242 won't stay engaged

HELP!! Driving home from the 25th anniversary event in Moab, my 242 t-case would occasionally pop out, make a grinding noise, and I could put it back into gear. It only happened a few times yesterday, but today it happened several times to the point that it won't engage in 2hi, 4hi (part-time or full-time), and only stays engaged in 4lo.
I replaced my motor mounts a few months ago, and have had a Tom Woods SYE and drive line for over a year now. I'm open in the front, and have a Detroit in the rear. I was a little low on fluid in the case and topped it off. The linkage operates and is intact.
Any help would be great!!

I wonder if you bent the linkage. Did you try adjusting it yet?

I haven't. However, there are small fragments in the fluid.

You probably ground the mode selector gears for everything but 4lo. I did the same thing. When it was popping out, you probably should have adjusted the linkage at that point. Check your linkage, but either way now you should probably open the case and check out the internals.

What is involved in a 231 swap? Does it require an adapter for the input shaft? I know there are more available options for mods like TerraLow 2:1 and 4:1.

What year and trans do you have? On most XJ's and ZJ's a 231 swap is a direct bolt in.

I've got a 1996 automatic, not sure of the exact type of tranny though.

sanjuanxj said:

What is involved in a 231 swap? Does it require an adapter for the input shaft?

Click to expand...

remove drive shafts
support tranny with jack and block of wood
remove crossmember
lower transmission a couple of inches
remove shifter assembly and old shift gate
unbolt 242 from tranny
bolt 231 to tranny
install new shift gate and reinstall shifter assembly
raise transmission
install crossmember
install driveshafts

you could do the swap in your driveway in a few hours