I've got a 71' 1/2 ton short bed regular cab 4x4 with an sm 465 to 205 transfer case. 12 bolt rear end and 44 up front with 373 gears. I want the 12 valve for mpg's. Truck's a pavement pounder and occasionally gets a cord of wood. Can i mate to 465 and leave it close to where it is. Will everything else hold up to power and weight of motor, besides stiffer springs. I'm new at the website would greatly appreciate some input.

 

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I believe advance adapters make an adapter to bolt the sm465 to the cummins but I'm not sure the 12 bolt rear will handle the cummins torque.

 

i wouldnt trust a 12 bolt 1/2 ton for a cummins, and neither would i trust the front dana 44.

you can get adapters, but theyre very pricey

 

is the 465 a good idea or am i better off changing tranny's. I also have 35" tires so the 373 would have to drop right.

 

i cant c that it would totally destroy a 12 bolt unless u were beating u will definitly need stronger front end for the motor though its heavy u could put a 4bt in there

 

I could see that the front end would hold up to the power for what i use it for but what your saying is that the weight is too much for housing and or bearings. With 35's and the sm465, what gears should i run, or is that a bad choice of tranny's?

 

well you can get the adapter and theyre pretty good trannys, but for the price of the adapter you should be able to purchase a stock dodge transmission made to handle the power thats what i did. and as for the 44 up front, its not a matter of not handling the power, its a matter bearings ball joints, tie rod ends etc dont like the excess weight. theyre not beefy enough to last. youd be replacing parts quite often. i have 4.10 gears on my 35's and i only did that because ill have 40's on it soon. i would keep 3.73 gears if its a daily driver. its high enough for freeway and with the cummins torque theirs still enough power to get up and go

 

So your saying the 600 lbs the Cummins will add will hurt the front axle? I have got to hear the reasoning behind this.

 

i dk if the weight would hurt the axel i was thinkin maybe u would need stronger springs but i sure upradeing the axel wouldnt hurt

 

if it will handle the weight i know it will handle the power for what i use it for. Its a work truck and i want to get the best mpg's. The only other option i was thinking is to use a 4 cylinder cummins for more room and less weight and pump it out to 200-225 hp. The only downfall might be mpg's, let me know what you guy's think or which way you would go.