LT230 operation question/clarification

[Mercer360]

I'm sorry if this question is a little odd, but I don't have one of these handy to play with and I'm trying to make sure that I have the general operation understood. I'm thinking of using one of these in a project truck I'm building and have been reading everything I can on them.

So it's a full time 4wd transfer case with High and Low gear ranges and a lockable center diff(some don't, but I'm not interested in those for this). Now I'm familiar with other 4wd trucks so the simplistics of shifting/selecting the gear range I get. I'm assuming the the center diff only locks when Low gear is selected, but this is just from reading about it and looking at how the shifter is linked to both selector cogs.

What I'm really curious about is general driving. Is the shifter kept in High gear or the Neutral? The only experience I currently have with full time 4wd systems are the old BW1339 Quadra-Trac units from older Jeeps. These were essentially always in High gear and had a selector switch to lock the center diff and then had a separate shifter to select Low range(unless you had the 1305 unit w/o Low).

Again sorry for being ill informed. But I'm trying to get all the info I can before I break one because I don't know how it works. Thanks

 

[Disco Mike]

For what year and model?
Once you let us know, it will be easier to reply. For the most part, if you have a CDL 230 t/case, you always drive in high, high lock for off road mud and snow. Neutral is just that, no drive, it is more for a power take off box.
Low is just that, a very low gear for for pulling power when off road, as is low lock.
The lock position for either high or low splits the engine torques 50/50 right rear and left front tires for extra traction.
If you have a D2, then you will also have ETC for extra traction.

 

[Mercer360]

Sorry I believe it's from a '96 Discovery, but I may be off a year up or down. A buddy owes me a BIG favor, so I'm getting the complete running drivetrain from one that was wrecked beyond reasonable repair. And since I was already looking for another Rover V8 I figured this was a fair trade off. The offset on the t-case will work perfectly with the two FSJ Dana-44s I've got laying around also.

I had figured the Neutral was just that, but with the way some of my luck's been lately I would have been wrong. So I guess what I was missing is that it's a 5 position shifter(H, H-lock, N, L, L-lock) and I was thinking it was only a 3 position shifter. I should be able to figure it out once I get my hands on it, I'm just running through it all in my head for right now. Thanks for the info.

 

[Mercer360]

OK I get it now, I was thinking there were fewer shift positions involved. From that description it's a bit closer in operation to the old BW cases than I had thought.

I believe that this will be coming from a '96 Discovery, but I may be off a year up or down. I was in the market for another Rover V-8 and I fell over a full running drive train takeout for a price I can't refuse. I was originally going to just use the motor, then I found that the t-case drop was a match for the Dana-44s I was going to run and just figured I'd stay cheap and use the whole setup. I'm sure I'll figure out the shift pattern once I get my hands on it, but for right now I'm stuck bouncing this stuff around in my head. Thanks for the info.