T-15swap

Hey guys
I got a 73 cj5. I swapped a T14for a T15. The transmission crossmember doesn’t line up to the mount. Not sure if there is a different crossmember I need. If anyone else has had this issue I’d appreciate the advice.

 

Oh man, you rang the bell! I recently installed my T15 back into the frame after rebuilding it, along with everything else on the jeep. I was so frustrated trying the get that crossmember aligned again that I almost pushed the entire project into the river and started drinking heavily. Honestly I worked on it for about 3 weekends, 6-8 hours at a shot before I figured it out. Okay enough of my woes.
The crossmember does have a driver and passenger side, found that out after weekend number 2. There is sort of a notched area on one end of the crossmember, that is passenger side and faces to the rear. The transfer case will sort of fit in that notch, not a tight fit at all but sort of "goes with the flow" of the transfer case. The frame has a series of holes on the bottom rail to mount the crossmember, use the two sets of holes towards the front. BIG NOTE: leave everything loose and put all the bolts/mounts in before you tighten them down. I found the original style torque bar on ebay that mounts the transmission to the rubber bits and the crossmember. It took me quite a while to figure out that torque bar but it will fit. To help get stuff aligned I used ratchet straps to pull the crossmember one way or the other, and a drift bar to align the holes to get the bolts in. If you don't have a drift bar/pry bar, get some, they are invaluable. Northern Tool has a set of different sizes at a reasonable price ($30 or so ?).
Currently the frame is buried in stuff because I am working on the body tub. I will get some good pictures soon to help you out, it would have helped me tremendously. Keep in mind I have a V8 but I am guessing that everything past the clutch is probably in the same place for I6 or V8. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the reply. I did some measurements and found that the T15 mounting point is about 1.5inches farther back than the T14. Therefore my cT14 crossmember won’t work. Could I trouble anyone for a pic of a T15 crossmember please. Thx

 

Hmmm. I expect you have an inline 6 engine.
Jeep never put the superior T15 behind the 232/258 in CJ’s.it was only used behind the 304 CJ’s.
The T14 less any adapters is 8-3/8” OAL.
The T15 less any adapters is 10” OAL.
I see no reference for any special “rear engine support crossmembers” for your application.
I would expect with a T15 that the transfer case will be located aft by 1-5/8” from standard.
This implies relocating the crossmember aft and changing propeller shafts by that same 1-5/8”.

 

Here's two pictures of my trans mount. Picture (a) is the notch in the crossmember that I talked about , that is the passenger side, looking from above, right side of the picture is towards the engine. Picture (b) is a closeup of that torque bar setup. I think they designed that mess about 2am after the company Christmas party. It's a screwy setup but I guess it counteracts the torque from the engine when you whack the throttle.
I would imagine that AMC used the same mount for anything that had the same frame width as the CJ. They gave the assembler the option of using the necessary holes in the lower frame rail for whatever engine/trans setup they were installing. You could just mount the cross member to the trans and then make your own holes in the frame. The two reasons I didn't do that was I wasn't sure what it would do to frame strength (there's already a lot of holes there) and I know mine had fit at one time so it had to go back in somehow. Hope these pictures help, let me know if you need more.

 

Thanks for the help and the pics. Got it to fit. You were right, it took a little more persuading than i had been using. Good luck with the rest of your build.