NP203 questions?

[SbRanger84]

ok i have a c6 and 203 t-case and have some questions about the setup. first of all the front driveshaft has been out since we did the swap and i went to put it back in and obviously the stock ranger driveshaft wont bolt up to the 203, so im wondering how to make that work. and my main question is with it being full time 4wd will that be hard on my driveline and really kill my milage even more? i do have lock-out hubs and some ppl have said its ok to just leave them unlocked on the roads and others have said its terrible...? this is my daily driver so it does see alot of street along with offroad. thanks

 

[TireIron]

In order to get power to the rear you will need the front hubs locked in because it is an AWD differential setup. You can just get the front shaft in and keep it locked in and run it as AWD which would be a blast on the street.

If you are interested I have a mile marker 203 transfercase conversion kit here. I bought it for the front end parts for my dodge knuckles but I dont have a 203 so the t-case parts are just sitting here. This converts the case to 2WD or 4WD selectable. Let me know if you are interested or if you just want to find a true 4wd case...

 

[SbRanger84]

so since i have been driving it with just a rear driveshaft it has to be in either high or low lock? and if i put the front driveshaft in i can just put it in high and the differential will keep it from tearing everything up on the road? oh and would it work for me to put the front yoke from the stock t-case in place of the one on the 203 or are they different splines? thanks

 

[TireIron]

I don't know about hte splines, you will want a yoke to match what you are using for a front driveshaft though. I would highly suggest running a CV style driveshaft like the 90+ rangers and explorers use with the double cardan joint at the t-case. For one of those it would need a 1310 CV yoke on it. It is a VERY common yoke and I'm surprised the 203 doesn't run one of those.

And yes, if you put in a front driveshaft and lock the hubs (As long as you dont have a front locker) then just put it in normal high (lot hi-lock or low-lock) and you will run in AWD and have plenty of traction on the street with that 306...

If you keep running the 203 with no front shaft an in hi-lock it will end up ruining the case after a while. It really wears parts out having it in hi-lock like that all the time when it was not designed for it. Your best option is to run a CV style front shaft and run it in AWD.

What type of front shaft are you trying to use right now? And what do you have for a front axle and what size tires?

 

[SbRanger84]

thanks for all the help TireIron, im still kinda new at the ranger stuff. but im pretty sure the shaft you described is what i have, it came out of a 91 ranger and has the cv joint where it bolts up to the case. the yoke thats in the 203 is about 3/8s wider on each side. would this 1310 yoke fit right on my case and bolt right up to the stock shaft? i know my case is still good i had it in H/L locked and open earlier today. as for the axle im not sure if its a D28 or 35 but its stock. and tires are 31-11.50 tsl's, soon to be 35s when i get my suspension lift on this weekend. thats another thing im concerned about with the AWD. i want to do a D44 and D60 conversion but im a college student and pretty tight on money right now. thanks

 

[SbRanger84]

just went out and checked, it has 12 bolts around the front of the housing so its a 28 right? are they any good?

 

[TireIron]

Yea its a D28, those can grenade pretty fast with and good wheeling, especially with a V8 pushing them... The swap to a D35 front is pretty easy if you can find one cheap at a junkyard. The 91-94 explorers have them and most of the 91-97 rangers have them.

The yoke on the t-case sounds like a 1330 yoke. I don't know what spline the front output is on the 203, but if it has the same spline count as the ranger t-case you could grab a front yoke off of any 91+ ranger or explorer and swap it on... Otherwise there may be other fullsize trucks that had the 203 and a 1310 front shaft, I'm not too sure about that but there were LOTS of trucks that used that case. Dodge, chevy, and ford all used that case at different times. The best way to find out what size u-joint its for is to just measure the length of the cross, the 1330 is about 3.62" and the 1310 that the ranger front shaft uses is about 3.219". If you find one with the correct spline setup it is just a bolt on part.

 

[SbRanger84]

yea the 203 uses 31 spline yoke. and yes i went and checked it does have the 1330 in it. a buddy of mine has a complete d35 and stock t-case so im gonna see if i can get the 35 and see if the stock yoke will fit in mine. thanks

 

[TireIron]

Sounds like a plan. go for it and get some pictures of this truck up on here somewhere.

 

[SbRanger84]

will do if i can figure out how to put pics up...lol

 

[SbRanger84]

so i got the right yoke (40 bucks used at driveshaft shop) and put it in with the shaft. 4x4 works fine but for some reason i cant get it out of lock. both levers are all the way forward. i had it out of lock without the shaft in but cant get it now. any ideas? thanks

 

[TireIron]

hmm, are you sure it's still in lock? with the front hubs unlocked the truck shouldnt drive anywhere and the front shaft should just spin if it's unlocked... if that is the situation then you just have to lock the hubs and it's good to go.

 

[SbRanger84]

yea im sure its locked bc i took the whole shaft out to replace the front output seal in the case and didnt touch the shifter and it still put power to just the back and drives fine. im sure theres some little trick that i havent found but ive screwed with it alot and really gettin frustrated. im gonna go pick up a 205 for 100 bucks this weekend unless i can get the 203 figured out...