From original to daily driver HELP

[Texas Kaiser]

I have a stock 68 m715 with a 587 rear end. Is it good to swap the gears to a 411 and change the transfer case from an np200 to an np205? Engine is a 230 tornado, 4 speed tranny.
Thank Yall.

[kwai]

That's a good start. Instead of swapping the np200 for a np205 you could just move the driveshaft to the same output as the e-brake on the np200. Much quieter operation. The 411 gears will also eliminate much of the heat issue with the np200 as well.

[kwai]

do you have a source for the 411 gears for the stock axles. i didn't think they were available anymore.

[Mikel]

Is the 230 going to move the M715 with any authority with 4.10's?? (given that it IS a cargo vehicle after all)

[randyscycle]

The daily driver thing has been discussed so many times before, but keep a few things in mind:

Flat windshield that is like a brick at road speed.

Even with decent gears you will probably still only be around less than 10 MPG.

A cab that is both hot in summer and cold in winter.

Lack of a heater and defroster in most cases.

Canvas seats that make wooden benches seem comfortable.

Very noisy at road speed, even with the driveshaft swap.

Semi-watertight in the rain. Emphasis on semi.

Vacuum wipers that are so-so in anything more than a mist.

Manual steering.

Non-power, single master cylinder brakes.

and so on....


All these things can be worked around, but not without a fair amount of modification.

[Barrman]

If you do the axle swap, you don't need to do the transfer case swap.

I daily drove my truck for a few years with all stock drivetrain. Then I put in a 396 Big Block and NV4500 one weekend to daily drive it a few more years. It was fun, but I never really had to look nice once I got to work either.

[Barrman]

Where in Texas are you?

[Texas Kaiser]

Thanks for the response. and im around the Houston area. I have a coupe of questions.
Is it as simple as removing the e brake asssembly and just swaping out the yoke and bolt?
And what makes it quieter by running the driveshaft on the left side were the ebrake was? Just trying to understand here.
And the ebrake wont mount on the right side because lack of room?
Thank Yall again!

[Barrman]

A fast search for drive shaft relocation brings up this:
http://m715zone.com/vb/search.php?searchid=355991

Basically, the noise is caused by the gears driving the offset rear drive. The NP200 on the M715 is basically the same as the NP200 used on the M37. The M37 had lower numerically gears, a less powerful engine and used the center output on the NP200. It also was designed to be driven up to 45 mph top speed. That means the M37 version of the NP200 never had heat issues like the M715 version. Or the noise.

Reading through the threads in the linked search will show you what all has to be done to drive off the center.

[Texas Kaiser]

The link is not working, can you please resend it?