so ive looked around online and on here for about 3 days, and i cant find exactly what im looking for. here is my plan. i have a 2wd chevy 1500. its a 1998 ext cab with a 5.7 and the 4L60E 2wd transmission. i found a company called sky manufacturing and they have the front cross member for the leaf springs and i can get the rear hangers there. im thinking about a ford dana 44 high pinion front axle and a ford 9" rear running 3:55 gears. i figure if i could find someone parting out an old bronco, id be set with the axles. now the tricky part. i have a great running motor and the transmission shifts great. so instead of switching to a 4wd tranny and adding in the transer case, i was debating on getting an old ford divorced transfer case. now i know that the idea will work and its possible as ive seen people with boggers do this. but i want this truck to be road worthy as it is my DD. am i going to run into any problems with this setup for DD use?
sell it and buy a 4x4
k...really appreciate that advice, but that didnt pertain to my question....there is a reason im doing it to this truck and not buying a different one, thanks tho.
sounds like a good idea, I wonder if you cant keep your 2wd trans, and just remove the rear tailshaft...............I know there's some way to convert 2wd trans to 4wd.
If you did, then just run a stock NP241 T-case that was used behind another 4L60E.
If you wanna stay 6 lug then get a semifloat 14 bolt used in 1988-2000 C/K trucks...............its 6 lug........and alot stronger than a ford nine inch. These were popular in trailer prep packaged ext cabs, and (light 3/4 ton trucks that were 6 lug)
I know your a FORD guy, but I would try to keep it all GM as much as possible.....................Using the ford 44 front axle is understandable.
Nothing wrong with DD'ing a 205... Not a ford guy but dont ford 44's have coil spring mounts instead of leafs?
as long as you keep the driveline angles safe you will be fine. You will have to get custom driveshafts built out of yours and get them rebalanced for onroad use.
wow, good point with the dana 44. didnt even cross my mind that it was coil spring. yes ive always been a ford guy but the reason for going with the divorced transfer case and ford axles wasnt just because i like fords, it was so i can keep my tranny i have now. im def gonna look into converting my trans to 4. wouldnt it be nice if they just made this simple and i was able to take the tail shaft off? lol, love how they try to make this more difficult for us. anyways, if i decide to go with a chevy transfer case and such, what front axle should i look into?
Ive never checked much into doing the swap to that new of a truck, if you can put a np208 on your trans should beable to run a dodge 44 or chevy 10 bolt... whatever you do you will probably want the matching kind of axle for the rear so you dont have to run 2 different lug wheels ==roll
what about steering? i have a hard time believing that the steering box or anything else should be in different spots but who knows, i might as well ask. am i going to run into any strange situations here i will want to be prepared for?
just did a couple quick searches and a lot of people are talking about swapping the output shafts on the 4l60e transmissions. aparently its a pretty big job so ill probably end up sticking with the divorced transfer case idea. which puts me back to the ford axle idea.
the steering box you are better off doing a crossover system from what Ive heard. Put the steering arm on the passenger side and run a drag link (or whatever its called) over to it. Otherwise your leaf spring is in the way of hooking it up to the driver side.
another thing running from the 4l60e to a divorced ford case, if you get a shaft made make sure it holds the u-joint that fits your trans at one end and the ujoint for the old ford at the other end or else you will have to get adapter ujoints n those are pricey.
Pretty sure divorced 205's are fixed yoke too so your front & rear driveshaft will have to be 2 piece.
On my 91 chevy it has a older ford high pinon dana 44 and a older steering box on the frame and just uses a drang link to the steering arm on the drivers side. And works just fine.
Quote from: 73chevytruck on March 18, 2012, 04:43:10 PM
On my 91 chevy it has a older ford high pinon dana 44 and a older steering box on the frame and just uses a drang link to the steering arm on the drivers side. And works just fine.
any chance you could post a pic of this setup?
Buy this kit right here
http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/88-98SolidAxleConversion.htm (http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/88-98SolidAxleConversion.htm)
Use a ford high pinion front with springs, and a sterling rear. Sell your 2wd trans and buy a 241 with a 700r4 or 4l60 whatever. Cut a hole in the floor and install a shifter, just go to the junkyard and cut one out of the floor of some junker and weld it into your floor neatly. Your 2wd steering box is exactly what you need, just make it cross-over. Pretty simple, and thats a pretty rugged set-up, all 3/4 ton. Wish I had done mine that way, but no, I had to be cheap and make a 4wd the hard way. ;D
I can try and get a picture neither nonight or tomorrow after work
Quote from: old school truck dude on March 18, 2012, 05:22:08 PM
Buy this kit right here
http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/88-98SolidAxleConversion.htm (http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/88-98SolidAxleConversion.htm)
Use a ford high pinion front with springs, and a sterling rear. Sell your 2wd trans and buy a 241 with a 700r4 or 4l60 whatever. Cut a hole in the floor and install a shifter, just go to the junkyard and cut one out of the floor of some junker and weld it into your floor neatly. Your 2wd steering box is exactly what you need, just make it cross-over. Pretty simple, and thats a pretty rugged set-up, all 3/4 ton. Wish I had done mine that way, but no, I had to be cheap and make a 4wd the hard way. ;D
the 241 transfer case is drivers side drop???
Quote from: ~SwampRAT~ on March 19, 2012, 07:39:47 AM
Quote from: old school truck dude on March 18, 2012, 05:22:08 PM
Buy this kit right here
http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/88-98SolidAxleConversion.htm (http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/88-98SolidAxleConversion.htm)
Use a ford high pinion front with springs, and a sterling rear. Sell your 2wd trans and buy a 241 with a 700r4 or 4l60 whatever. Cut a hole in the floor and install a shifter, just go to the junkyard and cut one out of the floor of some junker and weld it into your floor neatly. Your 2wd steering box is exactly what you need, just make it cross-over. Pretty simple, and thats a pretty rugged set-up, all 3/4 ton. Wish I had done mine that way, but no, I had to be cheap and make a 4wd the hard way. ;D
the 241 transfer case is drivers side drop???
Yup
Quote from: old school truck dude on March 19, 2012, 10:14:49 AM
Quote from: ~SwampRAT~ on March 19, 2012, 07:39:47 AM
Quote from: old school truck dude on March 18, 2012, 05:22:08 PM
Buy this kit right here
http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/88-98SolidAxleConversion.htm (http://offroaddesign.com/catalog/88-98SolidAxleConversion.htm)
Use a ford high pinion front with springs, and a sterling rear. Sell your 2wd trans and buy a 241 with a 700r4 or 4l60 whatever. Cut a hole in the floor and install a shifter, just go to the junkyard and cut one out of the floor of some junker and weld it into your floor neatly. Your 2wd steering box is exactly what you need, just make it cross-over. Pretty simple, and thats a pretty rugged set-up, all 3/4 ton. Wish I had done mine that way, but no, I had to be cheap and make a 4wd the hard way. ;D
the 241 transfer case is drivers side drop???
Yup
lol....it was late last night and idk why i even asked, obvisiouly it was drivers side drop or you wouldnt have told me to go with a ford front.
I have a sterling rear, its 10.25, very tough
the 78-79 f250 dana 44 have leafs on the front. but they are 8 lug. then you could get a cheap 14 bolt for the rear. but expect to spend around 3,000$ to get it good and road worthy I did a sas on my 97 with 1 ton ford axles and fabbed all the brackets my self I have right around 3k into the whole swap. also with a 44 front you have to machiene the pass side steering knuckle for cross over steering the 2wd and 4wd steering boxes are the same on 88-98 gm
(http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac23/josephis09/CIMG0310.jpg)