The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Ranger Over Drive

I'm working on starting a new project and wonder if anyone has any experience with the Ranger OD offered by advanced adapters.
Ranger OD
I'm curious as to just how the unit holds up, particularly under lots of towing, with a big torque engine that it might see in Bigbolt applications
The project involves putting a 426 cu in tractor motor in my 85 Crew cab dually.
Behind it I'd mount the ranger, then the original 465 muncie then the NP 205 transfer case.
The engine just barely falls under the torque limit for the ranger and I tend to well... push things to the limit some times. See for your self: Big hauls . If this project works well I think I'll do the same thing to an old big bolt maybe a 54 or a 58-59.

Search over on 4BTswaps.com there has been some recent and past discussion by several that have used them.

My opinion is if you're at the limit and like to push past it you need something stronger. They're not real cheap either.

Look for a brownie box to go behind the 465 and a divorced 205, there is a 3 spd and 4 spd models with overdrive. Some are not od units. Mine is the big one, I think a 7041 off the top of my head, it is a 4 spd with 2 underdrive gears, a 1:1 and then the overdrive. I would think that you can find one and get it mounted up and running for less than the price of the Ranger unit and have a stronger unit. You would have to find a divorced tcase too though. They were offered in some Dodge trucks, I have two so far, so I don't think that they are too rare.

The 465 in the SM465 stands for it's torque rating of 465 ft lbs. I think the Ranger is about the same rating torque wise.

The Muncie was used in GM's medium duty trucks with GVWR of 26000 lbs and many were abused beyond that weight wise.

I think you will be alright with the Ranger because the torque limit of it and your main box are close. Go too much over the 465+ ft lbs and something could break. I know that the SM465 can take a lot of flogging and keep on ticking. Never have seen the Ranger in action though.

What kind of "tractor motor" are you thinking of using?

Sounds like an interesting swap project.

The motor I want to use is an Allis-Chalmers 426 ci. Either the 3500 or the 670t or 670i. There's several different versions of the engine. The 670t and 3500 are turbo charged and the 670i is also intercooled. The engines were put in the D-21, 220, 7040 (which is pictured in tractor ) , 7045, 7050, 7060 tractors and some of the L2, and L3 Gleaner combines along with many piece of AC industrial equipment.
I'm leaning to the 3500 as I think the flywheel will much more easily fit a chevy clutch. But right now I'm open to any 426 cu-in Allis at the right price. According to the specs I pulled, the 670T is almost identical to the cummins 6BT in performance.

Thanks for the site Grigg it was helpful. One guy talked about using it behind a towing Chevy BB for several years before installing behind his 6 BT with no issues. It sounds like the ranger could work for me. And it is true the Sm 465 is only rated for 465 ft-lbs, while the ranger is rated for 420 ft-lbs. But we got aluminum housing vs cast and I personally think their is a difference in 30 year old ratings and todays ratings. I think manufactures today tend to lower safety factors to bare minimums and that's what I'm scared of.

I've heard of these macgyver37 do you know much about them? Where I might find one? How to tell them apart with out pulling the whole case apart or being able to spin the input and count the output? I thought about doing it that way but I don't know much about the unit, and wondered if the cost would be more by the time I get a divorced NP205, the brownie, a 2 wheel drive SM 465, and get all the drive shafts cut and balanced (Id need 4 instead of 2). My brother has a 2 wheel SM465 he'd probably sell me cheap but I know the divorced NP 205 cost $300 to $800. Also a bit worried about the length of the front drive shaft
I also thought about a Clark out of the chevy C-60, or an NV4500 or NV6500 getting a kit to marry the NP 205 to it, but clark OD are hard to find and the NV are expensive. Plus I like the idea/will need a splitter. Do you know how easy the brownie shifts, gear ratios, etc? When I hauled the C-7000 behind the 3/4 ton I could have used a gear in between each gear. I had to scream the little 350 to about 4000 to 4500 rpms to shift . And I'd start out by dropping the transfer case to low then shifting up then shifting out of low in the tranny. Was a lot of fun.

Farmer I have not finished putting my truck together so I can't tell you how easy it is to shift. I am going off of my dads experience when he drove oil field trucks etc, I would think that the new ranger unit is going to be better as far as shifting, but the spicer/brownie was used in gobs of trucks over the years so I would think that they weren't unreasonable to shift. The way I understand it is it can be used very similar to a 2 speed rear. There are some in cab videos on youtube of guys driving them. If you want to hot rod them, it takes some coordination and focus.

There are quite a few models they made, I was only interested in ones with the OD. The easiest way to tell them apart is the model number on the tag. I think you can get on google and search pics of each model too and get familiar with them visually. I found this guys site awhile back and it is very useful;

http://6066gmcclub.com/gmcguy/SM420.html

middle of the page is the chart for the auxillary trans. To decode the model number is much like the spicer regular transmissions, the first number is the torque spec x's 10, so my 7041 is rated to 700 ft lb, teh 4 is 4 speed and I honestly don't remember what the 1 is for, might be on that page I linked to.

As for making one work, one thing to consider is to make adapters to put the brownie on the back of your 4x4 465 and then hang your 205 off of it. Might be harder to do that than with drive shafts, depends on your abilities and tools at hand. I know my 7041 is physically big, it is essentially a full size 4 speed box with the shifter reworked to come out in a different spot.

Here is a page where a guy marries the aux to a BW trans;

http://www.werewoof.com/beast/drivetrain/drivetrain.htm

The truck it is going in is 2 wheel drive and I have plenty of room and wheelbase to put it most anywhere. Running a t case complicates things alot.

If the ranger unit is a bolt together kit and just involves pushing the trans and tcase back, doing driveshaft and shifter work, it sounds like it would be easier for sure. I am a stubborn cheapskate and I have a full compliment of machine shop equipment, so I would take a different route than most.