Transfer case swap

[Shug]

Any one swap to a 2 wheel 4 wheel case such as a 205 or something else? I am looking to pull my 203 for a more street friendly case. I know that you can buy its to put in these. But ultimately I am just looking for a decently easy swap if anyone knows what will work without changing tail shafts in transmissions. I am ok with changing driveshaft lengths.

 

[Bob H]

no real advantage to it, for the cost of it.

 

[Shug]

I know this is gonna sound bad to some folks and I'd like say sorry. But the real advantage to me is the fact that I will have the ability to burn the rear tires like a 16 year old leaving the high school parking lot. And I know my 150 hp 318 is not gonna do what I want it to do. So I pulled it out set it to the side and built a doscile little 318 that dynoed just over 400 hp. I love the military look. Just not the power. It's a play truck for me.

 

[nattieleather]

I have not done the swap myself, but I don't see why you couldn't. The only draw back that I could see with having a free wheeling front end with a 205 is that the front axle is still going to turn due to lack of any locking/free wheeling hubs. I would think matting the 205 up would be the biggest headache of the whole thing.

 

[Shug]

Well I'm really hoping sooner or later some one on here will see this and chime in. I know that the big block 727 power wagons came with 205's. I hear the trans has different outputs though??? And people also say that some older jeep t cases will work because they had mopar transmissions. I am trying to stay off of other forums just because I find a lot of BSers and folks that get angry because you don't build it they're way. The community here is far better. Any help will be greatly appreciate. And also my wife and wallet will be highly appreciative of not buying a bunch off parts that won't work.

 

[NDT]

I vaguely remember in the 70's there were kits available to convert the 203 to part time. Who knows if you could find one now. For a long time on my first 880, I could not find a 203 for it, so I ran a 727 from a 2WD truck. It would do a pretty good burnout. When I finally installed a 203, the mpg dropped from 15 to 8, and that was the end of tire smoke. Just incredible pull from all 4 wheels all the time.

 

[Shug]

Yeah they do still make kits. But the cheap ones are cheap and expensive ones would be just as much a pain as putting in a different t case. I do however know that the final drive gears in a 2 wheel trans are higher geared for better mpg. So that's probably the differences in mileage. You can change the gears out for different sizes but requires gutting the trans back to the output shaft.

 

[AllenEM]

I just brought a 77 M886 which I was think I would swap a early 80's engine trans and tranfercase in to it. make be even a Cummins swap

 

[ICAT]

If memory serves the tailshaft on the 727 w/the 203 transfer case is shorter the 727 W/the 205.

 

[Shug]

I have heard from a couple different people now they are different lengths and spline count. But have not yet tore into it myself to see for sure. But I figure if you hear the same thing from a few different people it's possibly true.

 

[Bob H]

......................................... But the real advantage to me is the fact that I will have the ability to burn the rear tires like a 16 year old leaving the high school parking lot. .....................................

As the full time NP203 has a differential in it, power is transferred to the axle with the least resistance.
This allowed my son to repeatedly do as you have said during his senior year in my stock M880 with 285R75 tires on it.

the final drive ratio of all 727 transmissions is 1:1

 

[nattieleather]

What would be involved in swapping the trans and transfer case from a later model Dodge into the M880? I guess if it was simple everyone would be doing it.

 

[ICAT]

old one out, new one in. not sure about the driveshafts if the lengths change. However, the front axle hubs on the m880 do not unlock so you will still be turning the diff there just won't be power applied to it.