Can someone help me out and give me the length of the front bearing retainer/clutch sleeve from the face of the trans to the end of the sleeve? Thanks!!!
'65-up, although I don't think it makes much difference. They should be all the same. I'm working with a C5TE FE truck bell and TKX trans. 'They' say it won't work, I'm going to prove 'em wrong...
I measured a big block toploader ('70 429) and a NP435 from an 80's pickup with a 300. I get the same as Marty on both. Maybe 3-25/32".
Do they say "why" it won't work? Length seems like a pretty simple thing to resolve. I'm wondering about the diameter of the retainer/housing bore or maybe bolt pattern.
Yup, I measured a big in and big out Toploader and got 3 13/16 and I also measured a 3 speed grinder from a '56 T bird and got the same measurement.
The crux of the matter is the TKO/TKX both use the .7" longer T5 input shaft. If you're building an SBF, simply using a T5 bell solves the problem. But in any other car application, a .7" thick spacer is used or you need a 'special' bell such as made by QuickTime ($1100!). These spacers are machined with a recess on the trans side for the front bearing retainer to fit into and have a 'faux' retainer on the bell side to index the trans. The '65-up manual car bells for the FE are almost as expensive as new aftermarket ones, typically in the $800 range. The deeper truck bells can be had for as little as $40, typically about $100, but 'they' say it won't work. Because the FE truck bell is .350" deeper, a spacer thickness of only .350" is needed. But after you machine the recess for the retainer in the thinner spacer, all you have is a hole; there's no meat left for the faux retainer and the trans retainer doesn't protrude enough to properly index the trans. The flange on the TKO/TKX retainer is 9/16" thick but because of a taper machined on it, it doesn't engage the bell deep enough. A cheaper '58-64 narrow-pattern car bell can be used, but even those are going up in price (locally they're up to $250 or more) and you still need the $250 .7" thick adaptor. On these the trans is bolted to the aluminum spacer, not the bellhousing, which I don't care for. My solution is two spacers; a simple-to-make 3/8" thick trans-to-bell spacer, and a same-thickness front bearing retainer spacer to ensure proper indexing, a bit more complicated but not excessively so. Material costs are about $50, saving a bunch of money if you can build your own (which I can). Besides the cost savings, the truck bell will also allow fitting a 11" clutch if so desired; not possible on every car bell, most are limited to a 10.5". I find it hard to believe no one is commercially making this set-up. The inquiry about the Ford bearing retainer was the last piece of the puzzle. The TKO/TKX retainer is 4.5" long, or about .7" longer than the OEM Ford retainer, so it may need a slight shortening. I'll detail all this once I start making the bits....
I ran into a similar issue with a small block setup. I was able to avoid using a spacer at all by cutting a heavy chamfer on the pilot bearing, so the input shaft splines could go a bit more forward. I only have half as much contact between the bushing and input shaft pilot, but figured this is okay since there is very little side thrust . Another issue is that the splines may nut be cut far enough backwards to allow the clutch disc to "move backwards".
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