Questions about tranny swap.

I have a NP-435 that I am wanting to swap into my M38-A1. I am planning on reatianing my D-18 T-case and adapting it to the Ford tranamission.

Has anyone else on the board done this swap?

What did you for a cross member?

Do you have any pictures that I may use for reference?

TIA!

 

You can use the stock crossmember and then move it back to another set of holes on the frame or drill new ones if needed.
I have an sm420 to install and have installed one in a friends jeep, thats what we did for it and what I plan on doing for mine.
There was a member along time ago that had an np435, can't remember his user name.
Novak"s website has info on doing this swap.

 

Thanks Mike.

I've read the information on the Novak site. But, from what I found, they are kinda vauge on the mounting details. I may have missed something though. I sometimes find the Vovak site a little difficult to navigate.

 

Isn't an NP435 kinda big, like the SM465? IIRC someone here has one in an Intermediate Jeep, and the only issue was the size of the case and how much the crossmember had to be spaced down.

I only vaguely recall this... maybe try a search in the IF for NP435.

 

Tim,
Yes, the NP-435 is very tall, but I think it is doable. Before I posted, I searched the whole forum with the keyword "NP#435" and came up with zero hits.

 

Its actually smaller than a T18 or T19. Weighs 10lbs less.
Of the truck 4 speeds the NP 435 and the SM420 are the smallest in physical size.

 

i've got one in my 1967 cj 5.i moved the cross member back and mounted the skid plate more forward and welded an extention on the back of the skid plate to protect the emergency brake assembly.i have a two inch body lift which barely gave me enough clearance for the shift tower.i have one factory shim on each side of the cross member.i also did away with the factory clutch linkage and put an advance adapters chain clutch set up in.i have the gm style trans that i had the front bearing retainer turned down to fit inside the buick bellhousing and used allen head bolts to mount it to the bellhousing because of the tight fit.also had to do a slight amount of grinding on the case to get the socket head bolts in.

 

Yeah that was me. I have pics floating around somewhere. If you want to see them send me a PM. The SM 465 is big but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Second best swap I ever did, 1st being the Detroit. I tucked it up as tight as possible and still have plenty of GC. I also added a pretty hefty skid plate.

 

I think if you go to Novak site, you will see that a Ford T18 is the smallest and shortest 4 speed. I know in all my junk yard searches it was, that is why I got one.

 

Vhunter,
From what I saw on Novak, both the Ford and Jeep T-18 (11.87") are longer than the Ford NP-435 (10.7"), but the T-18 adapter is only 1" thick as compared to the NP-435 adapter which is 3.5" thick. So the T-18 combo is shorter than the NP-435 by 1.3".


Chuck,
I agree with you about to many variables with the T-18. I was originally thinking about going with an SM-420 (which accually has the longest adapted length of 15.2") because of the amount of tech write-ups to help me. One day I was talking with my F-I-L about this, and he said that his Brother (who is deceased) had the transmission out of a late 70' 1 Ton Ford stored in my F-I-L's shop, and that it was mine if I wanted it. So, this and the easy availiblity of adapters, played a hugh part in my choice of transmissions. Of course the 6.68:1 first gear didn't hurt either :twisted: !