Need help deciding on trans and tranny combo (1 Viewer)

[NVFJ60]

I have finally decided to go a little nuts with my FJ40. Wife is on board and while I have most of the parts sourced I do have a few left to get. But my biggest decision is for the trans and t case. The cruiser has a 283 Chevy with a SM420 and a stock t case that the PO had with 35” tires blah blah blah! It works fine but I’m upgrading my axles to a drivers drop Dana 60 and a Corp 14 bolt out back and 40” shoes. I have had both axles in my garage for some time just in case I decided to go forward. So with those axles I need to get a new t case to center up the rear and have the front drive shaft on the drivers side. I can’t afford the Atlas and to save up the $3500.00 would take a year or better. I also have a NV4500 d that I have had sitting around and both Novak and AA had said that all I need is a bell housing to get it to bolt up to my 283. The t case is my issue. I have access to a NP241 from a Dodge truck that bolts right up to the NV4500 and has driver drop. My buddy sad I could have it for a bottle of McCallum. I see that JB conversions makes a SYE kit for it and Novak and AA have said it matches to the NV4500. I thought I was set but I’m not sure if this is a good set up. So looking around I saw that Novak makes an adapter to mate the SM420 to a NVG241 rock trac t case from a rubicon Jeep. Same buddy said he can get me a used rock trac for under a grand or trade out for some work he needs done. So dollar for dollar I’m out about even for the adapter vs the SYE and the bottle vs the work he needs done is almost equal as well. My time may be worth more but what the heck. I just don’t know which way is better. Any advice on this would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[pjohnson]

Did you consider a Dana 300?

Nevermind, it's not a driver's drop.

 

[CreeperSleeper]

They make "flip kits" for the Dana 300 (I think). Or at least they used to.

 

[NVFJ60]

Believe it or not when I was collecting parts for the past 5 years I had found a good used 300 and bought it to use. It wasn’t until I got all the parts together that I realized the 300 wouldn’t work. I had way too much into the driver side high pinion Dana 60 to ditch it for a passenger side. I spoke to a guy at KOH last year who had the flip kit and he said it had oiling issues when it was flipped.

 

[69LC]

If you want twin stick and gear strength have you considered the ford 205?

If you need the 32 spline input it’s an easy swap. The outputs are both already 32 spline.

 

[NVFJ60]

I actually started looking around on any alternates last night again. The Ford 205 has the driver side drop but I’m not sure it it would bolt up to a dodge gas version heavy duty NV4500. I tried looking up adapters and found nothing that cross references the two brands together. It’s all spline count and bolt patterns and to be honest, it’s a little over my head. Plus if you start looking into it there is a lot of guys making their own adapters and or modifying the existing adapters and that’s way out of my league. I thought about calling Off Road Warehouse and talking to them. He seems to be the resident expert on the 205. This would all be so simple if I had the $$ for the Atlas but I spec’d it out again last week in hopes that the new tax break would have miraculously dropped the prices on them ( hahaha). My wife is still laughing at me! Still almost 4K for one though.

 

[bigfj62]

I wish my wife just laughed when I talk about spending 4k on my Cruiser...........Could you do a 203/205 combo. I think they make a 203 adapter to NV4500 and you can pretty much mate any 203 205 so you could driver drop 205. Will be getting a little long for a stock 40 wheel base though. Start talking all these adapter then your pretty much too an Atlas.

 

[pjohnson]

Nv4500/Atlas - Pirate4x4.Com : 4x4 and Off-Road Forum

 

[baldilocks]

Atlas built the way you want it and never look back. I had a 4spd Atlas in 2.72/3.8. It was the s***!

 

[NVFJ60]

Nv4500/Atlas - Pirate4x4.Com : 4x4 and Off-Road Forum

Thanks Mr Johnson. I messaged the guy. We will see.

 

[pjohnson]

Good luck. I spent a few minutes on AA's website and configured a 2 speed atlas for about $2700. What options are getting you up to $4k?

 

[NVFJ60]

4K is a bit of an exaggeration. It was $3785.00. I just went through their website and configured it with what I thought was best for my application.

 

[Ryan Towry]

I have been told by a couple people to call actual vendors for AA stuff and they can beat the price on the AA site somewhat.

were you pricing the 4 speed or 2 speed?

 

[NVFJ60]

I have been told by a couple people to call actual vendors for AA stuff and they can beat the price on the AA site somewhat.

were you pricing the 4 speed or 2 speed?

4 speed and I ended up buying a 2 speed.

 

[Ryan Towry]

4 speed and I ended up buying a 2 speed.

did you end up getting the 2 speed from AA direct or a distributor? I am getting close to ordering a 2 speed 4.3:1 for behind my sm465.

 

[pb4ugo]

They make "flip kits" for the Dana 300 (I think). Or at least they used to.

There's no need to buy a flip kit for a d300, You can just install it upside down. you'll have to fab or buy linkage for the shift rods because they are now on the bottom of the Tcase and IIR, cut the shifter pivot off the frt output housing. We put 1 in a YJ with a NP231 doubler in front of it.

As for a Ford HP dana 60, I have a friend who altered his to be a passenger side drop. The same was done with a Ford HP dana 44.

 

[NVFJ60]

did you end up getting the 2 speed from AA direct or a distributor? I am getting close to ordering a 2 speed 4.3:1 for behind my sm465.

I went to buy it from AA and then found one that was used and was the exact set up I needed for behind my NV4500.

 

[TwelveGravity]

I like the way this is going! I just picked up another 40 and I'm at the beginning phase of building it. I was thinking about a similar set up. I like the NV4500 / Atlas / Axle choice. Thanks!

 

[NVFJ60]

Update. I caved to peer pressure and did something I’ve always told myself never to do and changed my mind mid path. After booting up the NV4500 to the Atlas and measuring everything and seeing my clutch options etc I decided on a 700R4! Was a hard decision to make in one regards, I know that the NV4500 is stout and most likely won’t break but after driving a friends rig and not having to push that pedal on the left over and over again I became weak and indecisive! So after talking with a few guys locally and then going over everything with a local transmission shop that I trust 100%, I pulled the trigger on a custom built 700r4. Bad news here, the Atlas had to have a new spud shaft. So yes there are big consequences to changing your mind mid path! About 900 of them with labor, but bright side, I just sold the NV4500 to a guy after posting it for 3 hours on CL that paid for the spud shaft, labor and a new steering column, gauges and a tranny cooler. But now I get to pay for the 700r4!

 

[Ryan Towry]

i get what you mean the auto is alluring with not having to deal with the clutch during wheeling.

ironically I just picked up a nv4500/atlas 3.8 combo used on CL over the weekend as you were getting rid of yours.

someday when we both get them running we can wheel and compare!!