4wd DNE2 Project

[LCAM-01XA]

I had thought about this - even with the DNE flush on the rear of the t-case it adds a fair bit of weight out there. I was planning on putting in some sort of support to take that load off the trans - probably some sort of spring suspension that will support the weight of the DNE but still allow frame flex. I am also not sure how well the rear of the t-case would handle the load since it's soft material and likely not design for too much load.

Build a mount into the adapter you're working on now. Modify the transmission crossmember so that it can accomodate that mount. Or add another factory crossmember behind the t-case so the DNE adapter mount gets its own crossmember. Should be cheap and effective with minimal amount of fab work. And still allow for plenty of frame flex as needed.

No shortage of gears there... Not sure how hard the 203-1356 setup would be though. I had thought at one point about using the gear reduction out of a 1345/56 to make a doubler in front of a 1345/56 case. Actually seems like it wouldn't be too hard since we now know that the input/output of the 1356 matches, though you'd likely want to shorten the shaft some or else just have a long ugly case thing.

The 203-1356 doubler is just as easy as the standard issue 203-205 doubler. As long as the rear plate for the 203 range box is made to accept a Ford 205 it will accept any fullsize t-case, 1356 is no exception. Tho if you really wanted some beef you may wanna look into a 203-271 doubler - the 271 is rated at like 40% more torque flow than the 205. And as long as the 271 came out of a 4R100-equipped truck, it will spline right into where the 205 would go.

Regarding the 1345/56 planetaries used as a range box in a doubler setup, it's been done. Behemoth Strongbox is just that, an aluminum housing that allows you to use the planetary section guts out of whatever t-case you want (you specify that when you order it). Cost is less that what the typical 203-205 adapter plate costs, and the whole thing is way lighter and easier to package. Downside appears to be the long lead time, from what I remember reading about it it's just a one-man operation and it's not his primary occupation either. That's the clean way of going about it. The dirty way is doing what you're doing, except for chopping the chain and front output section of the case off - ultimately you end up with a whole lot of wasted space cause of where the chain drive used to be is now empty inside, and it doesn't work very well with 1356s when you forget to warn the welder guy they're not aluminum but magnesium . I'll be getting my hands on a possibly damaged 1345 soon I think, that's all aluminum and so it should TIG just fine. That's my intended use for it, gut and turn into a range box

 

[riotwarrior]

1 ton 1356 with PTO are ALUMINUM front half of case LCAM fyi.

Strong box looks sounds great...sadly fb page has lots of complaints a d website is down...says he sold it to a company that will produce and stock cases...

Gues you could cut the excess off the 1 ton case and weld it up nice and pretty like now eh?

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Oh I know the PTO-capable case has an alu front half. The one that guy was hacking and gave to his welder to close up wasn't one of them tho, it was the regular kind with the all-mag case

Yes you can cut off the excess and weld up the front half of a PTO case, but what about the rear half? I needs to receive the same treatment, and you absolutely need to use it as it is what carries the support bearing for the rear shaft. So you'll be welding mag regardless, might as well not sacrifice a kinda rare PTO case for that cause... This one we just put together has pretty much the best of everything - the PTO front half, mag range fork (fatigues less supposedly), triple-pad (instead of just 2) alu (not plastic) mode fork, fixed-yoke rear output with speedo drive, and the early rear half case with the extra bosses and beefier casting and wider reinforcing ribs around the front output. She's about as good as she gonna get with factory parts...

 

[riotwarrior]

^^^^^^ pics ^^^^^^ ??????

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Wish you asked earlier while the thing was still being put together, could have showed ya all the little details. It's already installed tho, and the way our truck's underbody real estate is used it's a darn miracle we can even get to the driveshafts without too much contortionism... I'll go dig thru the spare parts tonight to see if we got any of the goodies left still. If not, another 1356 is getting the same treatment next week I think, minus the PTO front half unfortunately cause they're kinda few and far between.

 

[riotwarrior]

Wish you asked earlier while the thing was still being put together, could have showed ya all the little details. It's already installed tho, and the way our truck's underbody real estate is used it's a darn miracle we can even get to the driveshafts without too much contortionism... I'll go dig thru the spare parts tonight to see if we got any of the goodies left still. If not, another 1356 is getting the same treatment next week I think, minus the PTO front half unfortunately cause they're kinda few and far between.

