SB to BB swap problem

Working on a 1977 W150. Swapped out the 360 for a 440. Have the motor and tranny siting in place. The tranny is not far enough back to line up with the mounting holes. Need about another inch. I had to use a ratchet strap to pull the tail of the tranny over and now the pass side motor mount has pressure pulling it back. Been a while since I've done this swap and don't remember having this problem. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks

Do you have the 440 motor mounts? Looks like the small block motor mounts. Both of my motor mounts are straight without the bend. Now if its a 4x4 your mounts are right, but they may need to be move forward on the block.

All the books show the same insulators for SB and BB. I have the correct BB 4wd brackets and they only go on the back side of the ears.
72-4 4wd and 72-80 2wd use the straight brackets. 75-78 4wd use the offset brackets shown. All SB use the straight brackets but SB brackets won't bolt up to a BB.

That right rubber mount won't last very long with that much stretch. Are these brackets new, or are they old used items that have been repainted? If they are new, I wonder if someone bent them incorrectly. All the big blocks I remember had the brackets on the front side of the block ears, but then again, its been a long time. It also seems to me that the studs on the rubber mounts are off set, can you gain the difference you need by turning or flipping the rubber mounts?

Moving the brackets to the front of the ear will give you the difference you need. I'd probably put a spacer between the bracket and the rear ear, or see if I could open up the bracket to fit better (likely I'd do both). I Believe those brackets are squished together or improperly bent, or the studs in the rubber piece is not oriented correctly. Gene

There should be two sets of holes in the engine crossmember for the insulator stud to set in. One position is for a big block and the other is for a small block. You can seat everything in the small block holes but it results in the motor being "cocked" and the tranny mount not lining up.

They are original mounting brackets.
I've never seen brackets mounted on the front side of the ears and I've done a lot of big blocks over the years.
No offset in the studs for that direction.
There are only one set of holes in the cross member and they are as far back as possible.
The drivers side is setting correct. Just the pass side is being stretched.

Ok I did some measuring on the pass mount. The insulator is being pulled about 1/2" back. To mount the bracket on the front of the ears I'd have to cut off 3/4" of the thick ear and about 3/8" of the lower thin one leaving 1/4" of thickness. That would straighten out the insulator. If I don't cut the ears mounting the bracket to the front face of the thick ear and using spacers on the two thin ears then the bracket would be to far forward. I shouldn't have to cut the ears to make this work.
Actually there is another set of slots in the cross member but they are much lower and way to far forward.
The brackets look good and undamaged. Compared them with two other sets that I have.

This is probably a dumb question but can the mounts be swapped from one side of the engine to the other?

I took off the mount. I guess an option is to cut the holes larger in the cross member and the bracket. Would need about an 1/4" in each.

No, not a dumb question. There is a right and left mount. Drivers side has a hole for the oil pump pressure valve nut.

if the pass side was straight and not offset would that correct the 1/2" off?

I thought a BB 4x4 had driver side offset and straight pass side mount.

have another look at what side of the block ears the mounts are on.

my 2x has them both on the front side of the ears.

in the 1 pic it looks like a straight bracket on the front of the ears would put the hole lined up and rubber biscut flat.

What if you bolt the trans to the crossmember then see what is needed to make the motor mounts to work? I would think the trans mounting would be the one thing that stays the same on the 4x4 swap. I'm used to going from slanties to small blocks or from 318 to 360s so I'm just trying to make helpful guesses.

If it was straight then it would be worse. Is offset back but needs to be more back.
The sets of brackets are a pair of offset or a pair of straight.
On SB the brackets go on front of the ears. BB on the back.

Mounting BB brackets on the front of the ears would require cutting the ears. To me that is not an option.
Many thanks for your replies.

You might need to flip around the trans crossmemeber. If the holes are offset at all you might have just put it in backwards by mistake and just flipping it around might fix your issues. Not sure if this will work but will be doing a big block swap on a 78 soon so I will have to look out for this issue also.

The tranny cross member is drill to only go in one way.
It is just the pass side motor mount that has a problem. Got the tranny to mount up and the drivers side motor mount is fine. Really weird.

