carcrafter22

Thanks, I was doing some searching on here or somewhere and ran across a guy that converted to 2wd and listed the weight of each part like the nv149, front drive shaft, diff, etc. great post.I think it came to around 200 lbs roughly but I'd have to go back and look. I've found the same thing and after looking at wheel offsets and track width the best I can figure is 67"-67.5" for the stock wms to wms on these trucks but that only a best guess since it seems noone on the planet has ever actually measured the stock front axle width for a newer model awd or 4x4 silverado 1500 or even 2500hd.

Bear, thanks for the info thats a great read, exactly the kinda info I like to find. The only thing my truck has going for it not breaking driveline parts is the light weight, as a 2wd full weight it was 3860 with me in it ( I weigh 185#) thats pretty light for a full size truck with a/c. I'm not sure what the awd setup will add but I'd imagine I will still be under 4500lbs total I also plan to do alot of weight loss to the truck to try and keep it around 4000 total but we'll see. I really appreciate the great info guys its helping alot. Bear, thanks for the info thats a great read, exactly the kinda info I like to find. The only thing my truck has going for it not breaking driveline parts is the light weight, as a 2wd full weight it was 3860 with me in it ( I weigh 185#) thats pretty light for a full size truck with a/c. I'm not sure what the awd setup will add but I'd imagine I will still be under 4500lbs total I also plan to do alot of weight loss to the truck to try and keep it around 4000 total but we'll see. I really appreciate the great info guys its helping alot. Now if I could only find the actual front axle width of an SSS (wheel mount surface to wheel mount surface).

Thanks guys I like to make unusual projects. I guess I'll try and put it to the test.

Does anyone know what usually fails on the nv149? How about the viscous coupling? I know they fail with different height tires or if you run with only 1 driveshaft but how about power wise? How would one fail? do they slip, shear, blow up? If all else fails I will just run a 9.25" diff with redrilled hubs up front and a standard 4x4 transfer case like a 261HD manual shift but I really dont care for shifters in the floor and would rather have AWD.

Good info guys. I guess its a good and bad thing that diesels make the power they do on one hand all that tq will get a truck moving much better than a gas engine making the same power since it comes in much sooner and stays longer but it will test even the strongest of parts. I know for a fact the 9.25 will hold up just fine since I've seen duramax's making over 1700hp make passes with them I know of a couple guys makeing over 1000hp and over 2000tq with air lockers make several passes with no problems. I may wind up using it in the end. I doubt you guys really want to see what this is going in but hey you asked for it. Here is the truck 1967 F100 short bed, excuse the mess we were remodeling at the time and the ford wound up in the garage Currently has a 2007 crown vic IFS, 1994 lincoln mark 8 IRS, boxed frame, rear fuel cell, custom dash, etc. Here is the little 3.9L with the he341 and hx52 compound turbos running 80psi (not a typo - eighty psi) Just something I threw together in my shop. Here is the new engine, same 3.9L isuzu diesel with a procharger D1SC and holset he351 both should push around 150lb/min of air and easily get me to some healthy numbers calculator says the combo should be good for mid 10's if the stars are aligned lol. I dont see much point in hacking up this frame since its in great shape so I'm just going to use a chevy front clip and build my own frame from rectangular tube from the firewall back, redrill the front hubs for a 5X4.75 bolt pattern and have custom axles made for the rear since I have to shorten the housing anyway and use explorer discs on the back with chevy bolt pattern drilled into the rotors.

I'm shooting for roughly 1000-1200ft/lbs tq out of my little 4 banger to go in my AWD classic truck (and yes it will happen trust me ) and I'm looking at rear axles and front diffs. Currently I'm planning to use an escalade or SS front diff but have considered the 9.25 diff also for the front and I will most likely use a 9.5" GM axle I have laying around with 9" big bearing housing ends and custom axles. These plans are still in the air but things will be happening fast once I get home at the end of this month so I am trying to work out the small things. Do you think the nv149 will handle this much tq at low rpm from a small diesel engine with a quick spooing supercharger and large turbo combo? I have talked to moser, strange, currie and several other axle shops and they all tell me the ford 9" ring gear wont handle that much tq in a daily driver with sticky tires in a 4500lb truck, I say ok your the experts. I know the nv149 has a split of around 36%/64% depending on who you talk to so I wonder if a built 9" (ruffstuff housing, richmond gear, wavelock diff, 35 spline shafts, strange center section) would take only 64% of that I would imagine it would or am I missing something/ over thinking this? I havent weighed the 9.5" yet but I'd imagine it will be heavier than even a well built aftermarket 9" (housing weighs about 35lbs more than a stock 9" housing alone) Dont forget diesels make power differntly than gassers, I may have 800ft/lb at 2000rpm and 1100ft/lb at 5000rpm where as a gasser may make 1000ft/lb from 5500-6500rpm. Just thought I'd get some opinions from AWD experts since I'm very new to it all.

Thanks Chase I kinda figured it was a bad idea just checking my options.

I am still finalizing all the items on my list to start my AWD classic truck build and one thing has been bugging me (besides the chevy front wms to wms measurement noone on the net seems to have) and its tire size. I know from all my research you dont want to run 2 different height tires on an AWD truck like the SSS but does width matter? I wont know till I actually get the body on but I might want to or have to run a slightly narrower (not skinneys) front tires than the rears to get the look I want and still be able to make turns so will this hurt anything? I hope it all works out so that I can just run the same tires all around but its too early to tell right now and I dont want tear up the viscous coupler in the nv149 just because my front tires are narrower than the rears. thanks for the help. Randy

Yes looking for the width of the front "axle" from wheel mount surface to wheel mount surface. I need to see if its narrow enough to fit under my old truck for my AWD conversion.

Can anyone tell me how wide the front suspension is on an SSS? I'm looking for the wheel mount surface to wheel mount surface measurement specificly so I can decide if I can use this chassis for my project (classic truck wanting AWD). Thanks Randy