Output Shaft on Transmission good for 4x4?

[LukeD]

Does anyone know if the output shaft on e350 transmissions are any different that the F350 or other ford equivalent?

I ask because I am going to do a 4x4 conversion and want to make sure that the output shaft on the e350 can handle it, or does it need to be upgraded to a heavy duty one from say a F350 4x4

[elibenson]

The van transmission is simply a 2wd transmission. The same as come in the F-series 2wd's. From what I understand, if you want to convert a 2wd transmission to a 4x4 transmission, you have to remove the tailshaft housing, and also the tail shaft and replace them with a 4x4 tail shaft (it's shorter and has the right splines for a transfer case). In that case it won't matter if a van is different because you will be putting a different tail shaft in any way.