Opinions, what first?

Ok folks, time to spend more money. Unfortunatly, it's limited. Which order would you do these in?

My wheeling at this point is pretty much hardpack and sand trails. Some hills. Some mud (not crazy 14 foot deep stuff). I don't think I will ever take it in the rocks.

I currently have open diffs front and rear and 3.07 gearing with 33" tires.

1) swap my T-150 for a T-18 behind my stock 304.

2) Aussie in the front

3) Trutrac (because I can't get an Aussie for my AMC 20 anymore) in the rear.

4) 1-pc axles in the AMC 20 (probably do this at the same time as the Locker).

What's first? Thanks!

 

T-18 hands down .. I cannot believe how much better my CJ is with the grany low 4 -speed.

 

t-18 or another granny tranny. best mod, especially for those of us who had stock 3-speeds. i happened to go the np435 route, but it's the same result. it will make a world of difference.

maybe the one-piece rear axles after that, especially behind the 304. just a guess, though, as i have the d-44 rear.

 

no rocks = no need for T18 IMO
you didn't mention it but I'd also ditch the 3.07s for 4.10s, and do the lockers at the same time.
I'd keep the factory AMC 20 shafts as Dan mentioned; they get a bad rap but keep the nut tight to specs and run them.

 

I would also opt for low gears first. After having a correctly geared trail vehicle, I absolutley hate the stock three speed and Dana 20 in my CJ. My second choice would be lockers. If you can't get an Aussie for the rear, look for a Lock Right and spend the couple extra bucks.

Since I have never dealt with two piece axles, I don't know where they'd fit in a regular build plan, probably before lockers.

 

I'm not questioning anyone's opinions because that's what I asked for - ok, I guess I am a little.

I've been told by many that swapping a T-18 for my T-150 will give me close to if not better gearing in low than swapping to 4.10s and keeping the T-150 because of the T-18's granny low. That's kinda why I left swapping gears off my list.

I wheel south of Kalkaska where the sand on the hills can get deep. Last year, I tried several times to make it up a couple steep hills (thought I was gonna burn up my clutch trying). The engine bogged no matter how hard I stomped the gas. Never lost traction, just stalled the motor. I was told this was due to my horrible gearing situation. Was this true? If so and the T-18 helps my gearing situation, wouldn't this help my sandy hill climbs?

I guess I should have mentioned this is my daily (nice days) driver in the summer and I do travel the E-way. With the T-18 I will keep the revs down at highway speeds. With 4.10s, they will increase dramatically over the stock gears.

Now I'll stand back and let all you guys who know wwwaaaayyyyyy more than me discuss and I'll benefit from the end answer!!!

Thanks for the opinions so far!

 

I'd have to go for the T-18 as well. Great gearing and lots you can do with it.
Next I'd go for the 1 piece in the rear or save for a Detroit or selectable and gearing change when the T-18 just isn't enough.

 

the T18 is great for low speed crawling, over rocks, up steep hard packed hills.
It sounds like from the decription you gave above that yes, your gearing hurt you on that climb.
"Sandy hill climbs" I'm not familiar with that area or terrain; typically sandy driving conditions require more speed than crawling. Crwaling in loose sand can just get you 4 holes, one for each tire.
Top speed won't change between 3rd gear with the T150 or 4 th with the T18 because the final drive ratio in both transmissions is one-to-one. The T18 advantage is 1st gear only; if you never crawl slow, you'll never need it.

 

I'd have to agree with the previous post. The T18 won't help you much in the sand. I'd think that the axle gear ratio you have hurts you more in the sand that anything else. The 304 isn't exactly a powerhouse (less hp than a good V6, but they sure sound nice) in it's stock form. I'd think the single best thing you could do first would be to re-gear the axles. I don't know what size tires you are using, but I'd be thinking 4.56 or numerically higher gears for sand. I'm sure someone on this board who runs sand alot will chime in with the real deal. 3.03's belong in a 300 hp freeway flier, not in a Jeep. Unless maybe you have a 4:1 T-case. I'd think that for sand running you would need a fine balance between vehicle weight, horse power and gearing. You can't crawl sand, inertia is your friend.

 

nitrous oxide. That'd get ya up that hill. Nothing a little momentum wont fix.


I'm gonna vote for some kind of gearing change. T-18, or a tera low kit in the d20.

Makes a wolrd of differnece, and if you need more speed there's always 2 or 3 higher gears available in your trans.

 

Without getting too far off subject,
How easy is the terra low kit to install? What are the advantages / disadvantages between the terra low and T-18? I'm getting the T-18 for $250 which is a pretty good deal from what i've seen....

Thanks!

 

Regarding the T18, which one is it? If it will bolt in for $250, I'd go for it. If you still need the adapter set for it you are probably looking at another $600 + before it's installed. In that respect I don't know that it would be worth it. Also, there is a BIG difference between a Jeep T18 and a Ford t18 in the 1st gear ratio. The Ford being around 50% lower. The difference between a Tera Low and the T18 is that you'll only get the low gear in 1st with the T18, but you'll be lowering ALL your gears in low range with the Tera kit. That might be a better option since you do some freeway time in your rig. You can keep those gawdawful 3.03's and still have some low gears for the trail.

 

It's currently running in a Jeep (not sure CJ or YJ) behind a 4.2L I6. With that said, which way would you go?

 

As I said, if it will bolt in it's a good deal. The Jeep T18 has a 4:1 (approx) 1st gear while the Ford is around 6:1. The T18 is a bullet-proof tranny that you'll never have to worry about breaking. But, if you run more sand than dirt, I'd do the Tera Low kit. Personally, I'd lie, cheat and steal to do both. But then my wife still thinks we've only put $1,500 in our Jeep over the last 15 years.

 

Oh thank God you said the trans. I just looked up the price of the the tera low - $888 NO WAY! I could do trans, lockers and axles for that price!!! Ok. I'll make it 5th on my list R)

$1500 huh, I paid $200 to start (yeah right) and I've only put about $500 into it (x5 of coarse). What they don't know won't hurt 'em!!!

 

You got that right. I originally thought I'd limit my Jeep addiction to $1,000 per year. However, I've blown that every year since I got it! Lets face it. Everything you want (need) to do to the Jeep costs $1,000.

 

That's only true in some cases ... and wrong in most cases.

There are two styles of T-18 - the wide ratio and the close ratio. The wide ratio T-18 has the 6.32:1 1st gear (granny gear) and the close ratio has the 4.02:1 1st gear. The close ratio T-18 was only used in the six cylinder CJ-5 and Commando from 1971 through 1976, and possibly in some early 70s Wagons (reported but unconfirmed). All other Jeep T-18s are wide ratio, same as all the Ford T-18s.

The only bolt-in wide ratio T-18 will come from a '77-79 CJ-5 or CJ-7 with a factory T-18. Even that transmission will need some adapting, including floor plates, mounts and driveshaft changes.

The easiest route (if you can't find the bolt-in parts) is to buy a T-18 from a Ford pickup and use a commercially available adapter kit. The adapter kit is expensive, but the Ford T-18 is easy to find and you can get the kit immediately by writing a check.

However, there are several ways to skin this cat without resorting to the expensive adapter kit. We've gone over this again and again and again in previous posts - search and you will find lots to read.

hth!

 

I think you're dreaming, or else you have no idea what parts cost.

 

If it's a factory transmission it could be wide ratio, or close ratio, depending on the year. If it's from a conversion, it's likely wide ratio.