Always take pics...always!!!! No excuses lol

Um not that few and far between of the 6 1356 in stock...
1 Bronco fixed
2 F 350 PTO
3 F 250

1 NP 205 too

Soon
Ford Married NP 203

Horder um nope...collector of quality used hardware

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Yeah, when I work I work, I don't fawk around taking pics and stuff. I want this done and over with so I can move onto other stuff - ain't got no time to make sure the damn phone is focused right so it can take a decent picture of a shiny fork next to a shiny hub inside a shiny housing with an especially shiny shaft chilling in there too just to mess up the light reflection. Yeah no, not happening. If I happen to be doing something and I get an explicit request and I actually remember about it then sure, np, but picture ******* just for the sake of picture *******, nope, got better things to do.

The only PTO-capable cases I've ever seen in person have been the one we just finished, and IIRC just one more. Seen lots of 1-ton trucks with the regular all-mag cases tho. Bet it was an option, and likely not a cheap one - and if you got a hand-shaker trans you already got the PTO ports anyways.

How you gonna finish the 203 so it mates to another Ford case? NWF adapter plate? Them ain't cheap brother, you may actually find a better deal on a pre-assembled doubler from someone's abandoned project.

 

[riotwarrior]

Ya not sure on 203/ ???? Doubler yet...but figured best get parts worry bout rest later right???

 

[jaluhn83]

Found a fixed yoke 1356 shaft and it looks like it will work nicely - saves about 3" of length which isn't much overall but anything is nice. Still leaves enough distance between the flanges to weld them onto the pipe and put bolts in which is good - I was worried it would put the cases so close together that there wouldn't be any way to get to the mounting hardware.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Did you check the splines the bolt-on yoke indexes onto, will they work as a proper input for your DNE?

Btw the solution to clearance issues with bolt lengths can come in the form of studs. May not be a bad idea actually, considering what the tip of the 1356 case bolts looks like...

 

[jaluhn83]

Yep, slides right in.

Planning to use studs, but even then you still need some clearance to get nuts & washers on, and there's the potential for interference between the 2 sets. However, it looks like the fixed yoke shaft will give sufficient room for this not to a problem while minimizing the added length from the adapter.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Excellent! So the splines on the bolt-on shaft were not too small in diameter to kinda flop around in the DNE input?

 

[jaluhn83]

Slowly making progress...

Splice weld was fun, 1st time I've used the full power range (190-~500A) on the welder. 270A just wasn't cutting it. Nice to have more power than you know what to do with sometimes. This project convinced me to finally get a water cooled tig torch. My air cooler wp-17 didn't like running 250+A for some reason.

Might actually finally get this thing in the truck before too long.... amazing idea. Still debating supporting it though - I don't want to just use a trans mount because I'm worried about frame flexing. This rig gets used off road a fair bit, so it is an issue, and if done wrong it would actually do more damage than not having one at all.

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[riotwarrior]

Are you rebuilding Tcase now or later when it actually needs it....the Pump mod n so forth.

Never rebuilt one of the 1356 but hodge podged a couple back together mix n match a couple effed ones make a good one type deal keep a friend going.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Still debating supporting it though - I don't want to just use a trans mount because I'm worried about frame flexing. This rig gets used off road a fair bit, so it is an issue, and if done wrong it would actually do more damage than not having one at all.

Nice work!!!

Regarding additional support, I think that with a ZF you absolutely need some. NP435 has cast iron housing that can take just about any abuse, however you know what can happen to ZFs and T19s when there's a NP205 hanging off them - your combined 1356+DNE weight is higher than that of a 205, and it hangs much further back as well so quite a bit more leverage on the ZF flange. What I'd try doing is possibly built a mount into the adapter you just made, preferably the same type of mount the ZF uses - then modify the factory crossmember in manner that would allow both mounts to tie into it somehow. Or build a new crossmember that is beefier, but again just one. The idea is to reduce the bending moment the 1356+DNE will have on the ZF flange about the trans mount while bouncing offroad without limiting the entire drivetrain's ability to twist as much as the engine mounts allow it to - if your rear mounts are more constrictive than the fronts when the engine wants to wind up under heavy load the rear mounts (or whatever they're bolted to) will take damage.