Well...it looks like I might be getting back in the 80 series diesel group. After completing the 4bd1t swap in my 94 I decided to venture to the darkside with a 100 series. Once again I find myself wanting to lose sparkplugs and go diesel and just picked up a triple locked truck with a blown head gasket. I've been reading up on the recent builds and folks seem to have made a ton of progress on the 6bt's. I didn't like having a custom adapter in my last build so I'm thinking of trying to use a stock 6bt/5spd/NP205 combo. So here's the two questions bugging me right now that I haven't got a clear answer on:
1. How does the stock rear end hold up with low power 6bt's (meaning sub 250hp) if you use a splitcase, 205 or ? that causes you to lose AWD? Lots of people seem to worry about this, but has anyone put say 10k miles on one to find out?
2. And has anyone actually run a NP205 or other centered output transfercase on either gas or diesel using the stock offset rear end to see if the stock fuel tank is an issue? I assume it must be as the couple I found have moved the tank, but they were also running centered diffs. I'm just curious if you run enough lift for 37's could you also run the centered 205 with the stock cruiser axle and have enough driveline clearance? Alternatively using a tank mounted where the spare used to go seems like a reasonable tradeoff for not having to monkey with adapters. I like the build that mounted an air tank in that spot...
Thanks for any experiences you can share!
1. How does the stock rear end hold up with low power 6bt's (meaning sub 250hp) if you use a splitcase, 205 or ? that causes you to lose AWD? Lots of people seem to worry about this, but has anyone put say 10k miles on one to find out?
2. And has anyone actually run a NP205 or other centered output transfercase on either gas or diesel using the stock offset rear end to see if the stock fuel tank is an issue? I assume it must be as the couple I found have moved the tank, but they were also running centered diffs. I'm just curious if you run enough lift for 37's could you also run the centered 205 with the stock cruiser axle and have enough driveline clearance? Alternatively using a tank mounted where the spare used to go seems like a reasonable tradeoff for not having to monkey with adapters. I like the build that mounted an air tank in that spot...
Thanks for any experiences you can share!