2WD to 4WD

["Joseph M. Shaw, II" <MikeIIDC@domain.elided>]

Yeah, it's me, trying to say something that matters here!  I know I
shouldn't do that, and you've probably all learned by now not to listen,
but I feel this need to "Express Myself" on occasion!
So anyway, my old mechanic in New Mexico-the first one that had my rig
and I trust, not the second one who kind of screwed me a little-was an
IH specialist.  He never worked for the factory, I don't believe, but
lived in the high desert of New Mexico for thirty years after returning
from Viet Nam, down some roads that are, to this day rather treacherous,
particularly during the rainy season or after a blizzard, and had owned
about every type of 4wd.  He eventually settled on IH's, and made his
living working on anything, but was known throughout Northern NM for his
quality work and low prices-no electricity, gas, or water lines out
there-outside of land use taxes, very few bills, and the land was bought
as tax foreclosure land, so he got something like ten acres for $20.00
back in 1974, or something.
Anyway, he owned three old '60 style pick-ups, and worked mostly on PU's
anf T'alls.  He did have a loyal legion of Scout customers, though, and
he used to convert to 4WD all the time.
Of course, this all depends what years you are dealing with, but he used
to show me all kinds of stuff, and he swore that all mounts and holes on
all similar bodied IH's would allow for easy transition.  For instance,
he would show me that the holes were in place for the cross-member to
support the transfer case on a 2wd PU, but it might have "Bolts" or
"Studs" in it, so that it didn't look like a holy (holey?) frame.  He
never showed me this on a new body style scout, though he did on an old
Scout-80 or 800, I don't remember!  He swore that IH made them this way
so that they didn't have to alter things and make two different kinds of
frame.  I'm sure that this was the case, and was probably the case with
all cars up to a certain point.  He swore that old IH's and old Dodge's
were the strongest, but that IH's had this advantage in being simpler to
work on.
Either way, the point is, he used to always swap in the 4WD system on
the full truck, and would usually do it in less than a day
start-to-finish.  I know he did this on some 70's models as well, but
was never there to watch and was not that interested, as I was only
worried about my '68 T'all and the '65 Crew Cab that I kept wanting to
buy and have him convert.
So the point of this long-winded discertation is to say that I would
take a good look underneath the Scout and compare to a 4WD model.  If
the holes are there, I would think it would be easier than swapping out
the body.  Of course, transfer to tranny, drive shafts, all of these
things must be compared as well.  I would call him for advice, but there
are no phones out where he lives either, and he doesn't even have a
computer!  (Can you say Kazcinsky?)  It used to take about two weeks to
get anything done, as I had to snail mail, then wait foir him to make it
in town to pick up the mail, then wait for him to write a letter, then
wait for him to make it back in town to mail it, then get it in the mail
abd respons by mail!  Whew!
The prices made it all worthwhile, though!

Michael