VSS damage

[mechmark2013]

Good day guys!

I've been lurking around here for awhile (quite a resource of information!) and have finally decided to post.

The VSS in my 99 Tahoe failed at about 187k miles, thinking it was age/mileage related I just replaced it and thought nothing of it. Then today on my way to the store I started getting the typical symptoms of a failing VSS (fluttering speedometer, erratic shifts, no shifting out of 2nd, etc). I crawled under the truck and removed the VSS from the rear of the transfer case and seen it had some physical damage on the tip of it...almost as if it had been rubbing on the speed gear. there is a little over 188k on the clock right now (should be about 500 miles on the new VSS actually).

Can I just put an O-ring or some sort of spacer on the shaft of the sensor to lift it off the speed gear a small amount? or might this be indicative of something much more sinister going on inside my transfer case? I unfortunately have the NP 246... any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SunlitComet]

I am going with sinister.

 

[mechmark2013]

Finally got around to digging into this problem further and thought I would update this for future reference. After a few hours in the garage and some troubleshooting it had become apparent that the rear output shaft bearing in the transfer case was on its way out. so I dropped the case from the truck and split it open. the bearing had worn and failed to the extent that it allowed the drive shaft to push the inside ring of the bearing forward, rubbing on and destroying the 2 vehicle speed sensors located in the transfer case tail housing.

The internals looked good so I replaced the bearing and reassembled the case, going to throw it back in the truck next weekend. Should this continue to be an issue I see a NV 241 swap in my future.

Thanks!