Nv4500 bellhousing?

[Kellyboy]

I have been trying to round up parts for a nv4500 swap for my M1008. It is seeming like a dead end street for me as I can't even find a pedal assembly in a scrapyard (thanks Obama for cash for clunkers). I am a little lost on which bellhousing will work. Some say any small block Chevy and others say it had to be from a 6.2 or 6.5. Does that mean a sm465 bell will bolt up to a nv4500? Also there are plenty of bellhousing around and on eBay but I don't know how to tell if they were mated to a diesel or not. I have read contradicting post on wether a passenger side slave will work.

 

[Barrman]

The NV4500 used by Chevy had two different transmission to bell housing bolt patterns. Both different from any other Chevy bell housing. You have to get the bell to match the year of your NV4500. Or make one.

All of the passenger side slave cylinder bell housings were built for driver side drop transfer case trucks with independent front suspension. The CUCV trucks all have passenger side drop solid axles that have a drive shaft which moves up and down with the axle. Unless there is a very substantial lift on your truck. The drive shaft will hit the slave cylinder housing.

I have this problem on my M715. I ground the housing down as much as I could and gained some clearance. I eventually had to make a much lower bump stop for the front passenger side of the front axle so my drive shaft wouldn't get bent or broken.

Yes, there is a different diesel bell housing for the NV4500. It has a bigger area for the starter nose cone. A gas one can be ground out to fit a reduction gear starter. I do not know if a direct drive starter can be made to clear.

The starter itself has to be the big opening style. All of the CUCV trucks came with automatic transmissions and their thin flex plate. So all of the starters had the little bitty opening nose cones. Putting a big flywheel on there means a stock small mouth CUCV direct drive starter won't bolt on. Most reduction drive starters are big mouth versions. Figure out what you have. I put a big mouth nose cone on my direct drive unit for the M715 when I put the 6.2 in.

 

[Kellyboy]

The NV4500 used by Chevy had two different transmission to bell housing bolt patterns. Both different from any other Chevy bell housing. You have to get the bell to match the year of your NV4500. Or make one.

All of the passenger side slave cylinder bell housings were built for driver side drop transfer case trucks with independent front suspension. The CUCV trucks all have passenger side drop solid axles that have a drive shaft which moves up and down with the axle. Unless there is a very substantial lift on your truck. The drive shaft will hit the slave cylinder housing.

I have this problem on my M715. I ground the housing down as much as I could and gained some clearance. I eventually had to make a much lower bump stop for the front passenger side of the front axle so my drive shaft wouldn't get bent or broken.

Yes, there is a different diesel bell housing for the NV4500. It has a bigger area for the starter nose cone. A gas one can be ground out to fit a reduction gear starter. I do not know if a direct drive starter can be made to clear.

The starter itself has to be the big opening style. All of the CUCV trucks came with automatic transmissions and their thin flex plate. So all of the starters had the little bitty opening nose cones. Putting a big flywheel on there means a stock small mouth CUCV direct drive starter won't bolt on. Most reduction drive starters are big mouth versions. Figure out what you have. I put a big mouth nose cone on my direct drive unit for the M715 when I put the 6.2 in.

Thanks barrman! That clears up a lot for me.I have a 4" lift in the mail but I'm guessing that won't be enough to clear a passenger side slave. I have read the Cucv starters will work on the big flywheel if you grind the nose cone.

 

[Barrman]

Grinding the starter to me is a bad idea. Which style do you have to begin with? You might not even have to do anything. If you do, 27Mt and 28Mt big mouth nose cones are available for less than $20.00. It really isn't worth the time or effort in my opinion.

 

[pigfoot63]

I have a pedal assy. if you cannot find one local shoot me PM.

 

[Kellyboy]

Grinding the starter to me is a bad idea. Which style do you have to begin with? You might not even have to do anything. If you do, 27Mt and 28Mt big mouth nose cones are available for less than $20.00. It really isn't worth the time or effort in my opinion.

At this point all I know is it's a 24v stuffed into an auto transmission so I'm assuming it has the small nose cone. Didn't know I could just swap out nose cones. Good to know. Thanks again.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Allow me to muddy the water just a little bit more. You need to decide on what trans you have or want. The Dodge gas version has the same input spline and diameter and the chevy version but is slightly longer. This makes is possible to use a plate adapter and the factory GM bellhousing used for chevy trucks for that year. If you end up with a chevy version, you need the same bell which lends to the problems Barmann spoke of. V10 and diesel versions on the DOdge NV4500 used a larger dia input shaft. It's never easy! Do you have a transfer case in mind?

 

[Barrman]

Kenny I wrote the above as clear as I could all the time thinking that you and your gasser Dodge NV4500 would show up and make it not as clear.

Since we went down the muddle path now. Other people have taken drag racing safety bell housings and cut them to fit a NV4500 just fine. You can add spacers and whatnot all you wish. However, the center of the input shaft has to be lined up exactly with the center line of the crankshaft. That means dial indicators, knowing how to use them and probably off center moveable dowl pins on the back of the engine.

Then of course there is the Ford open knuckle D60 drivers side drop front axle. Use any 1994 and newer NV4500 with whatever transfer case was bolted to it and not worry about the slave cylinder location. Just weld some spring perches onto a Ford axle and bolt it up.

Your turn again Kenny to muddy things some more.

 

[Recovry4x4]

I've done enough damage. I was able to obtain an Advance Adapters plate for mine so they did all the micrometer and machine work for me. I don't think adapters are a back yard shop type item to fab up.

 

[Kellyboy]

I have a pedal assy. if you cannot find one local shoot me PM.

Pm sent not sure if it went through

 

[Kellyboy]

I've done enough damage. I was able to obtain an Advance Adapters plate for mine so they did all the micrometer and machine work for me. I don't think adapters are a back yard shop type item to fab up.

Jesus! I'm going to need a flow chart and PowerPoint presentation before I bite the bullet on parts. I guess at this point of confusion My hopes are to find a 92-95 3500 diesel with a nv4500 in it. Scoff all parts for turbo and manual conversion. Is there any reason those parts wouldn't work?

 

[Kellyboy]

I've done enough damage. I was able to obtain an Advance Adapters plate for mine so they did all the micrometer and machine work for me. I don't think adapters are a back yard shop type item to fab up.

I have read ( I think on ck5) that the he AA bells require machine work to adapt to the CUCV. Do they have a driver side slave bell that will bolt right up without modding the bell or starter?

 

[Kellyboy]

Would like to go 205 but already have the 208 which would allow me to keep my stock drive shafts. Probably going that route for now for simplicity and the cash flow.

 

[Recovry4x4]

I have a mechanical linkage bellhousing. No issues with that one.

 

[microjeep]

Would like to go 205 but already have the 208 which would allow me to keep my stock drive shafts. Probably going that route for now for simplicity and the cash flow.

Don't get to sure about your driveshafts, what is the length of old verses new trans?

 

[Chevyguy27]

I used a passenger side slave bellhousing when i did my NV4500 swap, and ended up also doing a 4" lift so the front driveshaft would clear the slave cylinder. After the lift and transmission swap, I did end up getting the rear driveshaft lengthened 2.5". The front driveshaft was fine. I had already swapped to a 12v 6.5 starter, so it fit in the bellhousing but it needed to be clearanced some since it was rubbing against the flywheel.