Hello everyone,
I am hoping to start a thread to get some advice and save some money on my 4x4 RV build. I purchased an RV earlier this year called a Chinook. It is an awesome little 21' motorhome on a 1997 Ford E350 cutaway with duallies in the rear. The only thing this rig is missing is 4wd to allow me to drive out on the local beaches and camp.

I have found a 2008 E450 RV that was converted to 4x4 by quigley. This RV had a fire that destroyed everything above the floor (front rubber shock boots and rear rubber airbags were not melted so I believe the rest is OK). I was able to pick it up for $3500. This donor RV has every 4x4 component still attached. I am now looking for advice on swapping the parts over to the 97 Chinook. I know this is well above my mechanical abilities so I will have to hire someone to do the work.

I did contact ujoint to price out there conversion and with the front axle they wanted over $8000. I could not afford that along with the labor costs. Any help with the following questions would be great.

1) What did I get myself into?
2) What kind of labor cost am I looking at?
3) Does anyone know of issues that will arise from the different chassis (1997 E350 and 2008 E450)
4) Part compatibility (quigley wouldn't help)
5) Does anyone know/recommend a mechanic on long island NY that has experience with conversions?
6) Is there a suggested order to perform the work?
7) Anyone know of a good instructional/how to site to help someone perform the work

Thanks,
Chris

 

Chinook RV

The following is a link to the ebay with photos of the donor quigley setup

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Quigley-4x4-Motor-home-Ford-for-parts-/221620990919?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3399a3f3c7&vxp=mtr&nma=true&si=uYW0CkhkpG3m6k%252B1iszV%252BV%252FydA8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

 

the rear will bolt rite in. the front axle will need a little fabrication to fit, but nothing serious i bet since you already have all the parts to do it on the donor frame.
is the transfer case divorced, or married? can't really tell by the picture.
if it is a married t-case, that would be a shame because you can't use the trans in the newer frame.

 

Thanks for the input. I don't know if the t-case is divorced or married to the tranny. Im assuming by that you mean can the t-case be unbolted from the transmission? I will look into it.

Are you sure that the new transmission would not fit on the old frame? The engines are both V10 tritons.

 

Just took some photos of tcase

 

it looks like the tcase is bolted to the tranny with a spacer in between.

 

That "spacer" is the transmission tailshaft housing. 4WD transmissions have different tailshafts than 2WD versions because the 4WDs need to bolt to and directly drive the t.case while 2WD trannies need to have a driveshift hooked to them.

The exception is a "divorced" t.case which is driven by a short driveshaft so it uses a 2WD tranny.

Unfortunately you probably won't be able to put the 4WD tranny from the newer chassis on your older engine, and you won't be able to put the bolt-on t.case on your 2WD tranny.

Your options are to get a 4WD tranny that you can bolt your t.case to, or get a divorced t.case and then fabricate all the mounts. I'd go the 4WD tranny route.

Theoretically you can convert a 2WD trans to be a 4WD trans, but it involves completely disassembling the trans (the tail shaft is the last piece to come out). So unless you were planning on rebuilding the trans anyway it really isn't worth it.

 

Thanks for the info Bob. a new tranny sounds expensive. Maybe you could lend some additional advice. I couldn't understand what Tom meant in an earlier post when he said I couldn't use the transmission. Both vehicles have the Triton V10 Engine. Could the whole tranny and tcase from the donor vehicle (2008 E450) be removed and bolted to the engine on the other (1997 E350). Is it a chassis issue?

 

I found transmission model numbers and yes they are different. The newer tranny would require a computer mod as well if I read correctly.

Where do I find a 4wd transmission?

 

Like said earlier to make your current transmission 4 wheel drive you will need to swap in a 4x4 output shaft and extension housing. That's pretty much an overhaul being the output is one of the 1st parts installed. The other option would be to build a custom crossmember and install a divorced t-case behind your 2wd transmission. A divorced NP205 should fit under there no problem or possibly a rockwell model if you have the room.

 

pathfinder makes or made an adapter that you can remove the 2wd rear and put the pathfinder rear on to make a 2wd trans a 4wd trans. i have one and they are hard to find. but you might get lucky and find one.

or you could do the 2nd easy thing, and get a divorced np205 from a 76 ford or such and run a small shaft to it from the back of yoru 2wd one. thats what i would do if i didnt already own an adapter.

 

Sorry, I was thinking the '97 would have a 460. So the 4WD trans from the '08 likely would bolt to the '97 engine. But...


... I have no idea how hard it would be to get the electronics happy. If the '08 is complete enough could you swap the '08 engine, trans, computer and all necessary wiring over to the '97? Just a thought, I don't know if that would be more of a nightmare than it's worth or not.

As far as where to find a 4WD trans, it would be in a 4WD truck. Of course that's the simplistic answer. I'm not sure what truck you'd need to look for. Ideally it'd be about the same year with the same transmission (but 4WD instead of 2WD) to make it most likely that the computer and trans would like each other. But if you have a '97 Triton the closest 4WD trans you're likely to find is from a '99 SuperDuty (F-250 or F-350). I have no idea if that would be electronically compatible with your computer or not.


You can do the same thing without a kit by getting a tailshaft housing for the 4WD version of your trans from a junkyard and getting a tailshaft for the 4WD version from a junkyard or buy a new replacement part. But kit or DIY, replacing the tailshaft means COMPLETELY disassembling the trans. Like I said before, this can be a great option if you are planning on rebuilding the trans anyway.


Might be the most straightforward option. Fabbing the crossmembers and shift linkage would be the toughest part, and you'll have to do most of that no matter what you do. I've never tried to set up a divorced t.case, so I'm not sure how hard / easy it is to get the driveshaft between them set up properly. And an NP205 wouldn't be my first choice for your application. It certainly ought to be strong enough, but it only has a 1.96:1 low range (most newer t.cases are somewhere near 2.5:1). But if you can't get the tranny figured out a divirced t.case lets you just keep your original engine, trans and computer, which keeps a lot of things simple and reliable.

 

this is where your wrong, the pathfinder tailshaft is the right length to use the 2wd shaft.

they were designed by pathfinder to convert 2wd vans into 4wds easier just pull rear tailhouse and install pathfinder one and its ready to bolt to np205

 

same here, i was not aware that the V10 was used in any 97 vehicles. i also thought you had a 460

since this is the case, i would check to see what all is needed to make the 08 trans work in the 97.

being able to use the 08 trans will make things a WHOLE LOT easier.

 

Divorced and done.