Afraid of NP246 Failing?

[UrbanSuburban]

So just this past week I bought a 1999 Chevy Suburban LS 4x4 5.7. I love it so far, but while searching for common issues and pattern failures to look out for, I found that the NP246 transfer case that the truck is equipped with has a tendency to fail because of pump rub which causes a pinhole in the transfer case. My suburban has not experienced this yet despite having a few leaks around the tails shaft and the speed sensor. Has anyone experienced this? The truck has 160k miles on it and has been well maintained for the most part. Should I be worried about this failing? I bought the truck to be my daily driver, reliable, get-anywhere type vehicle for the next few years, so I hate hearing that it may need an expensive component to keep it on the road especially being that I bought it so recently. Any thoughts?

 

[90W7]

So just this past week I bought a 1999 Chevy Suburban LS 4x4 5.7. I love it so far, but while searching for common issues and pattern failures to look out for, I found that the NP246 transfer case that the truck is equipped with has a tendency to fail because of pump rub which causes a pinhole in the transfer case. My suburban has not experienced this yet despite having a few leaks around the tails shaft and the speed sensor. Has anyone experienced this? The truck has 160k miles on it and has been well maintained for the most part. Should I be worried about this failing? I bought the truck to be my daily driver, reliable, get-anywhere type vehicle for the next few years, so I hate hearing that it may need an expensive component to keep it on the road especially being that I bought it so recently. Any thoughts?

I've never had to deal with the pump rub issue. I have heard of it tho.

I know on the trucks when people leave the T-case In auto especially in the winter all the engaging/disengaging causes acellerated wear which can be seen by how dark/black the T-case fluid will turn. Gm acknowledges this in a bulletin so it's best to pick either 2wd or 4wd for extended use.

There is also a software update for the transfer case that allows the clutches to engage further to reduce slipping/wear.


I don't blame you for wanting to take care of it. I just put a np246 in my brothers 01 Silverado and it cost about $1,200 with a $500 core charge so we had to pay $1, 700 up front and got the $500 back when we returned the core.

I would recommend checking the diff and T-case fluids everytime you change engine oil.


Sent from my throttle body injected galaxy note3