np208?

[Irish_Alley]

Also the 203 is chain driven and you dont hear anything well that much bad about its chain

[fitz]

My 88 Jimmy had a 350/700R4/208 with a 4" lift and 33"s.
In 3 years I owned it (1991-1994)The damage done was:
Blew up 3 700R4's (finally switched to a turbo 350)
Bent the front 10 bolt (I liked to get airborn in it)
Blew up the rear 10 bolt 2 times (shredded the spider gears doing burnouts/donuts)
Cracked the rear frame at the shock mount (had the crack welded to fix it)
Ripped the shock mount off of the replacement 10 bolt front axle (another job for the welder)
Thats allot of damage done to the truck but that 208 worked perfectly throughout the abuse.
A 241 from a 89/90 blazer/suburban is a direct bolt in replacement for your 208. It's basically the same transfer case with a better oiling systen inside.

[Psycho71]

Interesting reading. I just got my transmission and transfer case out today and figured out that mine is an np208 as well. It's behind a th400. Both will get inspected and repaired as needed before they get installed. Not looking to beat on mine much, just maybe get it a little dirty now and then.

[frotosride]

frotosride, if you don't mind, what happened? In the Army I just happened to fall out of an airplane and broke my pelvis and sheared some tendons in my SI joints. Like you said, thank God, because I can also walk. I wish you a speedy recovery.

Don't mind at all..for all who like two wheels as well as four here's a story for you...On my was to work in march on the bike and a young man looked @ me and the wrecker in front of me. when i went to turn left in front of him is when i realized he never saw me because he pulled out. Thought it was over after bout 20 sec.(which seemed like a life time) but he was towing a trailer and thought it was what was slowing him down. little did he know it was me and my bike that begged his silverado for more of the skinny pedal. he pushed back into the lane i came from and thank God for the people getting out of their cars b/c thats the only reason he thought somethings wrong and actually stopped. That was my first time flying in the air (life flight) as opposed to under the water(submariner "pride runs deep".

[Altec]

Little late on the draw, but using Fitz's post as a example the 208 is one of the last weak leaks in the chain. The tranny, and axles are going to be a problem before the case will be. The 700R4 just has its limitations, and 1/2-ton axles will bite back at you if you are running hard enough to make the transfer case your concern. No real upgrades really. At least nothing worth investing in.

For what you described the 208 is plenty strong enough. A 203, or 205 is just over kill, and I think you'll like the deeper reduction of the 208 low-range. It'll make all the difference.

If you decide to upgrade later, I'd keep a couple things in mind. First is the NP203 is a full-time case. You can do part-time conversions though. Second both cases came in a few spline patterns. 10, 27, and 32. Your 700 has a 27 so you need to get a case that will match this. Although when you are getting into the range of needing a larger transfer case, I would go ahead and swap a Turbo 400 into it. This will use a 32 spline case. I also suggest building brackets to support these heavy pieces of iron. Also, if you want more reduction a 203/205 doubler is a option. Or a 241/205 doubler. But I'm rambling now.

[frotosride]

Thanks to all. i think i'm just going to slap it all together and do as most fix/upgrade as i brake it. I like the thought of doing a doubler later but i don't see me being stationed anywhere that will have any trails worth the time and money.

[Altec]

Just ran into this on Pirate. Good info!

Ratings for those are hard to find. Somebody emailed NV quite some time back, and asked what the specs were for the 205. The reply was that the original input spec was 1100lb-ft, later uprated to 1500lb-ft. Those are continuous ratings, no max was given. For comparison, the NP241 was rated 1028lb-ft continuous, 5555lb-ft max, which is a ratio of 5.4:1. If we apply that same ratio to the 205 (with the uprated specs), then the max input would be 8100lb-ft, which is higher than even the 271 and 273 cases used in the late Dodge Cummins.

The 203 range box can handle at least as much as the 205, but the chain is the weak link. 208's are probably somewhere in between the231's 730/1885 rating (continuous/max) and the 241's 1028/5555 rating.

I wouldn't get too hung up on this though. With the possible exception of the chain in a chain drive case, the weak link on any 32 spline input t-case is usually the output shafts.