Reader: I am a huge fan of your magazine, getting ready for a 454-powered '74 Chevy K5, and the biggest help on this project is your magazine. But given my location-Lebanon, in the Middle East-it is getting harder and harder to get ahold of a copy of Four Wheeler. Librarians say they sometimes get one copy per month, so I have to run around to different libraries, and still not sure if I'll be getting the latest issue.
I know this is not exactly an Editor's issue, but since yours is just about the only magazine I can get that talks about something other than the Renault Scenic 4x4 or Lada as an excellent choice of a "truck," even for 'wheeling, it's very important for me to get me a piece of the real deal ... you guys.
Right now I've got a stock '92 S-10 (262ci) Chevy. What do I have in mind? The engine and trans from the '74 truck, then a pair of Rockwells with Detroits inside, a four-link suspension setup, and 52-inch Michelins with 20-inch rims. Another engine option available is what should be a GM 502 in a pretty banged-up Army bus.
But the question resides between the axles and transmission, especially concerning the existing NP203. Now I know the twin-stick 205 is the best thing around, but what about the REO? What does it use? I think it should be even stronger than the 205. If so, is there any chance of it fitting in a K5? And while you're at it, why not check to see if the REO's transmission can also join this party?
If all those things can dance together, then no mudhole-not even hardened cement-should be able to stand in this truck's way. Then, one should only be saying: "May the gas be with you."
Ramez El-Khoury
via fourwheeler.com
Editor: Well, if you're dead-set on Rockwells and you want mil-spec REO gearboxes, why not try finding an REO Army 2 1/2-ton 6x6? A lot of these came with heavy-duty transfer cases and Rockwell axles already mated together. The basic truck, known as the M-series, was in service from 1950 through the 1980s. A number of manufacturers-Kaiser, Studebaker, and AM General among them-built variants of it, and quite a few saw use with NATO forces in Europe. Check some military-surplus Web sites-you never know what you might find. There might even be some floating around your neck of the woods.
As to your Chevy, we're sure somebody out there has done a swap such as this, but we're at a loss to tell you definitively what you'd need to do to make it work. Our best guess is, assuming you can locate somebody who makes an adapter, the military transfer case will be too big/heavy/long (take your pick) to fit without fabricating, gusseting, or relocating crossmembers and/or having new driveshafts made, at the very least. We'd stick with the 203 or 205 'cases-they're a lot easier to work with, and should be plenty stout under V-8 power.