swapping in a 6 speed tranny??

[ramon f350]

I know that JPR had mentioned that he has a 6 speed manual tranny in his garage and that got me to thinking about it. how hard would it be to swap in a 6 speed on my truck its already got the ZF5 in it so would it be a simple bolt in thing or would I have to have som type of adapter for the tranny to the motor?


Ramon

PS thanks for indulging me here

 

[JPR]

These are the issues from several e-mails between myself and Jaybee.

Custom clutch disc will be needed. The 6 speed clutch is 13" and uses a 1-3/8" hub vs the idi 1-1/4". So you will need to get a custom 12-1/4" clutch with the correct hub built locally.

Four wheel drive folks need to swap transfer cases since the 6 speed uses a different number of splines on the output shaft.

Make an adapter for the two upper bell housing to engine bolts.

Crossmember will need to be modified.

Clutch slave cylinder and hose are different. Use the 6 speed slave cylinder and make an adapter to splice the idi hose to the metric hose.

Transmission cooler and lines will need to be installed.

No mechanical speedometer hook up either on the 6 speed or the newer transfer cases.

These are some photo's of the slave cyinder and the 6 speed. It is big and 70# heavier than the 5 speed.

 

[ramon f350]

wow I dont think that extra gear would be worth that much trouble I have been looking at us gear they have an overdrive unit and I am trying to figure out if it just splits the gears like hi/ lo or if you actually shift through all five and then go back through them for 6 through 10 but I dont think that is possible in a truck this size.. It is cool to know that putting a six speed in the trucks is doable but I would hate to pay for that custom clutch I bet that hurts the pocket book.

Jon if you ever do yours let me know i would like to be a part of that process to see just how involved it is going to get

Ramon

 

[JPR]

For the od, you split the gears when loaded.

Here a chart for ZF5 wide ratio with the US Gear od. I do not show a 4th high since it would be almost identical to 5th gear.

5.72 1st
4.58 1st high
2.94 2nd
2.35 2nd high
1.61 3rd
1.29 3rd high
1.00 4th
0.76 5th
0.61 5th high

 

[ramon f350]

looks like in the end that wouldnt lower the rpms that much but it would defineitly give you the extra umph that you need inbetween gears that is missing. I have 3.73 gears now and dont want to go any lower for fear of it being gutless pulling so I guess I will just live with the high fuel burn lol and turning the pump down is not an option

Ramon

 

[JPR]

The od would give you the equivelant of 3.00 gears in 5th high

 

[ramon f350]

well then I guess that drop them some but i dont think it would be enough to justify it to the spousal unit. but thats ok its defienetly something to think about in the future. any idea how much that custom clutch cost?

Ramon