T-18A vs. T18 Behind a 304 V8...

I am going to try and post a picture of the bellhousing the guy sent me...
Never posted pics before...

Is that the spacer you are talking about?

I got a call from DC4WD. I got a great price of $540 for the Tera Low Kit, it is on it's way.

Thanks for your help.

 

Yes, that's the spacer on the front of the transmission.

The bell looks right - the same as any other T-176 bell.

 

My friends and I just did a tranny conversion in my '73' cj5 behind a 304 AMC.
We got the Ford T-18 truck transmission with 6.32 1st gear from RMH enterprises. It came with the aluminum adapter and was made so the Dana 20
TC bolted right up. You have to move the crossmember back, but the holes line up great. It actually went very smooth until we tried to bolt on the transfer case. At that point we had to use a cutting torch and a grinder to cut relief in the cross member to allow the TC to fit. We strengthened the crossmember by welding in a piece of plate steel on the other side to support what we had to take out. Modifications to the floor plan was minimal and easily done with a grinder. I found a bellhousing for a T-150 on this site for around 70.00 that worked perfectly. The bellhousing didn't require any modifications to the clutch linkage in my '73'. I got new driveshafts from Tom Wood's custom drive shafts. We just got the Jeep started this week, and haven't driven it yet, but if you have any questions send me a PM. Doc

 

You're probably aware of it but going to gears that low really reduces the size of the pinion gears with a overall reduction in R&P strength. I just regeared a friends YJ to 4.88 and the pinion was kind of a cute little thing.

 

Yeah, I'm aware of that. Its not the best solution, but it should work. I see more people busting shafts and spiders than pinion deflection issues.

Unless i get my hands on some 1 ton gear. A guy i know wants to junk his 86 k20. 14b/d44 combo would be nice.


anyhoo back on topic!

You will not be dissapointed with your Teralow. Its the best mod I've done yet. Good choice!

 

I just wanted to let you all know how it went...

The Tera Kit was complete and a piece of cake to install. I was into it a total of $670 including all new Grade 8 bolts, bearings, oil, and new heim joints for the linkage. I however have to note that replacing the bearings was not an easy task. After 36 years they were just plain stuck on and had to be cut out. Took almost 2 hours just to replace the four bearings. Well that was a week ago, things are back together and bad times have been forgotten.

Just a final thought: I had 28:1/18:1/9:1 now I have 44:1/29:1/14:1 in low range. It is just right. I am very happy with the product and the ease of installation. I am also now very happy with the gearing of this old '72. I may one day still install a T-18, but this kit did what I had hoped and was way easier and cheaper than the other route. Thanks for the advice.

I do have 1 more question... My transmission and transfercase very much look as if the fluid is passed between them as there is no oil seal on the T-15 output. If this is the case and I fill the level of the TC and the level of the Trans correctly, the fluid eventually flows into the TC as it sits lower leaving the Trans to low and the TC to full. Do I then top off the Trans? How is this supposed to work?

 

Yes, they share oil. I used to get lazy with my T-14 and just fill the trans. Never had a problem.

 

x2.

I just drain and fill them both when i service, and continually top off the trans every month or before trail rides. Eventually it finds a level it likes.