A new trany in and Old CJ5

So I haven't found info pertaining to this here on the site. I thought I would give you my workup on replacing the 3 speed with a 4 speed in my 74 CJ5.
First why am I replacing it and why did I choose the trany I have?
I run on trails in the cascade mointains and for a lot of it, it is easy cruising. There are areas and spots were it gets harder and I wanted to get the jeeps gears down a touch to ease up on the drivetrain.
I looked at all kinds of options. You really have three options. Gears in the Diffs, Gears in the transfer, or gears in the trany.
I have a 304 V8, T15 3 spd, Dana 20 transfer, and 3.73 diff gears.
Now I also don't want my jeep to be a "Trailer Queen", I like the ability to jump in it and heard it down the highway at 55 and not have the rods come out of the engine.
So right now my crwl ratio is about 22:1 and around 270 feet per min. I run 32" tires. So with the 32's my engine and gears can handle it no problem and I do not plan on going bigger tires.
I want to be in the mid to upper 30's.
So I need the lower gears when I want them and not all the time!
So re-gearing the doffs just wasn't making sense because I loose my highway ability. plus I was looking at around $1500.00 to re gear.
The transfer is 2:1 D20 and I looked at lowering the low hole gears and that was a prime option. About $900.00 for a tera-low
But after the re-gearing of everything else all that torq and power will head right up to the trany. The T15 is a good trany and first gear is 3:1.
So I decided to go to a trany swap.

Here is what I am starting with.
I chose a T19 for a couple reasons. First reason is that I wanted a usable transmission. Most the guys I run with with the 6-32:1 first tranys run in second gear almost all the time.
I wanted a Fully sincro trany. I wanted a trany I could use without having to completely convert it to go in my jeep. I also wanted a farely small trany compared to what is out there.
Realy to regear you only have a few options and I found this one to be the best.
So it is a 1986 T19 from a Ford Bronco and was behind a 302. It is also a 5:1 first gear transmission.
I will be 38.69:1 crawl ratio at 168 ft per min.

 

If you have never dealt with Novak Industries. You really are missing out.
These guys are AWSOME. They were so patient of me. I had gone on the search of a trany and what to do a year ago. Recently with summer coming I decided this project needed to get done.
I hunted and found all kinds of tranys for all kinds of prices.
Most of the time what people thought they had, they did not. 90% of the T18 Granny lows were 4-1's. Almost all that I found needed input and output shaft work and the ones that didn't were 1000 bucks from another CJ that had rolled of the top of a mountain.
So I paid $150.00 for my trany from a local wrecking yard. And there are atleast 5 more just like it.
I called Novak and they set up my package.
a Used Bellhousing ready to install
New clutch for and hardware
a D20 adapter and main shaft
and a new pilot bearing for the AMC that maches up to the STOCK Ford 61/2 input shaft.
Disasembly is pretty straight forward.
I am doinng this project in a 12x14 shed with basic tools. .
A couple things threw me off course like the T50 tamper proof torq bit I needed for the reverse lever. That took me 2 hours to find.
And I do not have a press so I used my gear puller. I cut the shaft off on the old one, drilled a pilot in the middle, put small amout of presure on it and hit the shaft lightly with a hammer to get the gear to walk up. just slowely repeat and you will not damage anything.
The snap rings are the biggest pain. Novak said I needed a GOOD pair of snap ring pliers and trust me you do need those.








So today I am ready for re-assembly. I will post as I go and take picks.
I already was out and sprayed the inside of the case out with cleaner and the mainshaft and gear off with cleaner. they are out warming in the 40 deg sun.

 

Today assembly went well, had one minor glitch and one question that I could not find in the excellent detailed instructions from Novak.
The glitch was a hole for the adapter on the rear of the case needed drilled and tapped. This was not a problem, however the old hole you will not use must be plugged. I plugged it with a bolt I had cut off and inserted. My threads extended to far into the trany and rubbed against the first gear. So I had to come up with a new idea. I cut off a old bolt and used a sawsall to score a flat slot in the end. I locktited it in and siliconed the top.
The question I had Was when I was at the tail of the shaft before the adapter goes on. The original shaft had a notch that had a lock ring and washer. the new shaft does not so I made a call and made sure this was correct and that I would not need these peices.
I also suggest that any o-ring or seals being used you put some oil on when install or you smear a little vasaline on.

Keep your bearing so you know which is front and rear. They are different thicknesses!




These are the only parts left over.


The plug that needs to go in the unused bolt hole!


The adapter is on and I rinsed it down inside with some 10w40 oil and rolled the gears as I went. I will change this after it is installed.


I am not much of a Gasket guy. A good bead of silicone between clean surfaces and it makes a good seal.


So here she is. Ready to pressure wash and paint prior to install.
everything shifts good and feels good.


Tomorrow I have a easy jeep run with a couple guys so I will probably tear into the Jeep on Sunday or Monday.

