[MaxPF]

1985, don't listen to that shifty bearded dude! Oh, wait... <strokes beard>

LOL, J/K. I had to make sure my first post was on Nick's thread, razzin' him a bit FWIW I agree with him - the Cummins has plenty of torque, so aside from speed control in rare situations I don't see the benefit. Like him, I have a couple 205 range boxes that never made it on my truck. Unlike him I haven't been off-road yet with the 205, but I based my decisions on his experiences off-road and my experience with my previous 465/241/3.42 setup in high range. I never had a front driveshaft installed or t-case shifter while that combo was in the truck and did one fairly steep ascent/descent on a loose trail in 2WD high range. I put the 465 in first and just let the Cummins do it's thing. Speed was a bit faster than I liked (made the ride a bit rougher than it needed to be) but there was certainly no lack of torque.

Around here it's about $75 to shorten a driveshaft, so I say try it without and if you really, REALLY decide you need it, all it will cost is an extra $75 and maybe some time and wedges to adjust the pinion angle for the shorter shaft. Not a big deal after what you will end up spending on the swap.