NP 208 to NP 205 swap

I have A 1981 K-20 8600 GVW LT-9 5.7 350 cdi M465 4 speed manual Dana 44 front 3.73

14 bolt full floater rear 3.73 yea I know the 3.73's suck with the 35" BEG Mud TA's NP 208 TC Warn HD lock out hubs 4" Rancho Lift

I have found A NP 205 TC and A TC adaptor that will bolt up to the M465 the NP208 has 200 k + with no trouble's but it's life span is ????? A buddy told me that the NP 205 TC was the work horse I do use my truck not abuse it Has anyone done this swap will the front drive shaft bolt up? will the TC adaptor bolt up to the cross member? I know that the 208 shift linkage will not fit the 205 Would this be worth the swap I know I need 4.56 gears with the 35's but one thing at A time!

Thanks for your input

Dave S. Las Vegas NV. Home of the "Dry Mud" they call it SAND!

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Dave
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Quite honestly Dave you are beating the wrong horse here. You need gears more than a different Tcase and not just because of tires but altitude to at times. Also, the 205 has a 1.96 low range and 208 about

2.7 so you will loose about 30 percent of your low range performance with swap as well. I am not anti 205's because I actually owned several in "new" trucks when they were still original equipment. Your effort woulf be far better rewarded with a gear swap to 4.56 or possibly even 4.88's. A 208 can live a very long time if you change fluid in them regulalrly and keep torque loads down on them (like not 35 or so with 3.73 gears) I would have changed gear ratios long ago. BTW, the 14 bolt has a carrier break at 4.10/4.56 but you can get thick gears and use 4.10 carrier at 4.56 and above. The D44 has a carrier break at 3.73/3.92 but Yukon Gear makes a thick 4.56 for that carrier too so you can skip carrier change there too.

----------------- TheSnoMan.com

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SnoMan

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