Send your Gearhead questions to:
- Off-Road Adventures, Gearhead Dept.
- 610 West Walnut Street
- Compton, CA 90220
or email them to:
Ramcharger Buildup? No Schwett!
I have a ’76 Dodge Ramcharger full convertible with a 440ci, TF-727, NP-205, 9-1/4 rear with a Detroit Locker and a front Spicer 44 with and axle truss and solid hubs. I can’t find many parts for it and am wondering if you can help. I want to fit 37s with no trimming. I also want to add manual hubs, a selectable front locker, rear diff protection, a light bar and rock sliders. Also, what carb should I run at 8000 feet. The motor is bored .030 over and has about 10:1 compression.
- John Schwettmann
- Jemez Springs, NM
A bigblock Ramcharger! Hooah! Most sources say you’ll need a 6-inch lift for 37s on your rig and Skyjacker has a nice one with rear springs. I’ve never seen that kit fitted to a ‘Charger, so I don’t know if it’s a “fit and forget” kit or if there might be additional steps needed to assure no trimming is needed. The usual precautions on wheel backspacing will apply. Your truck rolled out of the factory with an NP-203 full-time t-case, so I don’t know if you swapped to a NP-205 or you hit “5” instead of “3.” If it’s the NP-203 case, MileMarker makes a Part-Time conversion for it that includes hubs. Otherwise, you can simply install a set of internally spline hubs from your favorite manufacturer. Bear in mind that 37 inch tires are pushing it for your D44 and 9.25 axles, especially with such a potent mill in front of them. If you ‘wheel it hard, I’d suggest some major internal axle upgrades or swaps. The weaknesses are mostly in the shafts. The D44 is easily fixed with a set of Warn axles with Ox U-joints. The rear will require either some custom shafts (Dutchman, Moser) or a swap to something beefier like a semi-float D60 or whatever. I haven’t seen any diff guards for the 9.25 yet, but there are several for the front D44. For rock sliders, you’ll need to have some custom built. Given the open top and six inches of lift, I’d be thinking about a roll bar, if not a cage, instead of a light bar. That will have to be custom too. As to a carb, until this year, Edelbrock’s #1905 Q-Jet would have been my recommendation. Its too bad they discontinued them early this year. You may still find one on somone’s shelf or perhaps a #9976 reconditioned unit. You could also adapt a big-block GM Q-Jet (used or reman from a parts store). It will bolt up, but the throttle linkage will need modification to hook up. The Q-Jet is a particularly good trail carb and its small primary venturis should help it work well at higher altitude. You should ask Edelbrock for some advice on jetting the carb for your altitude by calling 800-416-8628.
Body Lift Bugaboo
I have a 1990 Wrangler YJ with a 258ci engine and a 5-speed. It has a 4-inch suspension kit and a 2-inch body lift with a transfer case drop. Now, the transfer case lever has dropped too low to shift into 2H or 4L without hitting the body. Is there a shifter adapter plate made that will avoid having to cut the body around the shifter?
Barry Brock — Via e-mail
Barry, you’re just trying to avoid the real problems, namely the excessive body lift and poor driveshaft angle. You didn’t say what tires you were running, but with a 4-inch suspension lift, most YJs can run most brands of 35-inch tires on 8-inch rims with close to stock backspacing. You may need a little fender trimming up front. Starting with the dropped transfer case, a CV type rear driveshaft and/or a short tailshaft kit for the transfer case will fix that problem and you can put your t-case back up where it belongs. Body lifts put a lot of excessive stress on the body. Most experts think a 1-inch lift is the max and should be used only if absolutely necessary. If you have 35s and they aren’t fitting, check your wheel backspace first.
Quick Lok Locker Lament
I have begun bringing a ’72 Blazer back to life and recently had a Quick Lok installed in the rear 12-bolt. I now have a problem with what seems to be the locker engaging and disengaging going down the highway in a straight line. I have checked tire air pressure and the height of both tires, which seem to be within 1/4 inch. Is this to be expected or is something not installed correctly.
- Eric Smith
- Prattville, Alabama
Unequal tire diameters could cause a problem, but you astutely dealt with that possibility already. The thing to remember about plug in lockers like the Quick Lok is that they are only as good as the carrier they are installed into. Problems like the one you describe come up fairly often and they are usually related to the carrier or to an installation error. There are two carrier elements that can cause trouble. The first is excessive wear in the case where the side gears ride, or wear on the thrust washers (shims) behind the side gears. The other is improperly machined center pin bores. Yeah, we can yell at the axle manufacturer for this stuff but the facts are that with an open diff, these wide machining tolerances don’t cause problems. They can fritz an aftermarket big-time, but the OE doesn’t consider that their problem. The factory Posi cases are generally more accurately machined because these wide tolerances will fritz Posi operation too. If you are installing a Quick-Lok into a Posi case, the odds are better that you will have a good carrier. How do you know if your case is good or not? Well, there are two parts of the installation instructions that people often miss. The first is measuring the distance between the drivers. It should be .145-.172 inches and no more. If it’s wider or narrower than this, the locker will not operate properly. Check the side gear spacer shims, or the case, for wear. The other check involves making sure the spider pin was machined correctly. Install the couplers into the case, complete with the side gear thrust washers, and the spacers. Insert the spider pin and measure the distance between the spacer and the spider pin on both sides with feeler gauges. There should be NO MORE than a .008-inch difference between the two measurements. Any difference indicates a spider pin offset problem, but the tolerance is .008-inch. If you have a problem, check the thrust washers first. Maybe you have one that’s excessively worn. You might have wear in the case on one side too. You used to be able to get different thickness thrust washers for GM axles. Not sure if you still can. In theory, you could dial it in with a thicker or thinner thrust washer on the side that’s off. You may be stuck buying a new or good used carrier, but don’t assume it’s OK until you have run the checks outlined above. In general terms, this advice applies to all plug in lockers, Quick-Lok, Lock Right, E-Z Locker or Aussie Locker, though the actual tolerances may differ. Installation issue could include forgetting to install one or both of the thrust washers.
Bronco No-No
I have a ’94 fullsize Bronco and want to install 2-inch coil spring spacers on it. When I checked to see if it would still be able to be aligned, I was told that I would need to use drop brackets. I would like to avoid using drop brackets.
Ryan Hoffman — Via e-mail
No-can-do Ryan! The nature of the Ford Twin Traction Beam beast demands drop brackets equal to the amount of lift. Remember that the beams pivot at the center, and don’t forget the pivot point at end of the radius arm. Without flopping those two pivot points, two inches of lift will give you a ton of positive camber (top of tire leaning out) and lots of negative castor (steering pivot points leaning forward)... too much of both to correct. It would also put the suspension into a bind much sooner with downtravel.
350C and NP205 Swapping Spit
I’m restoring a 1980 Chevy Blazer. When I rebuilt the engine, I also had the Turbo 350C rebuilt at a local shop. While the t-case (an NP-205) was out I opened it up to check the gears and noticed it was full of automatic transmission fluid. I cleaned it out, and after installing the trans and t-case, refilled it with the proper lube. After a week or so I noticed the t-case was leaking from the overflow tube. It appears the trans is forcing fluid into the transfer case because I have to add a quart of ATF every so often. Do you have any idea what could be causing this?
- Terry Jones
- Lenoir City, Tennessee
There are seals in the trans/t-case adapter housing that prevent the two units from exchanging fluids. There are seals at both ends of the sleeve. Yep, you gotta R&R that t-case one more time to replace the seals.