To attach the mount to the frame, I grabbed some 1.25" pipe and coped both ends to fit. The pipe was galvanized so I ground the coating off the areas to be welded. I didn't get all of it and I was a bit paranoid that I'd end up with the "fever". Thankfully, there were no problems.
Per that post #27, here is another pic of when I owned it. I had patched the radiator so I could run it longer. Was a kick to take around to local tractor shows.
This Dodge bellhousing is strange in that it has two mounts on either side of the clutch. Although these mounts are seemingly simple, there was a bunch of brain power expended on how to make them clean. It's surprising how an obvious and simple solution sometimes takes the long road.
Sorry I missed this until now. The '33 '34 Dodge Brothers front end is the best. Every bit as good looking as a Ford. When I was a kid the neighbor had a Ford doodlebug. It had two transmissions to really gear it down slow.
This one will have two transmissions as well. I just finished the installation the other day, I'll post those pics next. Thought you might some pics of the Dodge emblems. The detail of the rams hair is incredible.
For the ranger transmission I went with a Spicer 5652. In the end, I wish I had gone with a second NP435 because the 5600 is surprisingly big. It didn't look big on the garage floor, but it sure got big between the frame rails. I bought this transmission first from a local service garage. He didn't know anything about it, but I was assuming it came out for a reason. Unfortunately he didn't have the shift tower and I didn't want a companion flange.
I later found a second 5652 trans on ebay that was local to me. The seller reported that it would jump out of 5th on hills. It was only $100 so I bought it because I wanted the shifter. It turned out, even though this trans had the same model number, the case was totally different. Thankfully the internal parts were mostly good. I took the trans to a local truck rebuilder and he combined the best parts of both transmissions into one case. Oh, that trans I got from the service garage? Yea, there was a reason he had it in the back corner. The oil had gotten low and it had spun the main shaft bearing. Junk!
I thought the easiest way to mount the trans would be hang it off a fabricated "bell housing". I used some 3x5x1/4" tube as a cross member. The tube didn't have to be so big, but the 5" height matched the frame channel height and I wanted the 3" dimension to help with the torsion of that heavy trans hanging off of it.
To keep the tube in line at the notch, I wanted to try bending the tube instead of just cutting it off. I couldn't get the joint to close up as tight as I wanted, so I made up this simple pulling jig. It worked well enough that I thought I'd share.
Here is the cross member tacked in. I needed drop it down because it was dead center on the input shaft.
Getting started on the transmount. I used some 3/8" 4x6 angle that I had laying around. It was really crusty so it needed a good cleaning. Because the top bolt would be under tension, I wanted to reinforce the flange. I really enjoy fitting piece of metal properly. You'll never see it after welding, but I still like doing it.
Now that I have the mounting bracket fabricated, I need to notch it so the bracket fits around the cross member. The forward-rearward position was critical so I could get the correct engagement with the input driveshaft that I had already built. This was my first attempt. Later I decided I wanted the rear of the trans to tip down more so I adjusted the first cut with a grinder before welding it in. The bolt was pure luck. I happened to leave both bolts in and it turns out they don't have enough room to be removed!
Here's the finished mount. I'm happy to report that when I left the weight off the engine hoist, it didn't deflect at all!
Please realize, that this wasn't a one weekend task. I probably have two months in getting the building the input driveshaft, getting the trans rebuilt, fabbing the mount and building the input shaft support. The input shaft support took some brain power. The front of the shaft was supposed to be supported by the clutch or pilot bearing. When there was no support, the shaft would move around a little. I figured this would be worse when a drive shaft was connected to the shaft. A bearing needed to be mounted on the shaft to support it. The trans rebuilder was interested in my project and swapped out the reverse stepped shaft that I had for a 1.5" straight shaft he pulled from a trans they had previously rebuilt. The larger shaft changed the seal retainer, but that transmission had a 4 bolt retainer, where as my case was drilled for a 6 bolt. The garage used set screws to plug the existing holes and then redrilled the trans face for the new retainer. I can't say enough good things about these guys. The bearing mount consisted of some DOM tubes all cut to exactly the same length. The tubes are slid over some ARP studs with a 1/2" bearing plate mounted to the studs. The bearing then bolts to the plate and helps support the front of the input shaft.
After heating and bending the shifter (because it lands directly under the bench seat we wanted to use), here's the finished product!
The Jalopy Journal
