That just seems to me like begging for it to snap off.

I do know for fact that the NP205 under my 1978 Chevrolet is sitting on a cross-member.

I bet that is so it is easier to drop one out and continue without it.

That's like my 6041 4-speed auxiliary; the cross-member is above it; and, it has a sort of round swinging mount on the nose as well; so, it is definitely braced.

I found a guy the other day who has already put several 6041s in 1-ton Fords and Dodges and he is foaming at the mouth to start in on mine; I guess I should take him up before he moves to Montana or gets et by wild tigers or scalpt by wild Indians.

I have a 1972 F250 "Hi-Boy"; I need to pay more attention to how the divorced transfer case is mounted under it.

I am still unsure just what transfer case is in it as it has locking hubs and a five position diagram for the shifter:

4-HI - 2HI - N - 2LO - 4LO ----- if memory serves.

I am fairly certain you have to go right and left like through a sort of pattern from one position to another; it is not straight back and forth like a NP203.

I have a 1991 D350 "Dually" Cummins/Getrag; and, the plan is to either replace the 390 in the F250 --- OR --- put all the Ford except the 390 on the Dodge frame.

I like the Ford on the Dodge frame idea as that frame is thick and wide; the frame under the Hi-Boy looks flimsy in comparison.

 

Remember, if you locate the transfer case just so, you can have equal length identical driveshafts; I am sure that would come in handy several times down the road.

You wouldn't have to be precise dead-on-the-money; one slip yoke could be in a bit and the other out a bit and make up for a couple inches.

 

Other than the weight of the trans case off the back of the trans, what is the real advantage here? That and equal length drive shafts? I have to be super careful about what I do, you think you are rural, I have 1000 mile of ocean between me and the parts store.

 

For one thing, you are not limited to what goes on ahead of the jack-shaft as any engine/transmission combination can be set in there without being constrained to whatever will bolt to the transfer case.

 

Better check your facts. I've had 73-91 Chev trucks and its the same arrangement.

Whether you call it a "transmission tailhousing" or a "tcase adapter" its really the same thing. Depends what specific transmission is being described.

 

My questions is how many cracked transmissions have people seen with the T-case hanging off the back?

Me? I have worked on hundreds of 1st gen 4x4 trucks over the years. I can not recall seeing one cracked transmission I can attribute to the weight of a #150 NP-205 hanging off the back.

I am missing the benefit of having matching length driveshafts front and back, so you only have to carry one spare....What about the extra small driveshaft you now have between the transmission and T-case?...If that goes, neither the front or the back driveshafts are useful. So you still have two different length driveshafts you should have on hand.
I owned and wheeled hard a '72 PowerWagon on '39 Super Swampers, so I am familiar with the benefits and issues on the three driveshaft set up that comes with the divorced T-case.

Other things to think about a divorced T-case was an option on the old Dodge trucks that had the "suicide" fuel tank behind the seat. A divorced T-case will often want to share the same space as the under bed fuel tank.

 

When I am building a Cummins truck...Having the options to swap out the motor for a different one easily down the road, is not be an option I care about.

Yes you could swap out that 12V for a 500 caddy motor and still use the same divorced T-case. But it is not an option I would even consider.

 

Another problem with the divorced mounted T-case is under power the T-case moves a lot on it cross member that holds it from above.
I ended up need to fab up an extra bracket to hold my NP-205 in place on my '72. I learned that the T-case was rocking around after having a friend watch the T-case while I got on the gas forwards and backwards.
Blowing out a dozen front of the rear driveshafts u-joints out on the trail was what had alerted me I had a problem.

 

So nobody here has had transmission housing issues due to the heavy NP-205 hanging off the back of the transmission unsupported?

 

I haven't crawled under there with the snakes to verify; but, on combing through my recollections of the many many times I have had to have it down for replacing clutches, I tend to remember that, instead of the NP205 in my 1978 Chevrolet actually sitting on a cross-member, the cross-member actually bolts to the connection between the 4-speed and NP205.

As to answer your question, not a Dodge, but, YES, I did have issues and major issues with the 1978 Chevrolet.

I was driving at road speed with a big gooseneck load of cattle when WHAMMMMM.

I had a tough time controlling things after that.

When I got landed, there were so many things wrong under the truck that I will not list them all here.

What caused all the commotion was the big nut on the rear of the transfer case came off; it was still, nut, washer, and all, captured within the drive-shaft yoke.

I reckon that, when it slid back to almost falling out, the then unsupported universal joint connection was able to "hinge" things into an unmovable bind.

Besides all the many other things knocked around and smashed under there, the mainest things were:

The bell-housing was busted in a spiral fashion; not pushing the clutch pedal, you would never see anything wrong with it; push the pedal and it would open a huge spiral crack all the way around and starting around again..

It broke the mounting "ears" off the back of the transmission.

Had that transfer-case not been hanging on the back of the transmission with all that unsupported leverage, I don't think the same incident would have done either of those things.

Knowing that was my means of making a living, two old race-car friends of mine(them; I'm not a race-car man myself) put in another new clutch, new bell-housing, and welded back on all those transmission ears, and had her back under a load of cattle within two days, while I addressed all the other damages under there.

All I can say is they must be good welders.

 

I had a 47rh that the np241 had partly broken off of. Dunno the history.

Some 205's in early 70's chevs had an L bracket to the passenger frame rail. It was phased out at some point. IMHO, it probably caused more harm than good in the event engine mounts got weak or failed.

 

I have owned primarily dodge or jeep 4x4s my whole life. never even had so much as a hiccup with the "married" Tcases. The highest horsepower and wieght one was a 74 dodge truck with a built 440 and rockwell axles with DC3 tires on it. This was before you could buy big tires readily in Alaska. The abuse I put that hunting rig through was legendary. (We called it the war pig) - I had a 40 ton winch off a boat, hydraulic driven, that I got off a fishing boat. I could literally hang the truck from the rafters, provided they could hold at least 7000 pounds. I cut the fenders wells out with a sawzall. This was 1982 backwoods Alaska. 727 trans with I dont recall married Tcase. FYI_ nothing was original practically. It was a franken-truck. That thing even got neutral dropped a few times in haste and anger. I busted U joints left and right and one drive shaft, but didn't really bust much of anything else. We had a boom on the back we could hoist a whole moose in the air, and they are like twenty foot long when you hang them from thier hind legs. We could adjust the boom while we dressed the moose and only have to stand on a ladder a short time. That was rural living in Alaska at the time on the rail belt. Anyway- we abused the F out of that truck, not a place on it without a dent and rolled it at least twice. armored with rebar in critical areas. Again, that trans was rebuilt when we put the motor in- and the motor, trans and tcase never failed once. This was before monster trucks were a thing, but we could throw dirt off all 48"+ tall DC 3 tires when we nailed the gas. Drove it on the street from our house to the hunt, with a fleet of other vehicles like a mad max convoy on hunting season- and I was the meat extraction vehicle.

 

If you haven't gotten everything figured out and together yet you can get a 23x29 spline adapter that will work and make that T case fit right up to your transmission and be good to go. They're really made for pulling trucks that have built automatics and run their bigger spline transfer case but it works just as well the other way if need be. I actually got one beefed up for pulling truck because at the time I was only one I could get.