Replace The T14?

If it never breaks, that would be great, however the trick is to accept the fact it may (is going to) break, therefore it isn't a surprise.
There are a number of good replacement/upgrade transmissions out there. All will require adaptation. I would also try to score a BOP bellhousing as this can be the base for your swap.

 

A friend of mine loves his SM465.

As for me, I'm rebuilding my T14. If I wreck it, then I will worry about possibly replacing it.

 

Good advice, thanks again, I should know in a couple of weeks if I get this one. Unfortunately, found out it is an early '70 and it has the two piece axle rear Dana 44, not the one piece flanged axle 44, that's not a deal killer, just disappointing.

 

I like the T-90, and don't care that it isn't synchronized for 1st gear. I like it because it is a tough transmission, is easily adapted to the V6 without an adaptor, it is easy to work on, and parts are easy to find.

I have had two Jeeps with a T-90 / V6, one a M38, the other the 67 CJ5 I currently have. Both were conversions from 4Cyl Jeeps, and were done with a BOP bellhousing drilled and tapped to fit the T-90. You have to use the longer input shaft as was used on the Willys pickups and wagons, but no adaptor needed.

 

Nothing wrong with the tapered axle D44, and also the D44 is not more "stout" than the D41 which came before it, perhaps the other way around.

 

I'll have to see a picture of this. The longer T90J input shaft takes an adapter that is several inches thick.

 

Maybe it you use the Dauntless bellhousing, I do not know because I have never had one, as both of mine had a BOP bellhousing and no adaptor. It is an "old school" swap.

The one I have now is disassembled, I can take a picture of the bellhousing it you want.

 

This whole discussion comes back to one thing: USE. If one is not rock crawling there is absolutely no need for a truck style four speed. And as Fino indicated, even if you are into rock crawling, the stock transmissions (ok we leave the T86AA out of this discussion) are perfectly adequate to do a lot more than one would think. Another factor is what engine and how it is set up. That granny gear becomes a lot less important if you have an engine with a lot of low end torque.

For the indicated use, in this case I would leave the T14 alone and just drive it.

 

I wheeled my 71 all over Tellico and Windrock with a T14 and 3.73 gears. I rebuilt my transmission and engine after they had 166k on them. Still doing fine after another 14 years and 12k miles. It all depends on how you drive and use it.

 

Bit of a quandary.

I just spent some time researching internet postings, and websites, on adapting the T-90 to the Buick V6 and everything I found says the same thing as you about a thick adapter. So now I am more than a bit confused about exactly what was used in the two conversions I have owned.

As I said, both had the T-90 bolted directly to the bellhousing, no adaptor. I did not do either conversion, but I did convert the M38 from the V6 setup back to the L134 and all I had to do was replace the longer input shaft with the shorter one for the 4cyl engine.

I always assumed this longer input shaft was the one used in the Willys Pickups, but now am not so sure. I traded the V6, the bellhousing, and the input shaft for the L134 I used when I rebuilt the M38.

The M38 is 30 years gone, but this 1967 CJ5 I have now has what appears to be the same setup as far as a T-90 mated to a Buick V6 with no adaptor. This Jeep was originally standard with the L134 as evidenced by the brakes, engine mounts, and the T-90

The transmission, Transfer case are still in the chassis which I haven't hauled home yet, but plan to this weekend if the weather is okay, then I can get a picture of the transmission. I brought home the engine, bellhousing and various body parts which are all out in my barn, so can get a picture of that bellhousing, and will measure the depth.

I did some searching on different BOP pattern bellhousings trying to find out if there are different depths, but not finding much so far, except some mention about the bellhousing used on the old "Nailhead" was shorter due to the extension cast on the back of the engine block.

Would be interesting to me to compare the depth of the bellhousing I have with an actual bellhousing used on the Dauntless Jeeps.

 

One question gets answered, and presents a new mystery.

The bellhousing I have is about 9 1/4" deep. It was on the 225 V6 in the CJ5, and I checked that it fits the 3.8L V6 I have. This is evidently the same thing as was on that M38 I had years ago. It is cast aluminum, and I find no markings on it. Everywhere I have looked lists the depth of a BOP bellhousing as a little over 6" which would explain the need for an adaptor and the longer input shaft.

The mystery is what this bellhousing was from.

 

That bellhousing was original to the late 70-71 Dauntless v6, it has the adapter built into it. These were the only years these were ever used and were made specific, all the other factory Dauntless used a BOP bellhousing with an adapter bolted to the back for their transmissions.
Mine is a factory original 71 v6, this is my bellhousing from the factory.

 

Once again I'm grateful for all replies. My preference is to leave it stock. It's good to know that's a perfectly viable alternative.

 

Good to find this out! It was beginning to sound like I was full of BS. So, this is a very rare bellhousing and I happened to have stumbled onto it twice. For the last 30 years I have assumed what I found on that M38 was just a Buick bellhousing and have told people no adapter was needed. Sort of cool though to find out what it really is. I feel lucky.

 

Yes, that makes sense that you could adapt the long shaft T90 to that bellhousing. I've never seen it done that way but I can see how it would be possible.

 

My 69 has the shallow bell housing with the big square cast iron adapter. I did consider going for the later variant but that’s only because I’m prone to do unnecessary things. It’s like tinkering just less productive.

 

I would bet the longer variant would be very difficult to find today since it was only used in the last year and a half before AMC took over. That is why I said I felt lucky to have encountered two of them. I am just glad my misconception on this is cleared up. I have another V6 (225) at the machine shop now which which will likely go into my CJ2A, and now I know more about what I need for that adaptation.

 

Keep the early bell. If at a later date you decide to swap transmissions, the BOP housing will be needed. When I did my T18 swap, I was lucky enough to have an early bell and used it, sans the adapter, for my swap.

 

I will use that longer bell housing with the T-90 and 225 V6 in my 67 CJ5 project.

I have a later model 231 (3.8L) out of a 85 Regal which I want to use in a CJ2A conversion. I doubt I can find another of those special edition long bellhousings, so I will need to round up a BOP bellhousing and an adaptor to the T-90. The Buick bellhousing shouldn't be difficult to find, and I see the adaptor I would need showing up on Ebay pretty often, and they are still available new.