Dana 24 popping out of 2wd

[rabbithunter2005]

So a couple weeks ago I went on a road trip across the state of pa to pick up an engine for a friend and as we were driving down the turnpike my truck popped out of gear. I thought I lost the transmission first but soon realized that my transfer case popped into neutral. I thought my buddy who was driving bumped it with his leg. Well it turns out throughout the whole 400 mile round trip it popped out 4 times. I thought maybe it was me going too fast cause we were almost at 80mph which my truck is screaming with the 410 gears even tho I have a 5 speed with .800 overdrive on it. So we slowed down to 65mph and it didnt pop out once the rest of the way back. Fast forward to yesterday. We were making a junkyard run and all of a sudden it started popping out of 2wd into neutral again just out of the blue. It did it twice yesterday and 3 times today. What's going on. Is this something worth fixing or should I be looking for a np205. As much as I want a 205 I just can't find one for a reasonable price around here and at this point there are no divorced 205s on craigslist near where I live.

[cstoyer]

Try moving the shift linkage through the modes and note how much retention there is at each point, positive or vague. The shift rails have detent springs and metal balls that drop in slots on the shift rails depending on what mode, 2W, 4L, or 4H. Maybe the springs are week or the the bolt back out allowing the shift rail to move under load. There should not be a lot of load on the shift forks and rails unless you have some bearings going bad. If you find an issue with detent spring and ball several companies make an adjustable detent spring and ball kits for the Spicer 24 and the New Process 205. Just a thought.

cstoyer

[Eric46]

I had the same issue after rebuilding my D24. I ended up using a spring to keep a bit of tension on the shift bar biased toward the 2H/4H side of the detent...wasn't much tension,but it doesn't pop out of gear.

CStoyer...do you have a source for the detent balls and springs?

Eric