Transfer Case Blues

Hi, new to the forum.
Bought a 1989 D50, 4x4 for a project and it sat forgotten a couple of years. The 4 wheel drive selector was stuck in 2 wheel.
In the process of replacing the 2.6L rear seal, I began removing the manual transmission and transfer case. When i drained the fluid from the transfer case the plug brought some links from the Front/Rear Output shaft chain. I grabbed a magnet rod and continued to pull out ubout 8 of these odd shaped pieces that I soon found out went to making up the chain. There were 3 small pieces of broken material, ( largest no bigger than 1/32" square ), that may be from a gear.
The part number for the chain is HV-104 and all my searching came up with almost $400.00 replacement.
I haven't cracked open the case yet, not sure if it's worth it.
May open it up just to remove the leftover chain that is inside and continue under 2 wheel drive for a while.
Is there a better place to get the chain? Or a better place to get a rebuilt case for the same price? I don't mind finding a good used t-case and doing my own rebuild.
Any ideas?
Thanks, all.

If your truck is an automatic you should swap in a NP231 or NV241 from a Jeep with a short input, these cases can be had with low miles for around $100 and they are a bolt up. They have a better low range too so offroad the truck will be more capable and not have to work as hard to climb. Look for one off of a TJ or XJ because it will have a place for a speedometer where the JK gets it's speed from the wheels and would require a Dakota Digital GPS Speedometer interface (these are awesome by the way).
You will need to get driveshafts made but the total cost will be much less money than you're looking at in your above post plus you'll have a fresher more supported T-case and fresh driveshafts which will likely make a world of a difference vs your old parts.

Thanks for the info.
Unfortunately the truck is a manual 5 speed, transmission is a KM145. I found out that all Mitsubishi t-cases use the same drive chain. I can get a newer truck or montero and take out the chain for the cost of $125. Much cheaper. But, I think I'll wait for the correct one to show up and rebuild with new seals and bearings.
Till then I will fix the engine rear seal and use only 2 wheel dirve.
I only have one concern. Will the gear oil make it into the upper part of the t-case without the chain in constant movement? My fix will be to take the broken one out.
Thanks for the help.

My question to you is your removal and installation of the km145. I had a little trouble with the front of the transmission and clutch arm hitting the floorboards when trying to remove it. It took 20 minutes of raising and lowering and wiggling to finally pop it loose. Any problems for you removing and installing and any tips on when to jack up and push forward to reinstall? I'm guessing as close as possible to the engine bell housing and jack straight up to reinstall.

Done:))