I had some time to kill yesterday, and I decided to wander around a friend of mine's yard full of heavy equipment type junk.... Anyway, I happened upon an old L8000(Mid 80's maybe?) And, I noticed that it had a two stick setup, with the second stick marked 1,2, O/D and Direct, and, a quick peek through the remains of the floorboard got me thinking.... I think I could probably sling it under the F100, divorce mount the t-case, get a short tailshaft for the 435(maybe with the mounted E-brake, my normal setup is constantly seized...) and put tht brownie in between, I need a new rear driveshaft anyway(an 8.8 is longer than a 9") and a couple more wouldn't hurt.....
Evan MacDonald
82 F100 FlareSide 4wd
HD 300-6 9.5:1 CR
Clifford 270H cam
Hedman Hedder
SBC valved 66 240 head
Headlight Relays - Delanty Style
NP435(6.69 low)
NP 205
3.55 Geared ARB'd 9" & Trac-Locked TTB
31x10.50/15 Cooper Discoverer LT's

 

It's a moderate amount of work, but it can be done... I put a 3 speed brownie behind my NP435. You will need to fabricate front and rear crossmembers at a minimum. Since mine came without a shifter I also had to buy a 3-speed shifter, make mounts for it, and make shifter linkages from 1/2" steel rod and clevises. The front driveshaft was easy, two splined yokes slipped together (only 11" center to center). As you noted, the rear driveshaft can be made by any shop. Speedo cable won't fit either so you'll need an extension or a new one, and probably the speedo gear won't be right either and may be hard to find, so a correcting ratio joint will be needed.

It's very annoyingly whiny in 0.85 OD though. Not sure if this is "normal" or if it could use a set of bearings. It isn't synchronized but that's relatively easy to get used to. There is no noise in direct, and UD (2.35:1) is very nice for backing up really slowly. If you put one in let us know how it went!

 

No need worrying about the speedoemter, it's driven off of the transfer case, and it's wrong anyway.... I'm gonna see about sandwiching the brownie in between the 435 and married 205, I don't want to have to get another t-case if I don't have to, as I have re-built this one and converted it to twin-stick. Gear noise is not a problem for me, I can't hear much over the exhaust, not even my 223,000 mile NP435..... And, I kinda like gear noise anyway....
Evan MacDonald
82 F100 FlareSide 4wd
HD 300-6 9.5:1 CR
Clifford 270H cam
Hedman Hedder
SBC valved 66 240 head
Headlight Relays - Delanty Style
NP435(6.69 low)
NP 205
3.55 Geared ARB'd 9" & Trac-Locked TTB
31x10.50/15 Cooper Discoverer LT's