drivetrain swap swap or ?

[dadsjeepdually]

HEllo forum , Would like information on whats the best way to go. Ihave a 73 j4000 project truck it has a 360 amc and no tranny I swapped in 400 qt and then realized rearend is centerpumkin and qt is not . So is it simpler totry to mate 400 to dana 20 transfercase that i have //or use the t18 dana 20 that i also have but it bolts to 350 buick ????? adapters or do a motor swap or use a chevy 350 4speedand transfercase im confused agian taking sugestions thanks chuck

[twisted frame]

You've got to use the T18 to use the centerpumpkin rearend. I'm not up on what mates up with what, but it seems that your simplest solution is to put the T18 in there with the Model 20 transfer case.

Did the truck originally come with the 360/T18/Model 20 combination?

Also: If you have a choice - What do you like to drive better - Automatic or standard?

If you'd be happier with the automatic, then it would probably be worth your effort to find the proper offset rearend to go with your quadratrac auto transmission, right?

[blt2krl]

You can still run the TH400/QT setup I run that with a centered 14 bolt I have no problems.

[dadsjeepdually]

my truck has a dually rearend with the pumpkin in the center. its a amc 360 and a 400 turbo quadratrac in the truck i havent hooked up driveshafts yet with the the angle on reardrive shaft i wasnt shure if it was the way to go, i will try it. Also have a t18 dana 20 with a buick bolt pattern i was considering to swap it in with a different engine pontiac / olds/caddy ? and the third option is swap a 400chevy and 4speed tranny and transfercase ???? whats a better transfercase a qt or a dana20 or the chevy transfercase i really dont want to be afraid of a weekdrivetrain. I welcome your input on my delima , money is tight and i need a simple but fairly tough drivetrain . truck originaly come with amc 360 and t18 dana 20 and a 1ton duall rearend when i got the truck the t18 was trashed in pieces and no bell housing just a dana 20 transfercase

[Elliott]

Just run what you have now, that D20 is fine with the 360. The angle on the drive line is only going to make a difference if you have interference with your gas tank... off set or centered don't mean nothing else 'cause you have offset/angle vertically so the only difference it's going to make horizontally is if it hits something. Right?
Later, when you want to swap more torque in you could easily go the GM route with the 465 tranny and NP205... pretty stout, but doubt you'd likely need it.

[nxcj]

The Quad off-set probably won't be an issue with your long rear driveshaft. I've saw a guy run an off-set Waggy rear in a YJ with a centered output t-case; he liked it and bought a spare off-set rear from me. (Very short shaft)

If you use the B.O.P pattern T-18; why not just swap the AMC bell from your blown T-18 and keep the 360?

Quadratrac is plenty strong if maintained; Dana 20 is plenty strong; NP 205 (Chevy) is VERY strong.

Sounds like you have plenty of parts to make something work. Depends if you want the full time 4 wheel drive of a Quad or not. Then it depends if you wnat to keep the AMC motor or not.

Since your truck already had the T-18, I'd think that getting the correct bell housing on your BOP T-18/20 set up would be the simple way to go.

[ March 11, 2004, 08:36 PM: Message edited by: nxcj ]

[blt2krl]

Originally posted by dadsjeepdually:
my truck has a dually rearend with the pumpkin in the center. its a amc 360 and a 400 turbo quadratrac in the truck i havent hooked up driveshafts yet with the the angle on reardrive shaft i wasnt shure if it was the way to go, i will try it. Also have a t18 dana 20 with a buick bolt pattern i was considering to swap it in with a different engine pontiac / olds/caddy ? and the third option is swap a 400chevy and 4speed tranny and transfercase ???? whats a better transfercase a qt or a dana20 or the chevy transfercase i really dont want to be afraid of a weekdrivetrain. I welcome your input on my delima , money is tight and i need a simple but fairly tough drivetrain . truck originaly come with amc 360 and t18 dana 20 and a 1ton duall rearend when i got the truck the t18 was trashed in pieces and no bell housing just a dana 20 transfercasedoes the QT have the part time kit installed? If not I don't know if you want the full time 4 wheel option. If you don't I would run the dana 20. Out of all the T-cases the chevy will probably be the strongest for sure. Probably a NP-205. What are you plannig to use the rig for?

[dadsjeepdually]

blt2krl, what do i look for to see if my qt has a part time kit installed. Elliot the truck has the 400 qt in it now , if i use the dana 20 t18 i would need a bop boltpattern engine that i dont have. how much changing would haft to be done to install 400 chevy /sm465 /np205 motormounts and etc.i would rather have aparttime4wheeldrive

[nxcj]

Ah, I missed that you said there was no T-18 bell when you got it.

As far as the full Chevy swap: Fab skills on the motor mounts and likely moving the tranny cross-member. Nothing too drastic.

[dadsjeepdually]

could somebody tell me what all needs to be done to put in chevy 400 4speed and transfercase.Im not a fabricater . Is it just motormounts , do they have to be made or can they be baught, and just adjusting tranny crossmember and etc. Is there something i could read up on thats already done this so that i can do this step by step

[Elliott]

Originally posted by dadsjeepdually:
could somebody tell me what all needs to be done to put in chevy 400 4speed and transfercase.Im not a fabricater . Is it just motormounts , do they have to be made or can they be baught, and just adjusting tranny crossmember and etc. Is there something i could read up on thats already done this so that i can do this step by stepLook up advance adaptors for all the bits, get their tech manual and it'll tell ya what all will work. They'll have what's need.
http://www.advanceadapters.com/index425.html