By all logic the term "highboy" should refer to the early 60's F250 4x4s as well (and maybe it does to some) why it's generally accepted to only refer to the 67-77.5 F250 4x4s is beyond me, were the 67-77.5's refered to as highboys during their era? or did that nickname only come about after the trucks were lowered in 77.5?

 

Bingo,you hit the nail on the head.There was no Highboy untill there was a Lowboy.Think of it this way,World war 1 was not called WW1 Untill WW2.Before WW2 it was just called "The world war".If you buy in to this rational since before there was a Lowboy there was nothing to compare the highboy to .I would buy in to the whole lift thing if the Highboy came out after the Lowboy meaning a Lowboy is a lowered Highboy not vise versa.

 

It drives me crazy when people call a vintage 3/4 ton pickup a 'highboy,' as it is not a ford term at all. As long as we are throwing our pet peeves out there. LOL.

 

Not to nitpick, but World War 1 was referred to as the "Great War" until World War II broke out and obliterated that nickname.

Josh

 

I was too young to even drive back then but when i talk to guys that are over the age of 50-60 that actually owned these trucks when they were new not a one of them has ever said they refered to the truck as a highboy so it would stand to reason the moniker came about after 77.5 to distinguish these trucks from the lower ride height of the post 77.5's.

 

I'm glad someone else caught that!

Back to the original question...the divorced transfer case is, as stated before, a hold-over from the early days of 4X4s. Back then, non-factory manufacturers were not concerned with making products that fit specialized applications. It was much more cost effective to make one product, each one identical, that could be used in many different applications. They didn't have to worry about manual or auto, 3spd/4spd. C6/ 904 Torqueflite/ TH350, etc... the same transfer case that fit a Ford would also fit a Chevy or a Dodge without modification. Less overhead, more profit.

My '62 FWD has a divorced transfer case, and the same case was used regardless of whether it was a Fuller five speed, Roadranger, Clark, New Process, or whatever. If it was a "married" case, there would have to be countless variants to make it work on all those different transmissions. There were different output shaft lengths, different splines, different yoke sizes, etc.

Oh, and Highboys are indeed trucks that came from the factory with a suspension height that was higher than the post-77.5s. Just like trucks that came from the factory as Super Camper Specials are Super Camper Specials...one of these trucks that has been modified after the fact with all of the necessary equipment is not really a Super Camper Special, even if the CO says it is...because it didn't come from the factory that way. Jack up your post-77.5 as high as you want...it still won't be a Highboy. At least not in the common sense of the word.

 

In reference to the original question and how the setup affects DS angles, let's not froget that it's great for the front but can really screw up the back which is the one in action the most. It just moves angle problems from the front to the rear when you lift it over stock. Believe me I've had to deal with it. Therefore, I can't imagine that improving DS angles was the original intent of the divorced case in these particular trucks. It does make oddball engine and tranny swaps easy since you can put whatever you want in front of it.

 

Well said.4x4`s were a specialty item back then not as mainstream as today.

 

Yeah that is nitpicking but you got my point,BTW that is a cool piece of info that I will remember.

 

Napco also did conversions for Ford before 1959.

 

I thought there were a few other companies that did the pre '59 4x4 conversions but i couldn't think of their names at the time, another is American-Coleman.

 

There are a few,,,,,,,well,,,,,,,,,lets say that the theory might sound ok, but it is not exactly true.
Divorced (remot mounted) cases were not around so that they were a "one size fits all" type of thing. Remember that Ford was the only manufacturer at that time to have used the driver side drop front axle. This means that a ford case was specific to a ford and could not be used in other applications.
While these cases can be used behind any transmission they were still manufacturer specific based upon the front differential used.
During the era of vehicle that this topic pertains to, we have to consider that these (F 250) trucks used a low pinion front axle, this low pinion axle kept reasonable clearances under the engine and frame, but created an angle problem, so the solution was similar to the larger trucks and this was a "remote mount" t-case. Also consider that the same era 1/2 ton truck would have used the exact same case, only this was a direct mount.
In the case of the direct mount, the drivehsaft was shorter and required a high pinion axle to compensate for the short driveline and keep the angles under control.
Interesting ideas about the whole concept...............

 

geez you guys find some weird crap to argue about.

 

If we are focusing solely on the '70s, you are probably right.

But the theory behind the divorced transfer case goes back a long time before the era that we are dealing with in this forum.

I have no doubt that Ford needed a special setup because of the drop front axle...you yourself said they were the only manufacturer at the time who used it...I'll agree with you there. But, that only serves to support that the vast majority of divorced cases were not brand or model specific. I'm also not doubting that those Ford cases in question were specific to Fords only...that's fact and that's fine...but what about the decades and manufacturers before then? I'm simply saying that there was a reason why transfer cases were made this way, and it existed long before dentsides did.

 

We're debating.

We are just so good at it that it looks like arguing. Hang around here long enough and you'll debate too.