Major Junkyard Score!!

[cleszkie]

I went to my local Ecology pick and pull last weekend looking for an open carrier for a 14 bolt axle. I found the carrier in a 1988 Suburban which also happened to have a Gear Vendors overdrive unit still installed! The Sub was 2-wheel drive with a big block and TH400 tranny, so I will have to buy the NP205 adapter to install it in my 72 K5 Blazer, but that is peanuts compared to the cost of one of these units new (about $2,800). I got all of the wiring, switches, CPU, and speedo cable adapters. The best part is that I got it all for $100 (the cashier didn't know what it was, so she charged me the standard price for a transfer case).

I have been looking at these things for years, but never got the cahones up to lay down the cash for one, and the ones on ebay always end up going for a mint as well. I have also been putting off a 700R swap due to the cost of building a good tranny and buying an adapter to retain my NP205. Now I can spend a fraction of the cash and bolt this thing up.

Sorry for the long post, but my wife just didn't fully appreciate my find and I needed to share with those that would.

[truckster]

That is incredibly cool!

And no, wives don't understand junkyard scores. "But, honey, you don't understand how rare this is." "Uh-huh. That's nice. Have you mowed the lawn yet?"

I'm very happy for you. It should really be a nice addition to your Blazer.

[WHAMMYBAR66]

awesome find !

[Critter]

Nice! BUT....

Sorry I guess it's not "worthless" without them...but it would be alot cooler with them.

Has anyone every put these in a 4x4 blazer? Is it short enough to not cause problems on our wheelbase???

[watahyahknow]

wow i only heared about a simulair junkyard find once and that turned out to be a pretty good find

[cleszkie]

I contacted Gear Vendors to get info on swapping out the adapters to make the unit work on my NP205. It will cost me $550 in the end to get the proper adapter ($550 for the adapter and coupler plus a $250 core charge that I will get back when I send them the TH400 adapter and coupler that I now have). So I will then have $650 into the unit. I figure it will be another $200 to have my existing CV driveshaft shortened for a grand total of about $850. Nothing to sneeze at, especially in this economy, but still less than a new unit.

The tech staff at Gear Vendors are concerned that the additional 14 inches of length that the unit will take up will make for a pretty short rear driveshaft, and that the angle will be fairly steep with the 6 inch lift I have. I assured them that I would take steps to help this out by lowering the transfercase within the existing cross member, and rotating the perches on my rear axle to make sure the pinion is pointing right at the overdrive output shaft (the best condition for a CV joint on the transfercase end). I run electric fans, so tilting the engine back should not cause any fan/shroud interference issues.

I will take some pics tonite for those that are interested. I am a firm believer in the old saying that if there are no pictures, it didn't happen!

[watahyahknow]

check ebay for the adapter no way a piece of aluminium is worth that mush aspecially when you need to trade in the piece you have

[vtblazer]

Originally Posted by cleszkie

The tech staff at Gear Vendors are concerned that the additional 14 inches of length that the unit will take up will make for a pretty short rear driveshaft, and that the angle will be fairly steep with the 6 inch lift I have. I assured them that I would take steps to help this out by lowering the transfercase within the existing cross member, and rotating the perches on my rear axle to make sure the pinion is pointing right at the overdrive output shaft (the best condition for a CV joint on the transfercase end)

When I ran mine in a 72 long bed 4x4 I did a lot of u-joint research (sorry lost the web-site) and found that u-joints 'should not' be pointed directly at each other , some degree of offset is needed.

Both angles 'must' be the same as well, other-wise you'll have vibration.

I ended up with a pretty short rear shaft even in the long bed, good luck stuffing it under your blazer.

I've still got some pics of the install if they might help ya out.

[cleszkie]

vtblazer -

I agree with you in that the angle of the driveshaft needs to be the same at both ends of the shaft if you are running a non-CV driveshaft in order to cancel vibration (tranny/transfer case output shaft should be parallel to the rear differential pinion). However, if you run a driveshaft with a CV joint on the transfer case end of the driveshaft (like I am running), the pinion should be pointed directly at the tranny/transfer case output shaft. In this way, the CV joint maintains "constant velocity" through the bend, and there is no variable velocity vibration through the aligned u-joint at the pinion end since the angle is essentially zero.

I don't disgree that installing the unit will be a challenge, and that the driveshaft will be short, but this rig sees alot of highway miles and not so many twisty trails, so the benifits will outweight the problems in the end.

[vtblazer]

Good thread to watch for sure.

...and your correct, CV's & u-joints are different all together.

My blazer that had a doubler set up needed a CV off the rear t-case too, I believe if two t-cases can be run succesfully back to back, so couldn't an over drive unit.

[Jtrux]

Wow!!!!!!!!!!! That's awesome, really happy for you. I can't wait to see how it turns out. I would hesitate to lower the xfercase. Just doesn't seem like a good idea. Contact a compentant driveshaft shop and see what they say, it might cost some coin but I be they can fix you up. Have you ever seen a Jeep Wrangler driveshaft? They are like 18 inches long with a double cv.

[swyfor5]

Nice find, but just have to add-include the wifey in ALL the details and it pay's off in the long run! Mine loves it all with the k5, except for the spent cash! She is my number one supporter for this project, and couldn't do it without her.

[Tom Vogel]

How Cool!
If I were running an automatic, I would so get a Gear Vendor unit. The GV is unbreakable and the service from those guys is first rate.