Cracked 4-speed bellhousing? Try this fix.

[LCAM-01XA]

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What it is: one 3/8" bolt and nut (grade 5), four 1/2" nuts (grade 5), two 3-1/2" long 7/16" bolts and two 7/16" lock washers (all grade 8). And the handle of a busted 1/2"-drive breaker bar. Obviously other materials can be used as well, for instance a combination of square tubing instead of round bar and round spacers instead of the double-stacked 1/2" nuts would also work good. But that's what I had laying around, so that's what I used. Be aware that the hex head of the lower bolt will hit the raised center part of the PTO cover and jam against it as you tighten bolt. Using allen-head bolts would eliminate this clearance issue. But I'm cheap so I just removed PTO cover, then put it back on after bolt was tightened (it's still loose in these pics). Once all is in place you use the 3/8" bolt to preload the bellhousing towards engine. As clutch fork pushes towards the trans the 3/8" bolt will transfer the force into the brace thus minimizing deflection of cracked bellhousing.

And my bellhousing ain't even cracked yet! Preemptive strikes FTW!

Credit for the general idea goes to Black Dawg.

Also keep in mind factory bolts don't utilize the full depth of the holes drilled and tapped in the bell. I like using the most out of them, so the passenger-side bolts also got replaced with slightly longer ones. 2" long bolts will only protrude 1/8" on the other side of bell, but that's not a clearance issue for the clutch. If you don't use any lock washers 1-3/4" long bolts will be perfect and sit flush with the ends of the threaded holes in the bell.

 

[icanfixall]

Great idea for a fix. Thats what makes this the best site on the net..

 

[Black dawg]

very nice.

As much as this fix helps the broken bells that I have put it on, I cant imagine one would ever crack if this was done to it.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

The only problem that I see with my setup is that it gets in the way of the PTO if one is to be installed there. I have a driveshaft right next to it so for me this is not an issue, but for someone with a winch or hydraulic pump run off a PTO my brace like I have it wouldn't work. It can be redesigned to clear the PTO easy enough tho. And yeah, that's why I made it, I have a nice solid belhousing and I'd like to keep it that way.