Have been told that swapping a mid 80's ford 1/2 pickup 4sp OD trans was an easy swap into a 34 with a flathead. These tranny are found behind the inline 6 cyl. motors. Found an adapter from "We are only 32's". Not exactly sure what tranny I am looking for. The shifter comes out the top like an early v8 and the lever can be replaced with a early v8 style. Any help?? or ideas?? Thanks
Hi- The trans you are looking for is from an '85-'86 only F-150 2wd pickup. They are sort of scace, but are to be had. They are very compact and will work great in your case. You will also need what is called a 'hogshead', or the adapter from a early F-1 to a 4-speed trans. They are thin and have a 4 bolt pattern on the trans side and a flathead bolt pattern on the block side. They run about $400-$600 and sometimes can be found thru a trans shop. I have several friends that have them and use them and just love them. The shifter comes out in the correct spot, like a '39 and everything. Darkhorse-
That is the trans you should look for. They have both 2wd and 4wd but the 4wd had the transfer case on the back rather than an output shaft. I have seen info that this trans might be found as late as '88 so check around. They used a similar trans earlier but it had the side rail shifter, so it might be easier to use an S10 5spd if you go that route. Get out there and start looking at the mid 80s 1/2 tons and see what you are looking for, crawl under those trucks. As for the hogshead, as noted you can find them on some of the '48-'50 Ford trucks with the 4spd or heavy duty 3spd (except likely the big truck 337 CI flathead. I would never pay $400-600 for one, people are practically giving those transmissions away. Although if you find someone that wants to buy one for that price I know where I can get a couple. Again do your research on these. I couldn't find any today for sale, but this question came up recently by another HAMBer and I was easily able to find a couple of those flathead trans for sale cheap -- like $40 each. Like the '39 toploader 3sp the pre '48 4spd had the 1/2 bell cast as part of the trans case. In '48 Ford was in a transition phase for their truck transmissions. This meant that some, but not all of the new trans used this hogshead. I have been able to pick up on clues in pictures as to which ones have this adaptor and which ones have the 1/2 bell cast. Here is a site for a guy that did a T5 swap with one of these hogsheads. They actually have 6 bolts to the trans and need a 1" adaptor for the bolt patterns, I don't know how close the '80s Ford pattern matches. http://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gallery/displayalbum.php?&userid=183124&albumid=19501
Thanks for the help? We intend take pics and write up a tech article about this swap. Any one know of a trans for sale. Closer the better to wichita, might even buy the whole pickup at the right price.
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