Could the problem possibly be with the extension housing on the transmission? In other words, if your extension housing is off a newer transmission that is designed to mate up to a newer transfer case, the transmission mount location could have been changed.

The reason I'm asking this question is that I've been told the output shaft on the 203 transfer cases is a different length. If the output shaft is different, could the extension housing be different as well?

I have never heard of such a problem. If you find it is a problem of parts being incompatible, I'd appreciate if you would post what you find. I may have a big block swap in my future as well.

The extension housing came off of this truck. The SB tranny had a fresh rebuild on it so we took all the guts and extension housing and put them in a BB 727 housing.
As I stated the tranny and drivers side mount all line up fine. Just the pass side mount is being stretched back. I've done a few BB swaps and have never had this problem. I've compared the pass bracket with others and don't see any difference. Can't find any damage to the frame from being in a wreck or anything. Funny thing is that I took this motor out of a 2wd truck a few years ago even though it is a 68 440 probably original from a C-body.

Its hard to tell in your picture, But are you missing a plate that goes between the trans extension and the cross member? It seems to me that the trans is bolted direct to a plate and the plate has the rubber mounts with the bolts going into the cross member. Does that make sense?? Your picture looks as if the bolt is going through the extension, a rubber biscuit, then the cross member... Is that correct? Maybe I can find a picture of what I'm trying to say.....

It didn't have a plate. Extension sits on thick washers then the rubber mounts. Same on the underside. Rubber mounts then thick washers and then the nuts. Should there be a plate?

I'm not sure on the 77. Maybe someone can take a picture of what they have. I did find a few pictures of what I'm thinking.

I don't know what year these trucks are but this is what I was thinking.... In the small picture you can see the rubber mounts are beside the extension. The plate is bolted solid to the bottom.

Anyone have a truck like this to verify??

Ok that looks like a 208 transfer case. Mine is a 203 so that's probably the difference. They use different extensions.

Both my 79's with 203's have the plate. I know a ramcharger I had, had a similar issue. I had to leave all transmission crossmember/mount bolts loose to get the passenger mount to go in. IIRC I had to space the passenger mount up some also, to have the engine level.

This 77 didn't have a plate and the cross member has big holes for the rubber mounts to fit in. Sure looks factory to me.
Also the cross member in the above pic is different than mine.
If the transfer case goes up any more then it will hit the floor.

The cross member in the picture has the riser bolted on it for a larger frame rail. My 85 W350 has that also. Half ton trucks would not have that part.

I've had a couple of mid 70s Ramchargers and a Trailduster that had the plate, and my 80 1/2 ton 4x4 had the plate, but those were all small block trucks, maybe the difference?

I think, looking at everything your dealing with, I would enlarge the holes in the frame and add a washer under the nut. It doesn't explain where the issue rests, but it will move the project forward without causing a huge problem in the real life workings of the truck.

I suspect that at some point, someone will come on here ans say "I had that problem and ???? was the cause, and this was the fix". Then we will all be doing the head slap and go "OOOOOHHHH!!!!" But that might be a year from now or more.
Enlarge the holes and put it together. If the fix is identified, you can address it then if you wish. Gene

Good idea.

R.

Ok I just looked at mine, the passenger mount is on the front of the motor ears and the drivers side is on the rear and mine is in an 83 4x4 with a 383 auto trans.If you need a pic I can go out and snap one.

Dont mind the rust and paint chipping, thats what salt and snow plowing do!! It will be redone this year. Here is the drivers side.

Thanks G-Money. That's interesting. Could I trouble you for another picture of the pass mount? Maybe pull the plug wire and see if you can get a shot of the lower mounting bolt.
Many thanks.

This is what I was going to reply! This is exactly what I had to do when I did the swap on my 88 ram. I couldn't figure out why the transmission wouldn't line up, just like the OP. I found an old picture on RCC. Set the mounts up like these pics and it solved the problem

I will get one for you tommorrow as its pouring out right now and I think the wife is getting worried that I keep going out in my long johns to take pics!!

http://ramchargercentral.com/articles/?sa=view;article=37

here's the link to the pics I was talking about, if it helps...

Awesome thread!