Benefits of Divorced Case

[bgilbert]

Ok, I've been wondering about this for some reason lately. Whats the deal with Divorced transfer cases? Any benefits over a married case? Was this an old technology? What are the/any downfalls of a divorced case and same ?'s with the married case?

Ok besides for a conversion with a 2 wheel drive transmission to a divorced case, what would you want with a divorced case? Is this setup stronger than a married setup? Sorry for so many ?'s. Thanks for the info. Bill

 

[hdm48]

Well, if I can remember back that far (that was a joke,BOB) the benifits of the divorced case is, a longer front drive line, extra cross members, 2 more u-joints, longer control rods, four (4) more mounts. And all this located right in the middle of the truck just to make sure you get high-centered on it. Did I forget anything?



Dave

 

[jlast]

agree with hdm48,



benefits well same as above, suppose to be stronger. it is an older setup, just phased out, allows better driveshaft angles and you can set it up for egual length driveshafts and not have to use CVs. dont have to pull trans and transfer together to work on one of them



downfalls of divorced, same as above, more parts, some what harder to find sometimes, have to have a good transfercase mount.



downfalls of married, cv shafts with almost all, can have huge problems with fluid transfer and can cause overfill in one and suck the other dry, HEAVY PERIOD have to pull and assemble as a set on most applications. Some models the trans to transfer is a very weak connection either bad adapters, poor couplings, bad wear on shafts, etc. . Weight lead to the use of alum material for transfercase cases, which I do not want any part of, start making alum gears and parts that hold what steel can then i might reconsider.



IMO i wish everything was divorced, same parts that work on a 2wd would work on 4wd, no three designs of the same transmission or transfercase for the same make and model. Seems that 4wd trans is at least twice $$ what a 2wd is. I wouldnt have to break my back fixing a married setup, or pulling them for extra parts. Everytime i seperate a married setup i have the hugest puddle of some kind of fluild, most of the time 90w YUCK. OK since i dont own a divorced, and stock pile extra trans and transfer setups when i can i guess i am partial. Seems like the HD versions of married stuff is so rare and expensive, where the same part/same transfercase with different input is eighth its price, I call that BS.



look for LAlessi in the convesion forum he has a divorced setup and pics in his project, very very nice. I think they are on his website.

 

[bgilbert]

Jlast, I appreciate the informative reply. I was wondering when a 4WD enthusiast or (no offense) an old timer that drove with a divorced setup in the 60's and 70's would chime in. You brought up some very good points about fluid transfer and servicing the transmission or t-case separately on a divorced setup. Starting to believe a divorced setup is stronger and or a little more conveniant, have a transmission go bad, dont have to look for a 4WD transmission. On LAlessi's conversion all I can say is its awesome. I got to wondering about the divorced setup looking at his, with the monster driveshaft and yokes and u-joints on the shaft between the transmission and t-case.

OK consider this, say you come up with a heavy duty 2WD transmission, and have a married version NP205 t-case sitting around. You have a crew cab longbed setup you're wanting to convert. Can you make the np205 a divorced case for this setup or too much money or have to find a divorced case? Thanks Bill

 

[jlast]

Just to give you some idea of what i seen as far as pricing,



front input shaft This is just the front shaft, you will also need bearing, seal retainer, seal, and other parts to make this work, i dont have a manual handy for this information, if need let me know.



divorced mount case reasonable priced, including the mounts,



another case with crossmember what i feel is overpriced, but interesting as it has a parking brake on the rear of the case. this would be ideal if needing all the extras that come with this one.



These are all getting a bit harder to find, stuff hasnt been made to my knowledge in over 20yrs give or take. also i do believe a dodge and chevy divorced are the same, crossmembers are different. local PNP asks $50 a transfercase, but no torch allowed.



Now your question on trans to married transfercase, What trans to what transfercase do you have? need specific info here. anything you have, spline count on both, make, model, etc... I know chevy stuff like the back of my hand, some on dodge, i know a very little bit on the *ord.



BTW I am a 4wd user and abuser, junkyard dog, and only 25 yrs old.



if you wish please feel free to email me.

 

["Mad Max"]

Angles are everything

Hiya Bill -



I been outta the loop a while - work, etc etc S. O. S.



The nicest part about the 4x4 conversion I did to my Ram was that the parts were all easy to get at and adjust. With my divorced setup I was able to play with the angle-of-the-dangle and got the thing dialed in just right. On the highway you couldn't tell it was a 4x4 with 9" of lift. It rode great and had zero vibration. The 205 is easy to get at and is totally bulletproof, and not as heavy as a mated unit.

However, when I convert to the NV4500 I am going to get a mated Atlas transfer case and the associated Advanced Adaptors adaptor to make it all work. The reason I'm going mated is because my rig is a 4-door and very long, and I want to keep the front axle driveshaft as short as possible, and I like the angle possibilities with a 2-piece rear shaft. The way my truck was before had the t-case mounted about 1. 5 feet back from where it was originally supposed to be, which essentially turned the t-case into the carrier bearing. Worked great, and I simply had a longer intermediate shaft made and away I went. My front shaft was 3" shorter than the rear. Not great, but not bad if the angles are good.

With my truck and 9" of lift, angles added up in a hurry, and I learned the hard way that it doesn't take long to beat up a u-joint if the angles are too big. I hav heard that the big double jointed CV joints help greatly with angles, and I will be using the strongest ones I can find for both the front and rear shafts from the t-case when I build the 4x4 again. Essentially they give you double angle for half the worry. I'll just rotate the rear diff up a bit to match the angle needed from the t-case. The front isn't as severe, and I don't want to jack with the alignment by rotating the diff, unless I counter rotate the knuckles, and that's getting silly. Actually, that's exactly what I'd do.

Anyway, it's all about the angles. I'd say that a mated unit will not give you the flexibility of the divorced unit, and they seem to be harder to find as well. The con with a divorced is that you will have a LOT of u-joints twirrling around under there, but if they're strong enough yer good to go. Recommendation - put one of those cool u-joint boots around all of 'em. Grease slings everywhere... .

- Sam

 

[bgilbert]

J, Sam, thanks alot. Gives me alot to think about. Bill

 

[JDMills]

Bill,

From my point of view, I guess the biggest shortcomming of a divorced transfer case is the extra (short) drive shaft. But there is flexability that comes with that. I think the NP205 is regarded as bulletproof by most, andthere are plenty of them to be found.

I have a copy of some 'new' monthy publication published by primedia called 4x4 garage. Definitly not the most informative source, but it may give you some more ideas for options as a general overview.

J

 

[stacerbob]

If doing a serious off-road conversion on a longer wheel base rig you could do a little math and have the shaft the same front and rear and have one spare??

You can pull the trans on my 76 f250 and not disconnect either driveshaft, just the intermediate shaft. ++++