Is there a difference between the 4 speeds found in 2wd's or 4wd's?
Truck is a 1971 F250 Camper Special with a 390 and a 4 speed.
Could i couple that engine/tranny to an NP 205 T case?

Is that a divorced t-case? If it is the bolt on kind...it will not bolt to a 2 WD transmission.

The out put shafts are different lengths...you'd have to use a divorced case to do what you want....or take the tranny apart and use 4wd guts.....

That should be a divorced case, so same trans generally for the 4 speeds. The autos had a longer tail housing on the 2wd's than the 4wd's. The married case didn't show up on the 250's until 77.5 model years.

So if i have said engine/tranny all i have to do is find a 205 from (around) the same year and it will be divorced?

As long as it came from a 250, the 150's were married.

ooo okay

I guess i better explain myself... I want to put a 390/4 speed / 205 in my F150

are you SB or LB?either way with a lift you're gonna be pushin it with a divorced case..better find a married...I can get you a tranny but.....I'm in florida....

Definitely better to find the pieces from a 150 from the early-mid 70's. The 250's also had a narrower frame, so you would have to fabricate a mounting system, which then makes it to where you have to watch driveline angles and such. Advance Adapters makes some adapters to use FE's with other trans units. You could possibly get a later 400 trans and 76-older bell housing to work. I will have to check, but I may still have a 390 bell on a 3 speed trans, we could compare measurements. If I had my 77 apart, I could tell you more, but can't say if a 3 speed bell will bolt to a 435? trans... (don't remember the proper designation...)

How common are 150s with 390's? I beleive i have only ever seen maybe 5 or 6...

Not sure on the 4wd, but 2wd weren't that hard to find...You can take a bell from a 2wd 250 as well as long as the trans hooks up to it. The motor towers are another story though... You can keep the trans located, and position the motor accordingly. The basic trans is the same, the difference comes from the output. If you have access to both, you can swap parts on them to get things to work, as long as they are the same trans designation. Everything is a bolt on switch, but the tailshaft housing and output shafts are the actual difference that would have to be swapped.

Noob question time!!!

I've always wonder what a "divorced" tcase is... Anyone care to explain the difference between that and a married one?

A married one is bolted to the rear of the transmission (like yours and mine).

A divorced one is mounted back and has a short driveshaft between it and the transmission.

That is about as simple of an explanation as I can come up with.

Ohhhh gotcha! That makes sense.

So the divorced case is more compatible because it doesnt need a certain length output shaft from the trans, just accepts a regular driveshaft at the front.

I am not positive, but I think so. I tried to find a pic of a ford one mounted somewhere to post for you...but I keep finding cheby ones. Grrr!

I have seen them in the older trucks, but never really messed with one.

Found one of a ford highboy...give me a minute to upload:

Here is one:

Fellro said:

Not sure on the 4wd, but 2wd weren't that hard to find...You can take a bell from a 2wd 250 as well as long as the trans hooks up to it. The motor towers are another story though... You can keep the trans located, and position the motor accordingly. The basic trans is the same, the difference comes from the output. If you have access to both, you can swap parts on them to get things to work, as long as they are the same trans designation. Everything is a bolt on switch, but the tailshaft housing and output shafts are the actual difference that would have to be swapped.

Click to expand...

So i would need both a 2wd and 4wd tranny and then swap the tailshaft housings? at that point if i had both wouldnt i just use the 4wd tranny?

So say i can get the 390 from the F250 and seperatly get a NP435 and NP 205 (mated) from a F150, that would solve the tranny issue plus i would walk away with a mated T case

Skandocious said:

Ohhhh gotcha! That makes sense.

So the divorced case is more compatible because it doesnt need a certain length output shaft from the trans, just accepts a regular driveshaft at the front.

Click to expand...

Yes and no... the configuration actually is a bit of a trouble in that long outputs are a problem, as the intermediate driveshaft is already short, and the transfer case sets back a ways. The front driveshaft actually is longer with the divorced case than the rear. The CV joint was on both the front and rear shafts. To find the divorced setup, you need to look at 67-77 250's and 350's. The frame was narrower. This is part of what has come to be known as a Highboy. They sat a bit higher because of the way they are set up. Divorced cases were desirable for making lifted/monster trucks because of the ease of correcting driveline angle problems in comparison to the married case setup.

godblessmud said:

So i would need both a 2wd and 4wd tranny and then swap the tailshaft housings? at that point if i had both wouldnt i just use the 4wd tranny?

So say i can get the 390 from the F250 and seperatly get a NP435 and NP 205 (mated) from a F150, that would solve the tranny issue plus i would walk away with a mated T case

Click to expand...

If the bell housing would bolt to the 4wd trans, all would be good to go at that point, that is what I am not certain if it is just that simple. I am not certain that the same trans was used behind the FE's or not, but I would think they would. That is something I haven't had opportunity to tinker with... I do have a flywheel around perhaps that if you could salvage you are welcome to. (if it is still there... rust would be the issue...damned rats ruined the Mustang the parts were stored in and crapped all over it...pressure plate is likely taost, but the flywheel should be salvageable..)

Ohhh okay yeah now I remember seeing a divorced tcase on my buddy's truck. Much older vehicle.

Just was thinking, in order to find a 150 4x4 with an FE, you would do well to look at the 67-72's, as they were more common there. A ranch I worked at still was running them... that was 95...but the problem there was that if I recall, they had divorced cases...