4x4 but when i did it i found there were only three gears for me to put it in instead of the usual 5 it will go into one that will act as 4x4 and will go into 2wd and has a natural but that's it. Is that a big problem or not? I understand i might sound like a total idoit but I would rather sound dumb and find the answer than end up on the side of the road some where. thank yall for any advise on the matter

 

[burnhedge]

The np203 is a full time transfer case although a aftermarket part time conversion was added to many. It has a internal diff that locks in lo loc and hi loc. In hi and lo the front and rear are independent. With no front shaft I'd say all or none of the power is going to the rear in hi and lo.

If you have a conversion your shift pattern will be different but I'm sure the diff is why you seem to be missing gears.

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[thecutt]

well that's what I was reading that without the front shaft all the power is just going to the back tires but even with out the front shaft and no power going to the front I would assume that I would still be able to put it in the other gears even if I didn't move at all but its like there is no gear for it to go in.

 

[burnhedge]

If you're saying that the shifter won't move into some positions, then pull the boot and spray the crap out of the linkage with a lubricant.
Also make sure the trans is in neutral when shifting


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[thecutt]

its not getting stuck in certain positions im saying it will go all the way to the top where the shifter says lo loc and it will go into natural and it will go all the way to the bottom where it says hi loc on the shifter but there seems to no in between there is no regular lo or hi gear for it to go it just slips past them when no notch or anything for it to go into. that's the issue im having with it. I cant think of any reason why there wouldn't atleast be a slot for it to go into.

 

[burnhedge]

I see, I'm not sure how it would act with no front shaft.
Have you looked under it to make sure both rods going from the t -case to shifter "box" are connected?

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[thecutt]

I have not looked under it to see if both rods are connected. I am really just learning this stuff as I go and honestly wouldn't even know what to look for haha but I will try to get under it and find out when I can.

 

[burnhedge]

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[Craig 85]

My 79 had a 203 with a part time kit. There was no real detent feel when it was to 2 Hi and 2 Lo and was fairly easy to pass right through to Neutral. Many times I had to pull it back into those gears.

 

[smitty87]

I recently bought a K20 with a 203 in it and thought I had the same issue. After crawling underneath and making sure everything was hooked up as it should be and after putting the transmission in neutral and rocking the truck back and forth a bit I was finally able to shift the transfer case into "Lo Loc & Hi Loc". It was very difficult to get them in either of those gears at first but could have been because the previous owner just didn't used 4x4 much.