VEHICLES, CAMPERS, and BOATS > Powerplant, Driveline, and Braking

a little help on my 4x4/manual trans swap

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Dfarm01:
I finally got my truck back in the garage, and got the 318 swapped for a 360 and got my transmission and transfer case installed. (Truck is/was a 74 dodge crew cab x200, 2wd/automatic.  Donor vehicle was an 86 w250 with a 360/manual trans.)

I ran Into a problem with the rear drive shaft.  My truck had a 2 piece drive shaft with the carrier bearing on a cross member toward the rear of the cab.  The donor truck had a one piece shaft.  The output for the rear on the t-case points straight at the pinion on the rear axle, but the cross member for the carrier bearing is in he way, and it looks like a one piece drive shaft would be about 8' long.  I originally planned to have the front section of the two piece drive shaft modified to fit but the carrier bearing is higher than the output on the t-case, so the drive shaft would go up then down to the axle.  The cross member that the carrier bearing bolts onto is riveted to the frame, which isn't a huge deal, but I think I want to keep a cross member in there, instead of cutting it out of the way.

I'm guessing that from the factory this truck would have used a divorced transfer case that bolted to that cross member.

Any tips or help would be appreciated, any pictures of running gear on converted or factory 4x4 crew cab dodge trucks of this vintage would be awesome. I'm a little over my head on this project, but that's what keeps it fun.  The suspension is all done, steering is done, and after I get driveshafts figured out, I'll be over the hump and back into areas that I'm more comfortable with.

Thanks!

Farmer Jon:
You could have a one piece driveshaft made. The newer Chevy crew cab long box trucks have a one piece. If they are not 8 ft long they are darn close to it.

stlaser:
Where's Norm? He probably has a pile of used parts to get you all fixed up...

Dfarm01:
A one piece shaft will hit the cross member that the carrier bearing used to mount to. I would prefer to keep as much bracing in the frame as possible. I thought about a new cross member with a driveline loop in it, but I don't want to lose too much ground clearance, as I have no intent of lifting the truck at all.

I was also thinking about raising up the transfer case to make my idea with the two piece shaft work.

I was hoping to avoid custom fabrication by using all factory stuff, but it looks like that may not work.  This is my first big project like this. Any one part of it wasn't scary to me, but putting all those parts together made it a little scary for some reason.

Ive wished several times I'd have just fixed up the donor truck, but I was in love with the crew cab.  I hope I like it when it's finished. Lol

stlaser:
I'd run a one piece & modify that cross member. Take it for what it's worth, we haven't saw pictures & im not familiar with those Dodges like Norm is. However, modifying a cross member isn't "high tec" fan work either. A new shaft will be balanced & gtg too.

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