700r4/NP205 front driveshaft woes....aaaaagh!!

[Desert Rat]

Thought I had done lots of homework on this one...but....noooooooooooooooooooooooooo......

Ok, had a 700r4 built up ala Bowtie Overdrive style from a good local shop. The 76 Blazer had a TH350/NP205 setup. I had the shop swap in the Advance Adapters rear shaft and install the 700r4. They slid the crossmembers back and got everthing installed. So I'm getting ready to do the driveshafts. I'm going with a HAD 1350 CV setup for the back and had planned on doing the same for the front. However, now I find that the clearance on the front is waaaaaaaaay too close to the transmission pan to get a 1350 CV in there. In fact, it looks almost too close to get a stock 1310 CV back in. Now what the #$%^&* am I supposed to do? I dropped a dime to Jesse at HAD but haven't had a chance to talk to him again yet. Solutions? Anybody else have this problem? I know, I know, I should've done the spacer instead of the AA shaft, but too late for that now....

 

[sickquad]

Someone here on the board mentioned once that they had to cut into the pan and weld in a relief so it would clear. Doesn't sound like much fun to me, but it wouldn't be to hard to do.

Just got to try to do it without warping the pan. Maybe bolt it down to something flat during the welding and cutting phase. Then when it is all done anneal the entire pan to relieve the stress.

I don't know, sounds like something that maybe you should do on a spare pan.

-Chris

 

[Desert Rat]

I've been scrounging the Internet hoping to find a custom pan somewhere, or somebody who has made one but no luck so far.

 

[bdozeraz]

Had the same setup in a 72 blazer. The 1310 cv will just clear. I ran that for several years, broke a 30 spline dana 60 stub without hurting the driveshaft. Upgraded to 35 spline then broke the cv. Tried to install an atlass II, no way for the drive shaft to clear the tranny pan at all. Sold it and did a 203 205 doubler now have tons of room for the 1350cv.

Brent

 

[Desert Rat]

I'll have to chat Jesse at HAD up on that 1310. Maybe there is a version he makes that is tough enough to handle the D60 up front. Doubler? Hmmmmmmmm, been toying with that idea for a while. How bad was your driveline angle in the rear with the doubler?

 

[Leadfoot]

Someone here on the board mentioned once that they had to cut into the pan and weld in a relief so it would clear. Doesn't sound like much fun to me, but it wouldn't be to hard to do.

Just got to try to do it without warping the pan. Maybe bolt it down to something flat during the welding and cutting phase. Then when it is all done anneal the entire pan to relieve the stress.

I don't know, sounds like something that maybe you should do on a spare pan.

-Chris

That was me.

You might want to contact the transmission place and ask how much to swap back to stock shaft. It will cost some bucks in labor, but no parts should be needed (as long as they kept the stock 4x4 output shaft for you). You could then buy the spacer and sell the AA shaft to recoup some cost.

It will cost some $$$, but it will be piece of mind. I was planning on doing the same to run a stronger front shaft, but then decided to go with a full manual 4l80 instead....

 

[Desert Rat]

I already dropped big bucks to have it done. They would have to remove everything, break down the tranny, and put the old shaft back in. The cost would far exceed the cost of the shaft. I think I'm stuck with this. I'm hoping the 1310 CV clears. If so, I'm hoping that I can live with the 1310 without breaking it. I don't hard core rock crawl and I didn't swap in 35 spline outers in the D60 so maybe I'll be alright? Or, I can pay to have a custom tranny pan fabbed up. That might be my least expensive better solution.

 

[jekbrown]

i keep trying to tell 700+205 peeps to use the spacer like I did... my 1350 HAD fits just dandy, plenty of room for suspension compression to, and thats with a deep cast aluminum pan as well.

anyway, damage is done now. Only two things I can think of. Swap in the standard length shaft and use the spacer, or take your stock pan to a good fabricator and have them modify it. Sort of a band aid solution imo. A doubler would work to... or would it? is a 203 bolt-up with the AA shaft?
j

 

[big83chevy4x4]

the 203 and 205 output shafts are the same lengths, so a doubler will work.

id like to see how much room there is, can you take a pic? there really isn't much in that side of the pan.

 

[Desert Rat]

I'll shoot a pic of it. You know, I'm thinking that Missouri Offroad does some good fab work. they make some nice diff covers. I'm thinking it wouldn't be that hard to fab up a tranny pan since the 700r4 is basically a rectangle. In fact, I'm thinking that a good fab person could make up a deep pan with an angle on the driveline side that has a 45 degree angle down from the edge away from the driveline something like this \__l . You could even use a thicker piece of sheet metal for strength. I just fired off an e-mail to MOO. Here is a co. that fabs transmission pans so I know it could be done: http://www.stefs.com/20.htm

Here, I just shot this. It is a little blurry but you can get the idea:

 

[bdozeraz]

I'll have to chat Jesse at HAD up on that 1310. Maybe there is a version he makes that is tough enough to handle the D60 up front. Doubler? Hmmmmmmmm, been toying with that idea for a while. How bad was your driveline angle in the rear with the doubler?

My rear angle is not too bad. I'm running the same cv joint on both shafts and my front is 2" longer than the rear. I'm going to get a long spline slip yolk for a spare to use on either end.

Brent

 

[flatline]

take a rubber mallet and dent the pan until it clears!

 

[big83chevy4x4]

wow, looks a lot worse than i pictured in my head. but it looks like its just the corner that'll hit, shouldn't be too hard to make something work.

probably get a dshaft and bolt it on with the pan off and cut the pan till it clears and weld in a peice of 1/8" over the hole.

 

[surpip]

if it was me( well mabye not i dont have a torch) i would just my stock pan to make it fit..... just my .02 cents

 

[Desert Rat]

I used to have about 4 old front shafts laying around and I got rid of them. I'll have to find a 1310 CV somewhere and bolt it on to see how it goes. I'm wondering how much side to side the driveshaft will see. Up and down probably won't be too bad but any side to side movement and the pan gets whacked..... If I find somebody who can fab up a nice pan with an angle to it on that side, maybe I'll have them do a few of them and somebody else can fix their headache too.

 

[mr_clean]

I think I have a 1310 CV front in my rafters if you want to do a test fit. How close are you to Sacramento?

 

[jekbrown]

wait... good idea just popped into my head. Why not clock the t-case for a flat belly pan? This would move the shaft (not much, but some) towards the passanger side and maybe out of the way? Added benefit is way better clearance underneath...

j

 

[4X4HIGH]

I'm not so sure you could easily make a pan the way you hope with the angle and all because there is a valve body inside the pan along with an electrical switch that might prevent you doing such a thing. Just my .02

 

[Desert Rat]

I think I have a 1310 CV front in my rafters if you want to do a test fit. How close are you to Sacramento?

I'm down in Livermore. Thanks for the offer but I can probably scrounge one up local.

 

[Desert Rat]

I'm not so sure you could easily make a pan the way you hope with the angle and all because there is a valve body inside the pan along with an electrical switch that might prevent you doing such a thing. Just my .02

That's what I was afraid of. I was looking at all the little odd bumps and curves on the pan and hoping those weren't there for stuff inside. Anybody have a shot of a 700r4 minus the pan?