So ive got a 1976 ford f250, np203 transfer case. First picture is my passenger side of front hub, second picture is of my driver side front hub. The truck was like this when i bought it. Anyone have an inkling as to why someone would do this? What purpose? As well as what troubles might be getting into trying to carefully cut that off and put an actual hub on?

 

All the mounting bolts were stripped out. Couldn't find another hub at the time or ?????? Redneck fix.

 

Yes that's a clown repair. but if you have full time 4 wheel drive you wouldn't have had locking hubs anyway.

You're just going to have grind or cut the weld off and put a new hub assembly on. if you like the looks of the locking hubs you can put a set on or just put the original hardware back in and caps back on .

 

Yeah, ive been occassionally mildly confused by the hub on the passenger side with the NP203 transfer case. If i fixed the previous "repair" with a locking hub, the hub would have no purpose correct? I can double check the tag on tcase tomorrow. Have a picture of the trans shifter that i thought also indicates NP203 all time 4wd setup.

Did these trucks that came with the all time 4wd tcase come with locking hubs originally or were they capped?

 

Mine was capped til I converted to a 205 and lockouts. It is a 76 F-250

 

there is no 2 high option so I'd assume it's full time. but I wouldn't rely on a **** to identify the transfer case.

Yes, full time equipped rigs just came with a cap in place of a lockout hub.

 

The drive flanges were on my 75 when I bought it. First thing I did when I bought it was pulled the 203 and the drive flanges and replaced them with a 205 and manual hubs like the one you pictured. You can run the manual hubs with your setup and unlock them so the front wheels freewheel then lock them in low traction situations. Having the front axle unlocked will save you a little gas as well as wear and tear on front axle when all wheel drive is not needed. The end of the wheel hub is a machined surface so, if you are going to cut the welded flange off, you may want to have a machine shop do it and make sure the outer sealing surface is flat. If the threads in the end of the wheel hubs are stripped Heli coils can be installed or, if you can find a used one in good shape, replace the hub. You can run it like it is but, man does that look like some redneck engineering.
Mark.

 

I had a 75 F100 with a 203 and the hubs were capped also.

I think you can convert a 203 to part time with locking hubs. Not sure but I think. Others will chime in. If so it might be just as easy (or difficult) as repairing what you have.

 

If you put locking hubs on you can free up your wheels but your drive shaft and axle will still turn but won't be locked to the wheel which is still better than full time

 

I don’t see what the issue is...



kidding. You are probably looking in the $300 range for a new hub/bearings and a new set of lockers. Gets you half way to a part time 4x4 setup. Definitely worth doing.

 

You cant get that hub off with out grinding or cutting that weld as that cap assy. has to come off to get to the spindle nut and bearings.
Then my next question is the outer axle end different between locking & non-locking assy.?
Dave ----

 

No, they're all the same .

 

A little bit of a different opinion here. If you add locking mechanisms to your hubs on a stock, unmodified NP203 transfer case you have to leave them locked all the time. Unless you drive with the transfer case in a LOCK position, or have installed a locking front differential, your vehicle will not move with the front hubs unlocked.
The transfer case has an actual normally-open differential inside, so like a regular differential with one wheel on the ice, your front driveshaft will spin, but the rear will not. You end up going nowhere until you either lock the hubs back in or shift the transfer case to either high or low LOCK.
That's just the nature of the beast.

The only way to get it to work with unlocked front hubs is to convert it internally using one of the Part-Time conversion kits. A locker is not really a solution, and I don't believe a limited-slip was an option for the front diff on part-time equipped trucks. But I could be wrong on that point.
So either you install drive flanges (stronger), locking hubs that stay locked all the time (weaker, but workable for most) or convert the transfer case using one of the two common styles of kits (weaker and cheaper, or stronger and more expensive).

Paul

 

There is no limited slip in a 203 but just like an open rear axle you'll get a little power to the other side, but very little. I agree with Paul there not much reason to have locking hubs if you're no going to part time kit the T case. everything is still going to turn just the same.

The only advantage is it might be easier to find locking hubs than the original full time parts , and just leave them locked in.