NP 205's?
Posting Guru
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,003
Likes: 0
No they are not all the same. Chevy's and Ford's put the front output shaft on different sides of the truck. Some are married meaning they mount directly to the transmission, some are divorced meaning they have a short drive shaft from the transmission to the transfer case input to drive them. I think there are a few differences in input shaft spline count and output yoke sizes for heavy duty applications but I'm not sure how much of this was done from the factory and how much has been fabricated by the owners.
What is so good about it? Strength and simplicity. It is all gear driven and notoriously strong. It has a cast iron case. Newer TC's use chains to drive the front ouput and have soft metal alloy cases.
Disadvantages? Only two that come to mind - 1. low gear reduction ratio, other transfer cases have a much lower low range. 2. Weight, the thing weighs a ton due to the way it is built.
What is so good about it? Strength and simplicity. It is all gear driven and notoriously strong. It has a cast iron case. Newer TC's use chains to drive the front ouput and have soft metal alloy cases.
Disadvantages? Only two that come to mind - 1. low gear reduction ratio, other transfer cases have a much lower low range. 2. Weight, the thing weighs a ton due to the way it is built.
Elder User
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 794
Likes: 1
From: Portland, OR
Hey there,
Most of the gears will interchange between makes, but for the most part chevy used the most worthless spline counts for the 205's from thier sm465 and TH350 versions. The only reason why the 205 is sought after and deamed the best is there are alot of aftermarket parts for them- especially larger than stock yokes. The PTO's are also cheap and easy to find. The old dana 24 is just as tough, but yoke size is limited and PTO's are rediculously expensive. The front output shaft will most likely not be the same. Ford 205's always used 32 spline outputs front and rear. Chevy only used 32 spline on the TH400 NP205.
Most of the gears will interchange between makes, but for the most part chevy used the most worthless spline counts for the 205's from thier sm465 and TH350 versions. The only reason why the 205 is sought after and deamed the best is there are alot of aftermarket parts for them- especially larger than stock yokes. The PTO's are also cheap and easy to find. The old dana 24 is just as tough, but yoke size is limited and PTO's are rediculously expensive. The front output shaft will most likely not be the same. Ford 205's always used 32 spline outputs front and rear. Chevy only used 32 spline on the TH400 NP205.
