I have a 94 suburban 2WD. I would like to convert it to 4WD with spare np205 I have that's mated to an SM465. What's the easiest, but more so, cheapest, method to get the 205 on the 2wd 4L80? TIA
CK5
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Easiest (cheapest) way to mate my 4L80E to NP 205
- Thread starter Jspohr
- Start date
The 4L80E has to have the 4 wheel drive output shaft. To swap from the 2 wheel drive output the transmission has to be taken completely apart.
The 4L80E is metric. The SM465 is in inches. The mount from the 465 is soooooo close to fitting the 4L80E. But, just a hair too big. I have carefully ground one down to fit and then found a proper metric mount and never used my home fab part.
I was fitting a NP208. I only have divorced NP205 experience with my M715. I think but don’t know that some year NP205 cases have the same mount to transfer case bracket holes as the NP208. I don’t know what years those are though.
The 4L80E is metric. The SM465 is in inches. The mount from the 465 is soooooo close to fitting the 4L80E. But, just a hair too big. I have carefully ground one down to fit and then found a proper metric mount and never used my home fab part.
I was fitting a NP208. I only have divorced NP205 experience with my M715. I think but don’t know that some year NP205 cases have the same mount to transfer case bracket holes as the NP208. I don’t know what years those are though.
I understood that if you have a slip yoke output 2wd 4L80E all you have to do is shorten the output shaft. I’ve seen several comments and even a YouTube video alluding to it. But I haven’t done it myself, so maybe that’s wrong. It’s in essence the same thing…. And it’s really not a huge deal to me to take it out and swap the output shafts. Will give me an excuse to rebuild it, despite the fact that it doesn’t show any signs of needing it right now.
The first thing we need to know is if you have a 85~91 version 205 case with the long female 32-spline input gear or a 84 on down figure eight 10-spline male input gear ( you’ve only mentioned that you have a spare 205 that was mated to a 465 but not what type ) ?
One version is going to require more work than the other.
This can also be accomplished with factory parts as in 1991 the 205 was mated to the 4L80E in the V3500 trucks.
Help us help you by being specific on what parts you actually have.
One version is going to require more work than the other.
This can also be accomplished with factory parts as in 1991 the 205 was mated to the 4L80E in the V3500 trucks.
Help us help you by being specific on what parts you actually have.
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It is a 10 spline. Also, I'm planning to rebuild the 4l80e. changing over to a different output shaft won't be a problem.... if there is such a thing.... or maybe a coupler?
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Then you have more work to accomplish this conversion.
The NP205 that you have will need to have the front input bearing mount bored out to accept the larger diameter bearing that fits the female long snout 32-spline gear that you will need.
At this point you will need to seek a place like Advanced Adapters to see if there is a way to mate a figure eight pattern NP205 to the 4L80E’s shaft dimensions and buy there adapter - and A/A is NOT known for being cheap.
It might be best for you to find a factory round pattern NP205 with the proper input gear and find an OEM adapter - but neither of those items will be cheap!
Its great that you want to upgrade to a 4L80E/205 combo but the reality is that you are starting out with the parts that require the most effort and additional parts needed - and accomplishing it cheap with these parts just ain’t gonna happen.
Search for a one year only 4L80E/205 ( that’s 1991 V3500 only ) adapter and case and maybe you’ll find a deal if the seller doesn’t know what they have.
This combo is square body gold and will demand top dollar since it is so rare.
