Alrite me and Joe have been talkin it over about making my 93 4wd. I told him I was planning on just keeping my 2wd E4OD for now and running a divorced NP205 Tcase behind it and sticking a D50 under the front end since it "should" be a bolt on affair, and since I dont plan on anything more than a 33 inch tire it should hold up just fine. People are always ditching their D50s and D44s for D60s anyways, so Im sure I can get one for next to nothing. Anyways, AFAIK the NP205 is all gears and no chain right? If not is their a better Tcase I can run? Since its going to be a divorced setup I can run an tcase under the sun. If anybody sees any problem with my plan, feel free to point them out now since im mostly just planning and havent actually spent any money on it yet lol.

 

I've been piecing together parts to convert my signature truck. I will go with a married transfer... I just dont like the idea of the divorced, seems like more chance for vibrations and breakdowns. I dont have any reasons for this other than a gut feeling as I've never owned a divorced case truck. (that and I have a C6 wich are a dime a dozen)

 

NP205 is gear-driven.
Sorry, Dana 50 won't bolt up to a 2wd frame as a Dana 44 TTB will. I've done some extensive research to pursue that option myself. Give me a minute while I check my favorites for some of those links I saved...

Got it. http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=882718

I'm still not giving up, I'm convined that my '65 will have a D50 under it someday. And it's not going to get an easy life!

 

hmm I figured for SURE that a D50 TTB should be a bolt on deal since thats what my truck would have had from the factory....

 

I'd like to see that, I was under the impression that a 50 ttb would bolt up to my ibeam pivots and I just need to make the leaf springs work

 

Those pictures say otherwise. My buddy has a Dana 50 under his truck and he's back from college on break this week. I'm supposed to see him sometime to do some measuring while he's back for putting his Dana 50 in my truck whenever he ends up going to the 60. I'm planning on taking lots of pictures and measurements.

But yes, it does add to the confusion since your truck is an extended cab which would have the D50 from the factory if it were 4x4...

I'll bet the crossmember is the same, and you could probably bolt the bracket onto the crossmember...judging from the pictures on pirate...I'll know more when I measure and see in person.

 

this is the most common thing people do not know the difference between 2wd and 4wd trucks,and why people don't turn 2wd's into 4wd's often.
if it were a matter of simply bolting in the parts,then people wouldn't pay so much more for 4wd trucks compared to the same truck in 2wd form when buying.
we'd all just buy the 2wd and parts and convert them ourselves and save a boat load of cash.
a little more than the average shade tree mechanic can do (well,in any timely,and cost effect manner anyway.)
(properly and end up with something safe im talking,that would pass a vehicle safety inspection.not a hunk of junk/piecemeal,unfit for the road,a risk to ones self and others on the road pos lol. )

the frames are different.
they are not the same trucks.
hence the vast price difference.its more than a t-case/front axle/4wd trans,and another drive shaft.

here is how:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...ng-d-50-a.html
(though since this beyond my personal skill level,i wouldn't be able to tell ya what,if anything was done unsafe or not.though im sure others can.)

 

Swapping to 4wd using TTB is a bolt on affair.....






On F150s.........

The equivalent swap will not work for F250s.

The F150 I beams, F150 TTB and F250 I beams all fit the same frame geometry.

However, the TTB for the F250s (D44 or D50) are a different length. Shorter, for some reason I can't quite figure out. Suposedly this is one reason the F250 TTBs are so bad for wearing tires. Although I heard that for twin I beam too and mine wear just fine.

In theory, I've read you can actually put the F150 TTB into an F250 then convert it over to 8 bolt hubs using chevy parts from the knuckle out. I breifly considered this but the downgrade in brakes was something I couldn't live with. Not to mention the mix & match nightmare for replacement parts.

 

Wait, what now? The only significant difference between the frames that I'm aware of is where the front shackles go in (the bottom lip of the frame rails is notched for them), everything else should be a bolt-on affair, well after you spend hours upon hours of drilling/grinding/torching rivets for mounting brackets and such

On your question of the safety of that conversion in the link you provided, honestly I think the way he did the brackets for the shackles is kinda scary - if anything I'd run a nice crossmember between the two sides to ensure the frame horns don't have a tendency of twisting... Actually I'd have just done the shackle reversal thing, and overbuild everything - I mean he's already doing custom work, might as well go all the way and do it right and upgrade over the factory design while at it.

About the divorced transfer case, I would consider it to be the safer/stronger way of going about things, especially in case of the NP205 - that thing is a heavy beast, I'd much rather have it bolted solid to the frame with some massive crossmembers, than have it hang off the rear of an aluminum transmission and move around with it. Said T-case actually has its own frame mount when installed in a married configuration from the factory, it looks very much like a body/cab mount and it's there to ensure the thing don't twist or break off the tailshaft housing of the transmission - if the truck didn't originally came with a 205 T-case I'd make darn sure that extra frame mount goes in with it, but I've seen folks just leave them hanging there with no extra support whatsoever

 

Ain't just a theory, Bronco folks seem to do this quite often, when they put a Sterling in the rear but wanna keep the coils up front. Not sure about the downgrade in braking performance tho after all the outers do come from 3/4-ton trucks, and those usually have plenty of stopping power especially if hydroboosted.

 

I've come VERY close to pulling the trigger on a 44 TTB setup from an F150 and bolting it into this F350. But what scares me most is not the beam strength....but the smaller brakes, smaller wheel bearings, and ball joints.

I'd rather wait and do some fab work with a Dana 50 to get the advantage of larger wheel bearings, D60 size lockouts, larger ball joints, and the larger brakes.

Nice write-up on the Dana 50 install!! I just hope that front shackle works out for him.

When I go ahead with the install, I'd like to run my coils, so that wouldn't effect me. I believe John wanted to run the coils too, if I remember from a couple other threads a while back.

As to why I'm not worried about the Dana 44 TTB beam strength...check out the last video in the first post here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...tb-thread.html

The whole thread is excellent, but that Mud Pup abuse video...that got me good! I got bug eyes from that and had to pick my jaw up off the ground. According to some people on the internet, TTB's are about as strong as a tin can...so I had it stuck in my mind that TTB's were weak. False!!!!

If you DID use the 44 TTB beams that would bolt in, and swap into the 8 lug chebby stuff, you can still increase the Dana 44 strength by using the Dana 50 stub shaft and Dana 50 center section. From what I understand, the weakest link of the 44 TTB is the inner U-joint will pop under extreme stress. The Dana 50 uses a larger U-joint and does not have that same tendency.

 

IS that top one off of a 150 or 250? I see a couple holes in the bottom that looks like where the big bolt goes up int the center of the coil spring. Maybe there is a different housing for a 44 and a 44hd. My dad has a 95 F250 with a 50 in it, I've been meaning to do some comparison measurements but havent gotten around to it yet.

 

The top is a Dana 50 beam, the bottom is a Dana 44 standard beam.
The Dana 50 and 44HD share the same beams from what I've read.
The biggest difference is that the 44HD still has the standard 44 lockouts, where the 50 runs 60 lockouts.

 

I have an 86 F250 gasser that came with the 44hd, and I got tired of breaking the u-joints and shaft eyes. I got an 86 F250 diesel parts truck that had the D50. I swaped the d50 to the gasser, and it was a direct bolt in. I just droped the pivot bolts and u-bolts that hold the housing to the springs and did the swap.

 

SO, after scanning through the link above, it looks like I also need the brackets from the crossmember to mount the D50 to my 2wd.....