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What is the posibility of making a 1952 6400 have four wheel drive? I'm thinking about using all season for a farm truck, and here in MO that means 4WD.

Anyone tried it yet?

You need to get the rear end ratio, match it with the front, then get transfer case that fits up to your trans., then one needs to get the wheel diameters, 20's are obsolete, so look at 22.5's figure out what wheel bolt-pattern will fit everything?

Ed
,

Is this general knowledge or has someone done this?

4WD on a 161", or ~143", or ~128" wheelbase?

General knowledge.
4wd conversation are rather common in the light duty spectrum. Medium duty is another story. Very few medium duty trucks are 4wd from the factory, making parts hard to find and insanely expensive.
A front axle rated for 8000 lbs cost $8000-14,000 new. As stated gear ratios will need to match.
I have a pipe dream 1964-66 C60 4wd. Parts list includes a divorced transfer case (so I can use any 2wd transmission) np205 or np202 (found in 4wd 2 ton IH) and derating capacityand going with a Dana 60 front (rated at 6000 lbs).
The next issue is bolt pattern. And if you can live with two different patterns or if you get wheel adapter, most likely custom.
It will be just a little easier with the truck already having a straight front axle.
A few things like differential and drive shaft clearance, steering linkage need to be taken into account.
There are very few who have done it. And those that have usually say they wouldn't do it again. But you only live once right?

The best/cheapest way to make 4x4 would be to get the T-case and axles, drivelines, from a military 2.5 ton truck.

4X4 back in the day used Timken or Rockwell axles,with a divorced Timken t-case, but finding a decent parts. would be tough.
IMO.
Tom

I don't have the truck yet, so I don't have particulars like diff. ratio and wheel base. Sounds like more than I can take on. I have a four wheel drive truck for the off road stuff, but I was looking at the feasibility of eliminating one vehicle. It isn't that important, just an idea. Thanks for everyone's input.

A fellow Stovebolter found a 1954 2 ton NAPCO 4x4 conversion. He swapped the 4x4 stuff into a 1951 6100, bolted right in following original NAPCO install instructions.
I'll try to find some pictures.

Otherwise you're probably better off forgetting about 4x4 or finding a different newer 4x4 vehicle and just using it as is.

Maybe easier to put the old body on a newer 4wd chassis.
Jeffrey

Boyce equipment in Utah has takeout Rockwells for 1500. May be a little wide though. They'll shorten them for 300 bucks.

GMC Topkicks had beefed up Dana 70's. May be a little light for what you want.

Here's the truck Grigg is referring to.

Just make sure you have as bada$$ a golf cart as Billy Marlow does to push it around when it dies ...

Trucks like you are talking about do exist. Most were custom are for highway departments and rusted out due to the salt spread on the roads. If you can find the remains of one and transplant the mechanical parts onto a truck with a good frame and body, you would have what you're looking for. I would start checking junk yards to see what's there.

I currently have a 4x4 I'm using, but the idea ws to get rid of it and use the 6400 if 4x4 wasn't too difficult to do. Looks like it is more than I want to tackle.

I'll throw in another vote for the Rockwell option. It's easier to get axles with matching gears that way, and fairly easy to get rims that you can actually still buy tires for.

How about the GM military trucks from the late 40's, certainly narrow axles and appropriate size or weight capacity compared to later military stuff.
How easy would an AD cab replace the 40's cab?
Or again just use whichever truck as it is.

Grigg, you bring up a couple of good points. The WW2 G506 Chevy drivetrain has axles that are quite narrow, and could work under an AD cab. I would hate to see some rare driveline parts being consumed in an a non-g506 application though! Another good donor would be the later m-211 or m-135 Korean war GMC 2 1/2 ton truck. These models have the same axle width as a WW2 Chevy but include some technological upgrades. The best part with the M-211/135 is that most of them were built with an automatic transmission that is an Achilles heel for that model leading to most being sent to the great scrapyard in the sky. Complete dead transmission M-211/135's can be found for under $2000. Gear ratio is 6.67 for the Chevy and 6.17 for the GMC so don't plan on getting anywhere fast.

Below is an image of the frontend on my 42 G-506:
[img]http://www.surfacezero.com/g503/data/3285/medium/IMG_13744.JPG[/img]

Tin looks same as '41-'47.1 GMC.

Ed

Speaking of,
Here's an M211 front axle for you