Divorced transfer case??..

[diesel4me]

Been wishing my GM 4x4's had a divorced T-case--why they went away from them baffles me,GM could have used their 2wd trannies in 4x4's had they kept using divorced T-cases..I liked the fact my Chevelle wagon in my avatar had an old Rockwell T-case,it allowed you to use just about any tranny you wished in front of it,all you had to do was make a driveshaft that fit--.

I'm trying to find a cheap 700r4 to put back in my '85 Suburban,but few exist ,none I can verify are any good befoe buying them anyway..I see a few hundred dollar ones on CL that are supposedly "good",but I am reluctant to blow any money on a potential POS,I already have a sick one--dont need TWO "cores"!..

The reason I asked about divorced t-cases is to see if anyone has swapped in one from a Ford,etc,like a NP-205 ,into an 80's GM truck..

If I had a divorced t-case,I'd have a bucnh of options--I have a TH400 from a 74 BBC Monte Carlo with the short tail,a TH-350-C with a lock up converter and a 9" tail from an '86 G10 van,heck,I could even drop in the '76 caddy 500 & TH-400 if I wanted too if I had a divorced case!..GM and all the other manufactureres ruined it for us by making T-cases "married: to the tranny,IMO..instead of me blowing 500+ bucks on a tranny,I could use one of my known good ones..money is scarce for me,no job and cant do much work anyway,so I need to get out of it cheap as possible..(either that or sell the Burb and give up!)..

How hard would it be to swap in a divorced t-case??..anyone??..

 

[Stomis]

Ugh you could run any trans with a married transfer case.

That being said its as hard as making a crossmember that supports the tcase and getting the driveshaft made. The true major benefit of a divorced case is equal drive shaft length and angle.

 

[Fordum]

You might want to check around. I think that you can buy adapters to mount a 205 non-divorced to just about any major model transmission.
I know that you can mount one to a TH400 of course. Not sure what it takes.
You folks here know more about that stuff than I do.

But as for the divorced one, it seems that after you find one, making the mount and shafts would not be as hard as some of the other things I see done here.

Since GM used them at one time, there might be quite a few pieces out there that will speed things up.
Crossmembers that just need some tweaking, etc.

J.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

As mentioned, it would be as easy as finding a way to mount the t-case which isn't too tough.

And Ford 205's are all driver side drop.

 

[Ned Kelly]

You could find a divorced NP200 (Dodge M37 and Kaiser M715 trucks). It has two rear outputs. Just use the centred one (which has an emergency drum brake on it, that unbolts). These tc's aren't hard to find and can be had for about. Crawl under an M37 or M715 and check out the setup. I think you can also buy rebuilt NP200's from Boyce, Vintage Power Wagon, or Mseries Rebuilds. They are the forerunner to the NP205 and just as robust.

 

[1976Blazer76]

I just put a divorced NP205 in my 79 chevy crew cab dually. Mating a dodge NV4500 to a passenger drop NP205 really only has one option but coming up with affordable parts to do it would have been tough. This transfer case came out of a mid 70's Power Wagon. Nice thing is the input and both outputs are 32 spline already.

 

[ARAMP1]

I found an NP205 out of an International that I'm using in my truck.

 

[1BEATK5]

69-74 dodges had the divorced 205. and the crossmember can be modded easily enough to work on the chev frame if needed. but i have seen a few of those crossmembers cracked. right in the middle on the back side.
i didnt look at where you are located, as that may have large impact on availability of old IH or dodge parts. where i'm at i could prob get one today or tomorrow for less then $200.
but that seems like alot of work for a stock trans, especially when you will need driveshafts and linkage. reuilding the trans you have, and maybe doing some upgrades to it might not be much more than trying to stab something else in there. although i get the thinking behind it, as i'm considering the same thing to get o/d in my crew cab.

btw, i have had 3 trucks with divorced cases in them, and really didn't like it compared to a married one. the slop in the drivetrain sucks, especially with a detroit. mine where manual trans though

 

[sweetk30]

if you find the ih stuff thats golden.

ih has a 34" wide frame rail setup like our gm uses .

 

[GreenieK30]

Yup, just find a Dodge or IH divorced NP205. I see them posted for sale as Chevy t-cases quite often.

I built a 1 ton S-10 years ago, took off the aluminum t-case, swapped a 2wd output on the 700R4 and put in a divorced Dodge 205, Dodge Dana 60 front and GM14 bolt rear. I kept the stock s-10 floor mounted t-case shifter too.

 

[DEMON44]

I'm useing a divorced ford 205 out of a '78-'79 highboy in my crewcab

 

[diesel4me]

Good to know its been done,just looking at possibilities right now..We had a 74 IHC 4x4 pickup at the junkyard too,I wish I'd have saved from the crusher,it had the NP200 and I belive both of its 3/4 ton axles were limited slip..be hard to find anything that old here now,REAL hard..90% of all the junkyards crushed out all their old stuff the past 5 years..

I know going divorced isn't the most elegant way out,when bolt in replacement of a tranny & transfer from another donor of similar vintage is available (I have see a few TH400 & NP208's for sale with the d-shafts and x-member for 400 bucks locally)..at my age I dont enjoy cobbing things together that weren't meant to be teamed up,but being a junkyard dog I'm not scared to do a little "tweakin" either..I'm just trying to avoid spending what I paid for the truck to just get a reliable tranny in it--if I were working this would be moot,I'd just buy a 700r4 and be done with it!..sucks having all these "good" parts and not being able to put them to use though..one friend told me I should just toss in the TH400 from the Monte Carlo in it,and just drive it as a 2wd only, for the summer,but I thought that was a lame suggestion--it wont plow very well that way!.--and I dont want to swap trannys twice either.