96 Country...242 or 242J?

Ok I just aquired another xj..a 96 Country(canadian). Now when I bought it it had a blown xfercase and was told that the current xfercase on it was not the original. Now the case on it is a 242 with a housing over the rear tail shaft. The 242J I just bought off a 1996 country in ohio has an exposed rear tail shaft(no housing around it)and it was the original case from the factory. So the question is, was the 96 country equipped with the 242 or the 242J, does it make a difference, and what the heck was different about the canadian version(jeep lists separate parts for the canadian model(export/police group). Now obviously I know that the speedo cable for the km cluster will be different, but other than that im in the dark...

Jeep t-cases are stamped NPxxxJ, and older ones NPxxxAMC. All 96's should have the exposed tailshaft setup. You may have gotten a leftover case in one of your XJs.

--Matt

The one with the tailcone housing covering the output shaft is the earlier design that Jeep used through 1995.