Just an update on the progress: I got the F250 axle gutted down to the knuckles tonight, the gears are out except for the pinion, everything looks good so far. The 150 is getting gutted starting Monday, I'll be sure to post a few pics of the progress along the way.

Ted, I read through the thread that you did on your Chevy hybrid steering setup, looks like a great way to go. I have the "y" setup which I will reuse for now, but I think I will do a setup like yours in the very near future. Not too complicated, and the cost is pretty close to replacing the stock stuff. Thanks for the writeup.

 

I see you have full time hubs on your current setup. You will have issues if you swap to locking hubs without converting your transfer case to a part time unit. Your truck will go nowhere with locking hubs that are not locked, or the shifter in the LOC position. Food for thought.....

 

Yeah, it really seems like a good deal when you look at the cost of regular 78-79 stuff from LMC, JBG, etc. I had good dealings with shakerbilt, but there's plenty of other places to get the stuff. Good luck on your buildup

 

I got a 205 waiting to be swapped in also... I might do it this week if I get time, but I will probably just wait until I swap out the dead 351/C6 for the 460/4spd that I have in the garage. I'll just run the hubs locked in for now, the 203 likes to constantly pop out of "LOC" position while I'm driving it.

I found some DOM tubing on ebay that should work for the steering... about $80 for enough to make the tie rod and drag link. Will probably go this route when I do it. Gotta fix some other issues first though...

 

I need to go measure and post in my steering thread my exact lengths. This will help you when you make yours.

I assume you are going to buy threaded inserts and weld them in?

 

Yes, that's the plan as of right now. BTW, I looked back through your thread and even though some had talked about getting the threaded inserts nobody mentioned where to buy them. Do you know who sells them?

If you could measure your setup that would be awesome, that would save me a lot of time and when I do mine. I think I will position the tie rod above the knuckles like you did, just seems to make more sense like that. Thanks for the help Ted.

 

Spidertrax sells hex ones so you don't have to chew up your paint while adjusting it. Also, BTF, poison spider customs, DIY4x, and the like sell them.

Here's what google got me:
threaded tubing insert - Google Search

 

Just an update on the progress of the 3/4 ton conversion. I got the Front coil spring axle reassembled with 4.10 gears, 3/4 ton outers. Installed all new seals, rotors, calipers, brake hoses, and bushings. Currently I am waiting on the 2" lift springs that I ordered from JBG over 2 weeks ago to come in so I can reinstall the axle. I also discoverd that one of the previous owners has already lifted the front of the truck 2" by moving the coil spring buckets down on the frame and drilling new holes, so I should actually have about 4" of lift on the front when I'm done. I still need to install the rear axle, but I was hoping to get the front done first and turn the truck around in the garage before I start on the back. My garage is just too small...

Anyway, plucking away little by little, everything always takes longer than I expect. I also repainted the hood scoop and the center of the hood one night when I was tired of getting greasy. I painted the center of the hood and scoop satin black, kinda like the old Boss 302 Mustangs (since it has a Boss 429 hoodscoop). I think it looks pretty neat (for a 1/2 hour rattle can job).

I'm working on a gallery right now, so I'll have pics up soon. I think my pics are too big so I gotta resize them before I can put them in.

 

I really don't understand this. I have a 77 250 highboy that is full time and I can take the front driveshaft out and it will still drive. Don't see the difference in that and lockouts in freewheel. Can you enlighten me?

 

Chuck, I'm no expert on the 4x4 systems, but I have been around a few of them so I'll tell you what I know.

Ford primarily used 2 different tranfer cases in the dentside trucks, the NP203 and the NP205

The NP203 is a full-time 4x4 case that has no 2wd setting. This is what my '77 F150 is equipped with. The pattern on the shift **** is a H-style pattern with 4hi/4hi-loc/4lo/4low-loc. The lock setting does just that, locks the front tires to the back tires so you have true 4wd. In the 4hi/4lo settings, there is a differential that splits the power to the front and back axles. In this setting, if the front hubs were disengaged, or the front driveshaft were removed, the truck would not move since no power would be transfered to the back wheels. For this reason, my truck has full-time hubs installed because there is no reason to unlock them.

