2 questions for friends.... trannys and beadlocks....

[Poohbair]

Couple of questions from friends...
One want's to do the home weld on beadlocks. Does anyone here run them, and what kind of luck have you had with them? Do they leak alot? What brand would you recommend?

Now, another friend just bought an 85 Blazer, all stock, 350/700R4/208
He wants to rebuild the motor or swap a diff motor in. The 700R4 shifts kinda soft. He wants to run a healthy motor, 8" lift, and 38" swampers. Will be driven alot on the street, but see some mud use, etc... I told him to just ditch the 700R4 / 208 and go with a TH400 and a 205. What would you guys recommend? I think it would be cheaper and have a stronger product to just to to the 400/205.

 

[cybrfire]

I run the weld on bead locks and I make them myself so I would have to say I recommend mine. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif Mine have been on for quite some time and no leak down at all. Of course that all depends on your welding abilities. It isn't hard though. Maybe some of the other guys on here can tell you if they like mine or not.

Your other question about the tranny/transfercase swap. I would say if mileage isn't a concern then go for the swap. I doubt mileage is important if your friend wants to run 38's. You can probably make the 700 good enough to last for a while but its quite a bit more expensive than the 400 to rebuild and more problematic when heat from heavy usage comes into play. Now you could go with a 400/208. That is a pretty common combination. Easy to find parts for. Lighter, lower range. You can use dodge parts to convert the slip yoke output of the 208 to fixed yoke somehow. It's been covered on here. Other than that I think the consensus is they can be a good tcase.
Nothing wrong with the 205 either but that combination gets kina rare sometimes. It fetches a good price too.