2 wheel drive to 4 wheel drive

m7ak

New member
I am looking for any info anyone can provide me. I have 1966 Scout 800 2 wheel drive. I am want to convert it to 4 wheel drive using Dana 60 gear, lift it and put in on 38 inch tires. My questions are should I go with the Ford or the Chevy axles? I imagine the leaf spring carriers to frame will not match up along with the pumpkin to transfer case drive shaft attach points on both front and rear? But which one is less labor intensive to mount up? Is there a kit out there for this or is it a matter of fabrication? Also what about the transmission and transfer case selection? I have the stock manual transmission in it now. Is there specific transfer case required? Forgive my lack of knowledge on this...this is my first Scout and I just got it. Any help is appreciated.
 
Little more info = what is your current motor? What model trans do ya have? Is your current transfer case Dana 18 or 20?

To my knowledge, there is not a kit for this type of swap. It's not a direct bolt in application. Most of the front Dana 60 axles have a driver side pumkin, and all the scouts have the passenger side pumkin. Early 80's gmc did come with passenger side pumkins for their Dana 44's. That's a consideration for deciding what transfer case you need to use. Doing the Dana 60 (front & rear) swap is labor intensive and lots of fabrication. And this won't be exactly cheap either, so if you are on a tight budget, then you May need to look at other alternitives. The Dana 20 transfer case should be able to handle the new axles.
Just a few things to ponder.
 
Your current transfer case is a passenger side drop -- so unless you switch out the whole engine/transmission/t-case for somehting else (you May need to, to push around Dana 60's and 38" tires) you should find a passenger drop front axle. I'd look for a Chevy Dana 60 with a matching 14 bolt rear axle.

It will be all fab work and all up to you to install it. Buy/build 2.5" wide spring hangers - get some 52" or 56" long Chevy leaf springs - hang them on the axle - line them up the frame - build brackets to attach!
 
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