The NP205 case, is a part-time 4wd case. The pattern on the shift **** will be inline with 2hi-4hi-N-4Lo. This case directs power to the rear wheels at all times, regardless of the front axle. It only drives the front axle in 4hi or 4lo, during which the front and rear are locked together.

You mention that your truck has full-time 4wd, but I noticed that it is a hiboy. I know that some of the hiboys came with the NP205 part-time case, and full-time hubs. Most owners changed the front hubs to locking hubs so that the front axle did not turn when in 2wd, so as to save on gas. This could be the case with your truck.

If in fact you do have the NP203 full-time case, and the truck can move when the case is not in the "loc" position with the front driveshaft removed, then someone probably has put a part-time kit in your 203 case.

I hope I clarified this for you, let me know if you have any more questions.

 

It has the divorced t. case so assuming it's a 203. I installed the lockouts because I am having some problems with the front rear end. I had another 77 250 that is not a highboy and is part time. I switched the spindles,rotors and hubs. I had to switch the axel shafts too because the highboy shafts were too long. Then I pulled the front drive shaft. Now heres the problem. My shift pattern is like a upside down and backwards questiopn mark. "?" Imagine it squared instead of curved. I have lo and lo loc forward and hi and hi loc rearward. But can't find Hi. Hi loc is in the forward of the back position if you understand what I mean. Hi is in the rearward position. Buy when I pull it back into Hi, I don't feel any kind of resistance like you would expect. So how do I know if it's in Hi? Also how do I know if it's had a kit put in? I would assume if it had the P.O. would have put lockouts on it allready. The truck was in Hi loc when I bought it and I assumed that beings it was full time that it only had hi loc and lo loc. The dots that mark the positions are kinda worn off. It pulls in hi and hi loc with the front drive shaft in. But I'm almost positive that I tried it in hi without the shaft and it still moved but maybe I'm wrong.
Thanks for the reply 141 and for any further too!! this is my first hi boy but not my first dent side 4x4. I used to be a mechanic before I started driving a truck but never had the chance to mess with the 203's.

 

Can you taka a pic ot two of the t-case? Just because you have a divoreced case, it does not mean that it is a 203. Divorced 205's were also available.

Th above statements regarding the 203 and removal of the front driveshaft are true. The vehicle would not make any motion if you were not in one of the LOC positions.

 

Yes I probably could but will have to wait until tomorrow since it's dark here now.
Wouldn't a divorced 205 have lock outs? I've owned a 78 and 79 Bronc and assume that they would have been 205's and this looks nothing like them.
By the way, Sorry 141! Didn't mean to hi-jack your thread. Just had a question and it snowballed.

 

The 203 will not have locking hubs feom the factory but could have them if it was concerted to part time.
205's would have locking hubs since you could disengage the front end and actually gain 2wd. The 203 does not have a 2wd option unless it was converted..
AFter reading your posts a little bit more, it sounds like you have a part time converted 203, and are trying to shift like a conventional full time 203.

The 203 and the 205 look similar to the untrained eye. The 203 has a giant output housing made from aluminum, and it has a large range box in front of the chain section.
Looking at the two side by side is easy to tell them apart, but not having them together might prove to be a little more difficult.
You can also very easilly look at the shift lever and linkage. The 203 will have two linkages attaching to two levers on the shaft. One straight and flat, the other shaped like a "U". These appear to be on a common shaft.
The 205 has two entirelly different shift rails attached by small piece of flat steel. This is connected to the shift lever by a single linkage.
There is a tag on both units that would indicate what you have if pics are not available.
Not too sure I would trust anything but the real identification from the case itself, since there is always a chance that a previous owner might have changed something in the last 30 years.

 

O.K., I just went out and looked and it has 2 linkage rods coming from the shifter to a u-shaped bracket and a flat bracket on the transfer case. I understand that the 203 would not have lockouts from the factory but was saying that if the P.O. had a kit put in the T.C. wouldn't it stand to reason that he would have installed lockouts?

Im going to start a new thread for this so that 141 can have it back.