FYI - Early D20 on late model tranny

[tsm1@domain.elided (Tom Mandera)]

This is the post that Bill responded to earlier today... I put this in the
Tech Talk:

Since I cracked my '77 Dana 20 apart last weekend, I finally learned first
hand the differences
between my spare Dana 20 ('72) and the ones I've had on my T19 ('76 and '77
Dana 20s) 

First, the really old Dana 20s (71/72 in SII, same in the 800?) have the
fill plug on the passenger
side of the case.. hard to get to with exhaust running through there.. grrr... 

But the important part is the shifter lever housing. Where the pivot pin is
for the shifter lever is
*different* between the '72 xfer and the '76/77 xfers. the "inside" (against
the T19) piece of the
pivot pin area is *thicker* on the '72 than on the '77. It won't fit unless
you take a good hunk of
material off... 1/4"? I didn't pay close enough attention, I just kept
taking my calipers from one
'case to the other 'till I ground enough material off. One 4" grinding wheel
on my grinder is looking
worse for wear, and I probably spent 15 minutes or more removing cast iron. 

But, with that one, it bolts right up, and I have a fully functioning
non-broken Dana 20 again. 

Another note: put all 5 bolts in. I only had the bottom 3 in, since I still
need to put the bracket for
the backup-light switch on and such... too bad show-boating got the best of
me before I finished
it up. ;-) The bottom 2 bolts (the forward pointing ones) broke from the
'case.. that whole piece of
cast iron where those two bolts attach broke right off. The rearward bolt
held.. but wasn't enough
to keep the case from breaking in two. :) 

-Tom