detailed SYE tech writeup on the 208

[twoslo4five0]

big thanks to 58 apache for doing this write up on my case

The dilly yo is you get a dodge output shaft and the rear case half and cone from a dodge 208. you replace the chevy output shaft and rear half and you shorten it a few inches resulting in a better rear shaft angle and also you get rid of the slip yoke in favor of a fixed yoke of the dodge 208

Most writeups tell you to replace the shaft and entire rear half but we tried something a little different.

We replaced the shaft then redrilled and tapped the case allowing us to use just the cone from the dodge 208

this was pretty easy. the hardest part was the frikkin needle bearings. two rows of those suckers end to end with a spacer ring.

Started by making Jay clean off the bench. Then we assessed what we were dealing with.

dodge back half

dodge output shaft

removed the cone

cleaned up the cover. and Jay polished the shaft. he he

then we put the chevy 208 on the bench

removed the spedo gear

then the cone

to expose the shaft

started removing the plastic gears. remember how this all came off!!

at this point things become very critical. so I needed a BL

now when doing this they say you have to move one of the bungs in the dodge case for the shift rail. that means cutting it of and rewelding. the case is aluminum. so this is where we decided to try something else

this is the dodge cone on the chevy case with the holes lined up you can see on the right side the oiling ports dont line up correctly

 

[twoslo4five0]

So I rotated it to line up the ports and re drilled and tapped the chevy case.

you can see here how much shorter it will be with the shorter output shaft and cone

came time to remove the chevy output shaft

ask me how bad these snap rings SUCK

needle bearings = another BL

this is what we have to remove

 

[twoslo4five0]

the dodge shaft ready to be inserted. he he

these suck

That was it basically. we put the cone on and reinstalled the back half of the case.

and here is a completed pic

 

[k2mslskier]

AAAggghhhh....need more input. Got me interested.

Edit: I got to the end of your first post and that's where it ended for me. I guess you were still adding info.

 

[twoslo4five0]

AAAggghhhh....need more input. Got me interested.

Edit: I got to the end of your first post and that's where it ended for me. I guess you were still adding info.

done now thats it enjoy!

 

[k2mslskier]

Sweet. Very good pics and info, nicely detailed. I may have to try that. What year Dodge 208 did you use?

 

[daleearnhardt01]

Looks good Jay, rebuilding those t-cases are easy. Agreed those needle bearings are a pain in the ass.

 

[twoslo4five0]

Sweet. Very good pics and info, nicely detailed. I may have to try that. What year Dodge 208 did you use?

im not real sure.i bought it from 1-tonmudder and im sure he got it from a honey hole some where

 

[jt512]

I did the same mod to a 208, the dodge case I bought was out of a 85 ramcharger and I looked at one in a 87 1/2 ton dodge pickup and it was the same also (ramcharger was easier to get to) . Hope this helps, and the swap really isn't that bad, but the snap rings do suck- buy a set of pliers for them- it's worth it!

 

[Blue85]

How did you compensate for the loss of strength from moving the holes in the rear case half? I looked at doing it that way but didn't see how to make it strong since the casting is so thin everywhere except where the original holes were located. Do you have any pictures of the tapped holes? What do you get, 2 thread engagement? I would assume that your casting was different than the ones I've seen, but from the looks of the last picture in your first post it is the same.

 

[twoslo4five0]

there were bosses on the old ones and that was a concern of mine. after discussion with John we came to the conclusion of there not really much force exerted on the cone. so I drilled them. 2 of the 4 went just through the thickness of the case which is probably 5/16-3/8 in that ring so maybe 5-6 threads. the other 2 went into some of the "webbing" of casting on the backside so they were 1/2" or so maybe 8-10 thread. if you were really concerned you probably could grind away the area and and insert a bolt and washer through from the backside and use a nut and washer on the outside to increase the contact area and disspurse stress to the bolt holes but that seemed like a lot of work. I dont see why you would need the extra bossing. we also used ultra copper and that stuff is tuff. This is Jays and he was there when we went through all of these disscussions and he said do it. i guess we will see if it works after extensive testing. We were not set up to weld aluminum and if you use the dodge back half you have to move the bung for the shift rail. I dont see a problem

 

[BGKYK5]

How bad do those snap rings suck?

Why not just use the Dodge t-case? Doesn't bolt up to trans?

 

[twoslo4five0]

23 spline input and the clocking is way off...you would need a clocking ring to clock it down and you would have to make a new crossmemeber

 

[Blue85]

That cone holds the rear output bearing so there has to be some stress on it. Plus the new holes could leak - all they need is a loose bolt. At what kind of angle does the speedometer cable exit at?

IIRC, the Chevy input gear swaps right in place of the Dodge one. So if you wanted to run a Dodge case you could - provided you want to fabricate the custom adapter or clocking ring for it. You would lose the connecting rod to the engine, but the importance of that has been debated elsewhere.

 

[Ten_Bucks]

Subscribed. Good writeup on this.

Scott

 

[sparkey83]

that is an awsome write-up i will have to keep this in mind. i had an 85 ford that i nuked a case in and i had an 82 f-150 with a 4-speed in it that had a fixed yoke 208 in it. i dont think that the rear cone was that short though.

 

[twoslo4five0]

i dont have a support rod but my t case is clocked belly flat with the mount tied into the skid and my seat bar which is tied into my boatsides and then tied into my cage...its pretty pimp

also we used ultra copper which i have used (belive or not) on a race car for headers...no bolts on the headers...we did it as an experiment and they didnt come off...then at the end of the season whe actually had to pry the headers off...i dont think its going anywere..but you cant hurt in trying something new

 

[twoslo4five0]

i wanna add theese pics to it

here is my mount on the top..i basically have a lower and upper mount...not the tcase shifter is mad from a ford t-case (not sure which one) 4 low is all the way foward and 2wd is all the way back..it shifts super easy with this shifter

top

bottom

 

[supersize75k5]

I dont see the leaking out the holes as being a problem or concern, heck that is how atlas has some of their holes and I have not read of anyone complaining of leaks.


You need to go do some abusive driving and see if it will hold up, let me know if you need a driver and ill fly in

 

[twoslo4five0]

I dont see the leaking out the holes as being a problem or concern, heck that is how atlas has some of their holes and I have not read of anyone complaining of leaks.


YOu need to go do some abusive drivinga nd see if it will hold up, let me know if you need a driver and ill fly in

im sure you would