NP203 question

[Redneck86]

My buddy has a 1974 Dodge Ramcharger im helpin him work on it and were trin to make it a good trail truck, it has 440 in it dana 44 front, mopar 9-1/4 rear and NP203 fulltime Tcase.

We need to know if we can run a limited slip in the front with the fulltime 4 wheel drive on the street, were not goin to convert it to part time because hes gonna run 36s on it and doesnt wanna weaken the 203.

 

[Broncobill78]

No problem runing a limited slip up front, what you DON'T want to do is run a locker. Lockers up front have a tendency to try & steer the truck for you and that's never good. You can convert it to part-time 4x4 without touching the 203 by just installing a set of locking hubs, that's what most of the Blazer guys do. Won't change or weaken anything but it'll improve his milage and cut down on wear & tear on the front end.

 

[Redneck86]

You can do that, just put lockin hubs on it? Wont the transfercase still spin everything in the front but the wheels?

 

[Broncobill78]

Yup, it sure will but you'll be disconnecting the front wheels from the drivetrain and you'll be saving big-time on fuel and also cutting down on the wear to the front end. Nothing to be done about the transfer case, it'll always send power to the axle (unless you goof with it but the post said you didn't want to do that) but you don't need to keep the wheels engaged unless you *need* them and that will make a big difference in his wallet everytime he has to fill it up as well as just how often he has to tear into the front end.

If you take the wheels out of the equation you aren't pulling the truck with them and you're doing a LOT to reduce how hard the engine, tranny & Xfer case work and all of that translates into less friction and better milage. The Blazer crowd has been doing this mod for *years* because they got stuck with the same full-time gig. I helped an old Sgt do this yrs ago. It's a simple upgrade and he'll see an *immediate* difference in his milage.

Look into it, it's well worth doing.

 

[Redneck86]

Then thats probably what well do then, thanks for tell me that. One thing i do like about the blazers though is it not hard at all to come across chevy NP205 and although the spline counts are diffrent on them a chevy trans will bolt up to any chevy engine(older ones like pre 85). My dad used to have a 1980 GMC and went from a 350 to a 400 to a 454 all with the same trans and engine mounts.

 

[Broncobill78]

Well, much as it pains me to say anything good about Chevy it's still better than dealing with the whole Honda crowd. GM had their $hit together as far as a lot of this stuff went and their parts really DO mix-n-match well, you've got to hand it to them on that. Ford didn't start learning that lesson until they hit the whole Fox body/5.0 thing and then they understood what Chevy had been doing for all those years. Fact of the matter is that I'll happily work on ANY domestic truck before dealing with an import. There's just something comforting about American iron. Well there's that and the fact that you don't need little 10yr old girl hands to get in there and work on stuff. guys w/sausage fingers can still fix their own engines.

 

[Redneck86]

Yea ive always liked Chevy Ford and *certain Mopars, i think theve all had there sh*t trucks and awesome trucks though out the years(early broncos, 69-72 blazers). One thing chevy made that i CANT STAND are those f***in S10s i hate those. And yea ive helped my friends work on there "tuners" before, i wont do it anymore unless they pay me for it, which is the good thing about bein the gearhead in your group of friends. /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[Broncobill78]

Yeah, unfortunately it seems like everyone with a subwoofer, some amps and 20" rims has an S-10. I really DO feel for the guys who build & run them off-road and try to be respectable but on the other hand they DID buy into Brand-X so what are you gonna do ? You don't see folks slammin' Bronco's (something I'm thankfull for each & every night when I eventually go to bed)

 

[Redneck86]

Yea S10s could be made a decent i suppose, but i dont see why youd put that kinda money into one, they have bad trannys and cases the worst 10 bolt rear GM ever made wimpy IFS and weak frames. Ive seen them with dana 44s thrown under them, but for what it would cost to get a V8 axles and good tranny and case, you can get a early bronco with axles V8 and a good tranny a case already on/under it