The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Transfer Cases ???

Well I have a choice now of a 1977 NP 203 or a 1968 Rockwell transfer case for my truck. I have a granny 4 spd currently hooked to the Rockwell, but the 203 has a Turbo-350. I am leaning towards the 4 spd and rockwell, as they appear to be a more solid unit (gears!!!) Vice clutches and chains...
Any other feed back from the group??
Front axle will be Dana-44 and rear will be 10-bolt both from the 77 Scotsdale.
Thanks for all the great input!
Garry K in Port Orchard, WA
(PS) if I don't use the 350/203, any body interested in them?

I'd use the rockwell with 4 speed, sacrifice a little around town driveability for sheer fun and grunt, if you are actually using it for 4 wheeling, either one of those transfer cases will outlast that 10 bolt in the rear if you are running any tires bigger than 31s

Chris

I will have 35x12.50x15's on the truck, so I may hang on to the Toyota 8" that I have if that is a stronger axle.... WOuld be interested if it is actually a stronger axle. I have the 8" mountedright now, but it is the 5 lug version, not the 6 lug, so will need to find an axle doner to put 6 lug and drums on it.
Garry K

Nope that Toyota 2wd chunk is more or less junk when it comes to 35s. You'll be okay with the 10 bolt, I was just saying that the transfer cases are not your weak link in this build, your rear axle is.

However for anyone that cares, 79-84 Toyota front and rear axle housings are the exact right width front and rear. You can do your own "napco" type conversion to a half ton with a toyota 4x4 donor truck and an adapter to hook the toyota transfer case up to your open tranny from advance adapters.

Chris

Thanks Chris,
Do you happen to have the face to face measurement on the Toy axles? I am curious as to the possibility of swapping a Toy 4x4 rear in place of the 10 bolt, I may have a guy who is willing to swap axles, but I would like to know the width before I commit. Thanks, Garry K
PS, that makes for another chois of just rear-ends for guys wanting an open driveline, and more choices for gears, and on a Toy 8" with the drop out third-member, just like the Fxxd 9" makes gear swaps very inexpensive and very eeasy.
Garry K in Port Orchard, WA

I'll have to go out an measure one, but it is right around 59"-60". I have done one of these conversions for a guy using an SM420 to the 235 bellhousing divorced NP205 transfer case with toyota axles front and rear and six lug "artillery style" wheels, looked very cool just like a NAPCO, should have taken pics. I have heard he rolled it and am trying to track him down to buy the salvage.

Toyota steering box can be used for power steering, I am not sure why that swap is not common for the rear end cause it has the same bolt pattern. The drop out chunk makes it very easy with ratios from 3.23-4.33 (4.10 in almost every 4 cylinder truck) readily available from the factory and toyota gears are cheap from US gear ($150), factory electric lockers are available in later model 4 runners, too.

Chris

Do either one of you know anything about the Toyota Tundra V8 rear ends, measurements, durability, perch mounts? I am curious how this would hook up to an AD truck.

Just curious.

Tundra is much wider like 67 or 68 inches. Its plenty strong. Not sure about perch width, just move em if you need to. What is your drive train?

I wouldn't say a toyota pickup/4 runner axle is the strongest, but there are plenty of fools with HiPo V8s, autos and 35s on stock toyota axles, the bearings usually go due to load before anything else.

Chris

Garry K

i hope you don't mind a bit of a thread jacking but...

i have a '52 3/4 ton and i want to keep my inline 6, use a manual 5 speed transmission and have a passenger side drop transfer case because... i have a good line on a donor truck with an NP205 in it.

what transmission can i use, as far as i can tell the np205 won't mate up to the t-5 that is the easiest 5 speed OD to use. does anyone make an adapter plate. is there a bell housing that will let me use an NV4500? i'm only educated enough on this to ask a few questions, all suggestions and info, no matter how trivial it seems, is appreciated.

No Problem Baldredhead, If your donor had a divorced t-case, then all you have to do is hang the t-case, make a short shaft to connect the T-5 to the T-case, then have new drivelines built to connect to your axles. If you were able to get a T-5 out of a 4.3L S-10 that was already 4x4, then they come with an aluminum t-case already attached. While this may hold up against a 235, it is nowhere near as strong as a 205...
You also could find a divorced Dana 20, as most of them were passenger side drop T-cases used for aftermarket 4x4 conversions...
Garry K in Port Orchard, WA

gary

thanks for the info

i do have a t-5 with a t-case out of an s-10 (np207 i think), but it's driver side drop. i don't think it was a 4.3 liter, probably the 2.6. the potential donor is a k5 blazer which as i understand didn't have a 205 from the factory, or did it? by buddy has an 87 and it doesn't but the one in ? is an 86.

i always wondered what exactly a "divorced" t-case is. that would be an easy solution in this case

i'd like to yank the 205 from the blazer and put it on the t-5. a gross mismatch in strengths i know, but it's not going to be a wheeler so i think the t-5 will hold up fine for now. i checked advanced adapters, couldn't find anything so i sent an email, we'll see.

