219 to 208?

[Woody Long]

I have a NP219(QT) in my Wag right now, but I would like to run with bigger tires ~35"~. I picked up a parts Wag that should have a NP208 (the floor shifter has 2Hi, 4Hi, N, 4Lo) I was wondering what would be the better of the two. the NP208 has locking hubs too, do I have to lock the hubs to be in four wheel drive? What happens when I shift out of 4WD into 2WD with the hubs locked?

What are the charceristics of both?

[joe]

Do the 208 swap. It's a much tougher tcase. No expensive VC to deal with. Granted unlike your present 219 tcase though you will 'not' be able to run in 4WD in dry non-slick roads but it's no big deal. Just shift on the fly(with hubs locked) in/out of 4WD when needed.
Yes for 4WD to be functional you need to have the hubs locked or your drive train won't be connected to the front wheels. When going back to 2WD you can leave the hubs locked...won't hurt anything. The front wheels will turn the front diff "theoretically" causing poorer gas mileage and added wear to the front axle but on an old rig it's pretty much a moot point. When I lived in snow country I just locked the hubs in about Nov and unlocked them again bout March.