Should I change Transmissions?

Friday night I blew the trans. (T-15) in the Jeep. I can rebuild it easy enough, or I have another good one to swap in. I mostly drive it on the street, and don't need a granny low like a T-18, but I was thinking of maybe putting a 4 speed in. I have an AMC Super T-10 with a bellhousing, but I'm not sure I want to spend $600.00 plus for the T-Case adapter. Are there any easy tranny swaps that bolt to the Dana 20without much difficulty, or should I stick with the 3 speed? Would a T-5 hold up behind a 304? Thanks for your opinions, guys!

 

Hi - sounds like you want a close-ratio transmission. There's none that I know of that doesn't require an expensive adapter. The T-5 was used in Jeeps, but it was not the world-class T-5, and was not reputed to be very reliable. The T-5 came for a while behind the 258 in the FS Cherokee, also with disappointing reliability. You could possibly put together a WC T-5 if you knew which parts to use; there was a company (5speeds.com) that sold them but AFAIK they are NLA.

The T-15 isn't a weak transmission - it was used in many, many full-size Jeep vehicles behind the Buick 350 and AMC 360. None of the B-W 3-speeds are fast shifting transmissions though - you shouldn't drive them like a car 4-speed. The blocking rings won't last, and you'll miss shifts. Not lecturing you, just letting you know what to expect. With the right driving habits a fresh T-15 should last a long time. hth!

 

The T15 is Ford and the T150 is AMC correct?

 

its more than a vech. manufacturer thing. the t-15 was made by borg-warner and the t-150 was made by tremec. t-15 may have come in fords but it all so came in jeep. tremec makes trannies for about everybody. really don't matter now, since b-w is owner by tremec now.

 

Mmm, not sure of this, but AFAIK the T-15 is Jeep only. It may have had industrial apps, like delivery vans and such, but I'm pretty sure it never was used in a Ford - Ford had their own 3-speeds... see below.

The T-150 is the Ford 3-speed passenger car transmission, made on license by Tremac. I'd expect that some parts can interchange between the Ford trans and the T-150, but I don't know the details.

 

I must of got the two backwards.

 

I never had the trans out. The Jeep was supposedly used for plowing most of it's life before I got it. Reverse would pop out every now and then, but all was well. About a month ago it developed a noise in first gear under acceleration that sounded llike a tin cover coming loose, and it would come and go, then the reverse thing started getting worse. Friday night I was out driving and came away from a traffic light, when I heard a bang. I lost first and reverse. I pulled the cover off yesterday expecting a broken shift fork, but instead I found that the first/reverse clutch hub was conspicuously absent! The rest of the trans looks really good inside, with the exception of the nylon on the shift forks being rather worn. From what I can find, apparrently no one makes the shift forks for a T-15. If anyone knows of some nice ones, I would appreciate it! Thanks for your opinions.

 

I say keep the T15. Despite what anybody says about it, whether good or bad, my personal opinion is that it's geared really well for street-type driving and it seems plenty strong enough for a Jeep, yet simple in design. With mine, I can pretty much stay in 3rd gear the whole time except when I have to come to a stop, which I find is great for cruising around.

If I were you, I'd swap in that good spare you have or pull the bad one out and do a rebuild.

FYI: I just went through this and wouldn't recommend buying new gears to rebuild the T15 unless you know what your doing. The cost to get mine rebuilt (with a warranty) was about the same as the cost of just three of those gears in that transmission. Just my 2 cents.

HTH

 

Pete, thanks for the info. Who rebuilt your trans? Was it someone in the area? I think I'm going to swap in my spare trans/transfer case, and do a total rebuild on the ones that came out. I got a twin stick conversion for the Dana 20, and I would really like to put it to use.

 

No problem. I had mine shipped across the country and rebuilt at a place in Portland, OR. I spoke with them on the phone before I opted to have them build it and pros outweighed the cons, IMO. Finding a place around here that's competent enough to rebuild an older transmission like that, without charging a small fortune seemed unlikely at the time. You may have better luck than I at locating such a place, since you've had more restoration experience. Let me know how it works out.