 

Thanks for posting all the pictures! Novak is a wonderful place in which to do business.
Is your T-19 reverse shift pattern over right & up or over right & down?
I have a 1989 T-18 that I will be converting similar to yours, however the reverse shifter fork is mounted completely in the upper portion of the tranny. I see that yours has the split reverse shifter (half of it is mounted to the lower case). I thought only the early versions (mid-70's and older) had this arrangement. Please let me know if I'm mistaken.
By the way, that threaded plug you had to make should have been included with the adapter kit.

 

Mine is a 86' the reverse is towards the pass seat and down. The reverse lever is one piece and the reverse gear is in the bottom of the case. I have guts from 3 different T18's laying hear and everything seams to match up. I do not know what year they are from.
These tranys are great to work on. replacing anything inside can be done on a bench and no special tools.

 

Thanks. I don't wash the inside of my cases anymore, unless it is in a heated garage. It will have condensation build up. I understand your thoughts and agree but in 40 deg weather and not a warm place to dry! I will plug the ends up before washing or I can do it after it is inside the Jeep!

 

good to see you got it all togather, remember to give my a holler when your install your tranny.

 

Turned out to be a good progressive day! Had a great jeep run and managed to get home and tear into the trany.
So the trany and transfer are out, The sun whent down and so my light whent away and it is getting cold.
Tomorrow I will get the Bell housing off and fly wheel. Next week I will source the clutch turn the fly wheel and start putting it back together.

 

Today I removed the Bell housing, Fly wheel and installed the new pilot bushing.

The Novak instructions state you do not need to remove the old pilot bushing. You can see why in the pictures.






I thought I would show the differences in length and size.

 

Today I had about a hour of work on the Jeep. Broken up time between jobs.
I had the Fly wheel turned and ordered the clutch. The nice thing about this settup is that you can ask for a clutch that is pretty much a jeep used product. No mix matching parts. I just ordered a clutch for a 79' CJ5 with a 304 and a T18 transmission. Or a 10.5 inch with 10 spline 1 1/16 diam shaft. You realy are not doing anything different than a set up jeep used. Maybe it isn't a T18 but the foot print is the same.
The Novak used bell housing I am very happy with. for little more than a $100.00 it is nice and clean and all the thread holes are drilled and tapped. You need to buy a new hardware kit for $20.00.
All that is back in the jeep. ready for the trany to slide in. I was worried about the bell housing taking up more room but actually it is the opposite. The T15 bell housing was much snugger!

 

Well I am making progress! The trany and transfer is in. it isn't finished and a lot is still to do. But the hard part is done.
I thought I would experience more issues with the trany but infact the transfer case kicked my butt.
A friend came over and helped me get the trany up in. This I was sweating because it is 140 pounds and not easy to lift up.
So I took a pipe and layed it across the roll cage and hooked a come-along to it and cradled the trany with a strap and lifted it up. Then I was able to get the floor jack under it and we wrestled it in. We had a little battle with it but really it wasn't bad.



Here is some issues with the floor board. I had to take out a piece at the front pass side of the pan were it starts up the fire wall.
I made a couple slits in the pan to the rear of the trany to alow me to install in with the cover on. these can easily be fixed up.



And here is the pain part. I had to take the transfer down twice because of the shifter lever. about a 1/2 needed for everything to be perfect. I ground a little off the slot were the shifter mounts. I will update this later when I figure out my shifter solution.



so this is how it is setting.



only other issue was a bolt that did not line up real well on the Novak adapter. The holes on the adapter have a lot less tolerances than the old trany case. so if you are going to a swap like this make sure it all goes together on the floor first.

 

progress is slow now. down to the details. If you are planning a swap like this do know you will come up with things that will not just bolt back together.
The transfer shifter. I had to modify this. In the instructions it said to lengthen it however My trany has a rib of casting running the length of it and even lengthening the rod would not have mattered. I cut the trany side bracket off and built one the attached to the transmission and transfer shifter, everything apears to shift correctly. I am working on the floor boards and I had to pull the drivelines out. the front one needs lengthened and the rear needsa shortened.
Also don't figure on using your stock trany mount settup. just pitch it in the garbage! you have to buy the Novak made mount and drill your skid plate. Mine is in the mail and heading to me!

 

Having problems with Photobucket! will update pics asap!

 

Very nice write up! Well done.
One thing though is Novak does not manufacture a special mount if you are talking about the rubber mount. It's a stock Jeep Wagoneer/Pickup T-18 mount. Lots of places including Novak, AA, PartsMike, R&P, etc. sell them.

I agree, Eric at Novak is a great guy to deal with.

 

My stock rubber one does not line up on the holes of the adapter and I purchased it new for the jeep a couple months ago. Novak claims theirs will bolt in with one drill hole to the cross member and it is eurothane. I needed to upgrade anyway.

 

Hmmm, gonna check that out. They must have changed their adapter if that is the case. We've been using the stock T-18 mount with their adapters for over 20 years. You've got me curious now. Gonna have to compare.

 

I will take pictures and compare. unless I have been mislead. I have the stock one sittin here on the desk. I could make it work by enlarging and moving the already to large hole in it but I am hoping not to do that!