Transfer case ?

[mockingbird]

What transfer case should a 1969 have? Does any one have pictures of them? Also what year did they start the NP205?

[Maxxd07]

Rockwell in the 69, the way I understand in 70 you could have either one. My 70 has the 205.

[sharpie1972]

1969 should have a Rockwell. NP205's came in some 70's and all 71/72 models. Should be pretty easy to do a search and pull up pics from build threads, etc. Sharpie

[mockingbird]

Thanks for the replies. Are the rockwell transfer cases junk? would it be hard or costly to put a NP205 in its place?

[mrein3]

Originally Posted by mockingbird

Thanks for the replies. Are the rockwell transfer cases junk? would it be hard or costly to put a NP205 in its place?

It has been a long time but I think I paid $250 for my transmission and transfer case. They were used out of a 72 Blazer. The job isn't hard but they are HEAVY pieces so that makes the job difficult.

I didn't want to do the job twice so I had the th350 rebuilt at a reputable, local rebuilder. I also purchased a new "drive sleeve" over the counter at GM. And like 100% of all used th350 to NP205 adapters I've personally handled the used one I got was cracked. That too I bought new at a GM parts counter.

You want to find a transmission/adapter/t-case together. There are differences in the pieces between manual and auto transmissions. And differences between th350 and later model th400 transmissions. The manuals had 10 spline input shafts on the t-case. The th-350s had 28 splines and the th400s 32 splines.

When swapping manual to auto NP205s in this model year truck, the driveshafts and crossmember can be reused. They are all the same. I'm not sure on the drive shafts and crossmember when going from a rockwell case to a NP205.

[sharpie1972]

Good info. here! But don't give up on your old Rockwell yet! They are a fine transfer case for most applications. A little noisy and tend to leak a bit, but plenty sturdy. Is yours giving you trouble or are you just looking to upgrade? I would prioritize replacing the stock front drums with discs before the T-case myself. Sharpie

[mockingbird]

No its not giving me any trouble yet considering I don't even own a truck yet. I have been looking hard for on in decent shape for a decent price and I found a couple of 1969 4x4's for sale and just wanted to know more about them. Thank you guys for all the info I did not know about the brakes either about how much is a front brake conversion?

[sharpie1972]

Usually easiest and cheapest to swap in a complete disc brake axle with matching gears from a 71-up truck. Pretty simple swap and good ones can usually be had pretty reasonable $200-300 in my area. You will have to change your brake proportioning valve to disc/drum, but that's not too bad either. Sharpie