-bryan

I assume you want the 5 speed for the overdrive.

I am at a loss to think of a 5 speed that goes between the stovebolt bellhousing truck and an NP205 because an NV4500 does not have the right mounting pattern. I think you could put a T5 in front of a passenger side drop NP241.

I believe you could get an NP833 4 speed overdrive with an NP205 behind it in an early 80s 6.2 diesel 4x4.

Give me a night to think about this. I am thinking AA makes an adapter for jeep T5s to an NP205, but I will have to dig through my catalogs.

Chris

i checked the AA website: there is an adapter to go from jeep t-5 to np23? can't remember exactly which one.

you are correct, i want overdrive. right now i can't even keep up with the other old beatup trucks on the expressway, let alone the freeway

I've been trying to find a way to do it with little luck. I guess it depends on how much money you want to spend. You could find a later eaton rear chunk 4.10 or 3.90 would make a real difference with your current setup and then install the T5 to improve your top speed.

If you want to spend a bunch of money with AA you can adapt a WC T5 to a toyota passenger side drop transfer case (the transfer case is cheap).

How about keeping your SM420 adapting it to the NP205 and putting a ranger gear splitter in front of it (big bucks)?

I am just throwing these ideas out, none of them are cheap.

Do you want 4wd for wheeling or just the look? Are you wanting to keep it 8 lugs?

Chris

chris

i picked up the donor truck last night. whatever t-case is in there isn't a 205. 208 maybe i don't know.

i have been keeping my eyes out for the lower ratio pumpkins but they're pretty rare, thus the emphasis on the OD trans.

which toyota t-case does the AA work with? know how much it is? as far as i know, the WC and non-WC t-5s share mounting dimensions, so the adapter might be an option. land crusier or mini truck t/c? i also have an fj62, not going to cannibalize it but i have some familiarity with them.

i do want to stay 8 lug because i want to preserve the load carrtying capability of the truck. converting to 5 or 6 lug gear would solve many of my problems. mostly this will be a goofing off vehicle, i'm not a rock crawler but it might see snow, fire trails etc at some time in the future.

Details on the donor truck? It may be fairly simple to hook it up.

The front axle from the donor is gonna be real wide compared to your stock rear axle assembly.

AA says there adapter only works with WC T5s, not sure why, it works with the mini truck transfer case which is a really good transfer case.

Here's another idea, remember we are talking about a stovebolt with a whopping 120 hp. How about a samurai transfer case. It is a divorced transfer case and you could stick it behind the T5. That may be a driver's side drop.

the donor truck is a project truck i bought mostly for the axles: 1986 blazer, 14 bolt rear with a detroit locker, and a 3/4 ton d44 up front (might be locked in some way too, haven't investigated). the guy i bought it off of didn't build it, so i don't exactly believe all of what he cliams. supposed to have a th400 trans, but i don't want an automatic anyway.

i think 120 hp out of my engine is optimistic

samurai t-case, interesting. i know nothing about them but i'll start looking.

thanks again

Well I got lucky, and the rear in my donor truck is not a 10 bolt but a 12 bolt! Thant is the good news.
The bad news is that the 350 that I was going to freshen up that was in the donor truck has two broken rods and a trashed crank-shaft...
Oh well, back to the drawing board...
Garry K

Hay baldredhed
do you kneed overdrive wen the truck is in 4x4
or just on the highway?.

If just on highway then use SM465 to NP205 and then add one of the numerouis overdrives avilible on the back.

you could also get on good terms with a good machinest and he could make trhe neccesry parts to hook t5 to np205

also sombody makes a kit to use the np203 trany gear box backwards on the front of np205 wich gives you a huge overdrive

luke

OD is just needed for the highway. the aftermarket overdrives are out of my budget unfortunately.

np203 backwards huh, interesting.

Just the gear box off the np203 is used with an adapter between trany and np205. The rest of the np203 You throw away.
I have no idea how much the adapter would cost
but it is made by O.T.T. Industries.
and gives you a 0.5:1 Overdrive
wich means you might want to keep your axles at 4.11 or evan 4.56.
operating the NP203 transfer case in reverse makes for a hotter running and noisier unit, but with the addition of tapered roller bearings on the idler shaft, Thay say you should have no problems with it.

what about taking the tailshaft from a saginaw 3 speed OD, and switching that with the tailshaft of the SM465?

i think theres a way to do so...? so that you would have OD whil in 2HI, but leave it alone with you're in 4wd...-shrug-. i dunno. i'm considering all of the above options also..lol

.later days.
.desperado.
.sam.