T98A Front Adapter & Bellhousing

The front adapter I'm using for my T98A conversion partially blocks the hole for the clutch cable in the bellhousing. All of the bolt holes line up so the only problem is the clutch cable opening. It's blocked so the fitting that holds the dust boot can't be screwed in.

In order to make it work I have to grind almost 1/2" off the the 7/8" think adapter. I have concerns about the structural integrity being compromised. Has anyone else had this problem? And how did you solve it?

Here are some pics. If anyone can post pics of their assembly I would appreciate it.

 

I thought it was wrong too but the part #910467 is on the plate. That matches with what I've seen as being the correct part number.

 

That's a military style bellhousing, if it were the civilian version it would work ok



I say run it without the dust boot.

H.

 

I thought about no boot but I've been known to kick up quite a bit of dust and rocks from time to time.

 

Sorry, Howard, I should have said I thought aboot no boot so you would understand.

 

Get hosed, eh?

H.

 

I'm not sure the BH on the left in your picture is strictly military. I have 3 and they're all of that design. 1 is from my M38A1, one was originally in a '66 CJ6 (Jim Steger's) and the 3rd one came with my T98A purchase. I'm wondering if there are earlier and later designs depending on if they have a cable clutch setup or hydraulic.

 

The two designs are contemporaneous, the square hole ones were used on trucks & CJ's the same time that the M38's & M38A1's were rolling down the assembly lines next to them. AFAIK the "military" ones did get used on civvys, but as with all things jeep factory related it was more of a case of using what they had in the parts bin rather than a conscious design decisions. You may remember CJ Wilson who used to hang out here had a CJ5 that came from the factory with a M38a1 frame. As you noticed the military ones have the seal & threaded drain hole for the fording system, civvys not so much.

H.

 

So the civvy versions don't have a clutch cable opening? When did they go to the hydraulic clutch?

 

Yes, that's the big square hole in the side of the one in the pic above, in fact there's a big square hole on each side- they were designed to be used for right hand drive models as well.


EDIT- I meant to say 'yes"- the civvy versions did have a mechanical clutch- thats waht the big square hole is for, the end of the fork sticks uout through it..

Sorry for any confusion.


H.

 

So it seems like my choices are modify the plate or find the other style bellhousing. Will that involve a different clutch fork too? And will that in turn require a mod to my clutch linkage?

 

It was shootin' the bull with you. Let me know if you ever want to stop by.

 

I went back and forth on how to go with this. I even picked up another bell housing with the side clutch hole. I was thinking about trimming the adapter with a bi-weekly hole saw but I've never done anything like that. I finally called McRuff and he talked me through it and pumped me full of confidence. (Thanks, Mike!)

The adapter is 7/8" iron. With the hole saw on the drill press running at 250 RPMs it cut through with relative ease. I used cutting fluid and had to back if off a couple of times. Took less than 2 minutes and gave me a nice clean cut.

In order to minimize the amount to be cut off I also trimmed off the hex sided collar on the clutch guide. By doing that I was able to leave a small bridge from the top of the adapter to the bottom. McRuff didn't think it would be a problem to cut more but I figured in this case less is better. The heed collar is just for tightening the guide on to the bellhousing and I can still do that with a small pipe wrench. Here are some after pictures you can compare to the pics at the beginning of this thread. I just need to do a litt touch up paint and it's good to go.