Well it sure has been slow going, and very little seems like it gets done, but every day I think maybe this is the day I really make progress. Not yet, at least that’s how it feels.
After fully welding the front shock hoops on I realized I had measured wrong in relation to full stuff and how the fenders fit. So those hoops got ground off and redone, along with the upper coilover mounts.
In the meantime I had come to the conclusion that my lower links were a weak spot if this thing got any heavier than my wild guess, so upsizing was on the menu, along with a bit of a front frame mount redo, I had not allowed for near enough front driveshaft clearance at the link frame mount.
So those links got longer, a short shaft is on order from Jesse at High Angle Driveline for the front t case output.
I was pretty confident that the 243 case and all the driveshafts were gonna come together, but it turns out I have a DHD (pto cover) and there is no slip eliminator kit for it.
Now in doing this, I did have a great experience of talking with many friendly people in the business, trying to find a solution. Tom Wood’s and Torque king have been very helpful and friendly. Pretty cool to talk to so many people who obviously enjoy what they are doing. As short as my rear driveshaft was I really needed a slip shaft, and a slip yoke eliminator.
It turns out I didn’t know I had a gem laying around the farm for years in the form of a NP205. Rusty and crusty on the outside, nearly perfect on the inside, it “looked” like it would bolt right up with just a shaft change, which needed to be done anyway as part of the crusty on the outside. This was from the same ‘78 Ford that the axles are from.
The 205 was checked out, and while I was at it I made the controls come out the back of the 205 instead of the front, where they would interfere with the mounting. Some people carve away at the mount but I really didn’t want to do that and with a lathe and mill sitting right here that I need to get experience on, this was pretty fun to do.
After ordering supposedly the right parts and a cast iron tailpiece for the rear of the nv4500, I’ve figured out that it needs an adapter plate, with maybe a bearing retainer mod on the lathe…
Or…
a black box or ORD magnum underdrive….
That will mount right up!
My wife is gonna kill me.
Anyway that’s where I’m at.
A bit of body work awaits, and the sound and heat spray insulation is here, waiting.
I was hoping to have it done this fall but have not been efficient at all. Lots of hours, lots of mistakes…
Thanks for reading my excessively long post.
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