420 or 465 plate style adapter...

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the bearing must be a 420 adapter thing....I've never heard of it with the 465. With the plate installed and the input seal on the t-case installed, I can't see where a bearing would go anyways....

of course, my old classic cruisers plate didn't even come with the right hardware, no notes on needing a slave cylinder bracket, and zero instructions.....first install stuff I ever saw on it was the writeup I did...

'MUD plates are similarly pretty ;) Mike's 6061 alum plates are bead blasted after machining...mine are not....otherwise they are very similar.
 
On the GM SM465 the bearing is in the transmission. Woody's adapter plate goes around the bearing retainer of this bearing. The 420 adapters have bearings if I remember correctly. The splines on the output of the transmission flare out toward the transmission so on a stock setup, there is a tube that connects both the transmission and the t-case (both are male), and this keeps everything aligned. On the Orion mated to a 465, the gear walked toward the bearing retainer and machined the case. The pic below is about where the gear was riding in my case when it was "self clearancing". Also, in case you were wondering, the bearing retainer spins with the output so a spacer wouldn't be stationary, it would spin with the assembly.
IMG_1868.webp
 
465/classic cruisers p.o.s. adapter. same thing...no instructions, one hole drilled wrong, crap hardware and they told me they had it in stock yet it still took over 2 months to get it. classic cruisers is almost as crappy as jto :mad:
 
treerootCO said:
On the GM SM465 the bearing is in the transmission. Woody's adapter plate goes around the bearing retainer of this bearing. The 420 adapters have bearings if I remember correctly.

I think it would be a better design for the sm465 plate adaptors to eliminate the rear bearing retainer and lock ring on the sm465 and use a second bearing in the plate instead of a spacer, just like the sm420. Ball bearings don't have as much load capacity in sideways deflection as roller bearings, so having two of them would help control the 465 output shaft deflection under heavy load.

I'm not familiar enough with the sm465 to know whether the threads on the output shaft would cause a problem, but they could be machined down to the shaft diameter.

You don't need the sm465 lock ring any more because the rear of the output shaft is drilled and tapped.
 
I am running Mike Smythes SM420 plate adapter. I bought it for $50 off of a guy on the LCML.

My adapter is 3/4" thick. I didn't have to chagne driveshaft lengths. No skid plate modifications. No tranny hump modifications. etc.

I found out why my truck was leaking gear oil... ALL of the long bolts that hold the transmission on had pulled the threads out of the adapter. :mad:
So the t-case was being held on with the 2 studs and the input gear.

Well, I pulled the adapter plate out and milled out the holes to 5/8" then I locktited a threaded insert into the hole to make the hole a 1/2" hole. Put in some 1/2" grade 8 botls to hold it all together. We will see how this works.... I locktited the snot out of them so hopefully they will stay put (god help me if I ever have to take this stuff apart again!)...
 
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BTW, the adapter I posted is for an sm420.
Sorry for the confusion,
Campy
 
Pin_Head said:
You don't need the sm465 lock ring any more because the rear of the output shaft is drilled and tapped.



Are you talking about the spanner nut and lock washer on the output shaft of the 465?
 
SM420 Only:

The thrust washer thingy is required along with the second N307LOE bearing in order to align the input gears. I never found the berings as cheap as Pin_Head indicated but still less than $45. The flat washer and sm420 washer drilled and pinned thru the output shaft splines, and rolled over bolt head is the common way to secure it. Failure to do so, including just thinking red loctite will hold it, WILL require you to do it a second time.
 
Poser said:
Are you talking about the spanner nut and lock washer on the output shaft of the 465?

Yes, the rear bearing retainer that you need the special wrench for and the lock washer all the way up ot hte bearing.
 
Thank you for the clarification!

:beer:
 
Can any of you tell me what I got ahold of. Instead of a 3/4 in plate I have an adapter (was told it was AA) several inches in length betwen trans(465) and xfer (3sp). If I want to use the plate will I have to change output shaft. The adapter looks like it will require major drive shaft mods.

Thanks
Les
 
sounds like aa. their adapter adds something like 7" to the drivetrain which is why i went for the crap classic cruisers adapter.
 
jikser said:
Can any of you tell me what I got ahold of. Instead of a 3/4 in plate I have an adapter (was told it was AA) several inches in length betwen trans(465) and xfer (3sp). If I want to use the plate will I have to change output shaft. The adapter looks like it will require major drive shaft mods.

Thanks
Les


Depends on what output shaft you have in the 465 right now. There are a couple options, one being a fine spline 2wd output, and the other being a coarse spline 4wd version, which is what you will want. You then will need to modify the output shaft like Mike Davidson(treerootCO) talks about in his write-up HERE , or in such a way to be able to retain the tcase input gear on the trans output shaft. Some have welded a stud into the hole that they drilled into the output shaft and had that set up work too.

I would want to find a plate adapter to try and keep the driveline as short as possible, but that is just me.


Good luck!


-Steve
 
Looks like I have some research to do, I would like to keep the already short driveshafts as long as possible. Would this be benificial in installing a 350 keeping xfer close to original location or would the shifter be to far foreward? I'm sure this has been hashed out a thousand times but since the 420/465 gurus are at hand, and I promise I won't go on about this anymore before reading a little.

Thanks
Les
 
closer yes...but it's hard to keep it exact....

You need the 10-spline 4wd SM465 tranny....if the setup you have doesn't have that, a replacement tranny will run ya in the $50-75 range. (my last 3 were $40-50...."collector", bad habit...)

See the vendor corner for my plate....I'm gonna owe Steve and Mike :beer: for fixing the install info on the spacer too!
 

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