1973 full time four wheel drive conversion

[tenderfoot]

Mine has the part time shaft kit. And I put a nipple-90-nipple-cap in the plug so I can fill it a little more fuller. I figure by doing that the gear box always has lube?

 

[Damn_cajun]

Yes, you can remove the front driveshaft and drive it without issues BUT that wont help the tcase leak.

If you decide to remove the shaft and it's still full time 4wd (not converted to part time) then you'll need to run the tcase in "HI LOC". Without the front shaft the regular "HI" position will send power to the path of least resistance (the missing front shaft) and the truck wont move.

I'm assuming the leak is pretty bad or you wouldn't have made this post. If you have to pull the tcase to reseal it you might consider adding a part time conversion kit to reduce parts wear and possibly gain a mpg or 2.

Btw, welcome! What part of Alabama? I'm down at the bottom.

76 K5, TH350, NP203. My 203 is stuck in gear and will not shift out of 4hi. I was going to remove the front shaft until I decided what I was going to do with the t-case. Probably going to swap it to a 205. But you mentioned making sure it's in Hi LOC? How would I know? I bought the truck and was never able to shift the t-case so I assume it's in 4hi but didnt know there was a HI Loc option.

 

[eric67camino]

76 K5, TH350, NP203. My 203 is stuck in gear and will not shift out of 4hi. I was going to remove the front shaft until I decided what I was going to do with the t-case. Probably going to swap it to a 205. But you mentioned making sure it's in Hi LOC? How would I know? I bought the truck and was never able to shift the t-case so I assume it's in 4hi but didnt know there was a HI Loc option.

If you took out the front driveshaft, you would definitely know. It wouldn't move at all because the power would flow to the disconnected front driveshaft flange, not to the rear drive shaft. To move, you would have to put it in HI-LOC to lock the front and rear together.

The shift pattern should be LO-LOC, LO, NEUTRAL, HI, HI-LOC from front to rear. If it's in HI now, as it should be for regular driving around, pulling it back one more notch would be HI-LOC.

 

[imiceman44]

76 K5, TH350, NP203. My 203 is stuck in gear and will not shift out of 4hi. I was going to remove the front shaft until I decided what I was going to do with the t-case. Probably going to swap it to a 205. But you mentioned making sure it's in Hi LOC? How would I know? I bought the truck and was never able to shift the t-case so I assume it's in 4hi but didnt know there was a HI Loc option.

To get it out you need to disconnect the rods on the shifter and adjust so in neutral the shift arms are straight down and aligned. As soon as you separate the arms can move and it will get out of gear