cross member woes

[zpd307]

i am knee deep into my zf swap. the e40d fried on me pulling a 12 ft camper. i picked up a rear driveshaft out of a 91 gasser f350 crew, along with the cross member. now that the auto is out, i compared the two cross members. i do not like what i see. both have the vertical curved piece that bolts along the outside of the frame, but the new cm is higher, therefore lowering the horizontal part. but the new cm is not as wide as the e40d piece. so i went to the junkyard so see what i could find, maybe there was a different gusset to be used...... all the manual tranny trucks used a completely different style cross member. there were several 250/350 trucks that had manual trannys, but the yards practice is to cut the cross members to get the trannys out. SO...... can i modify my e40d cross member to make it work with the zf tranny? or is anyone close that has a spare cross member?

 

[towcat]

got a manual trans crossmember here. trade you the Buick for it

 

[zpd307]

. i would tell you to ship it, but it would be spendyyyyy.

 

[jperecko]

I cannot help too much with finding a stock one... but crossmembers are not the most complex pieces of the truck.. maybe you could fab one? Here is a pic of how I mounted my NV4500. The red thing is a polyurethane insulator. I might still add some bracing later but that stock is 1x2 square tubing that is pretty beefy.

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[towcat]

I cannot help too much with finding a stock one... but crossmembers are not the most complex pieces of the truck.. maybe you could fab one? Here is a pic of how I mounted my NV4500. The red thing is a polyurethane insulator. I might still add some bracing later but that stock is 1x2 square tubing that is pretty beefy.

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It's acually more complicated than you give it credit for.
the amount of drop or lack of will affect the u-joint angle on the front and rear driveshafts.

 

[jperecko]

It's acually more complicated than you give it credit for.
the amount of drop or lack of will affect the u-joint angle on the front and rear driveshafts.

I understand that... I was assuming that the OP has some knowledge of how the tranny should be positioned. Considering that the motor mounts are effectively a pivot point, you really only have 1 dimension to worry about. And yes, that was very much considered when I built my crossmember... I got pretty lucky with the insulator and t-case clearance that I could just use a piece of flat stock and not have to do much actual fabbing for that part.

 

[Agnem]

If it's any help, the Night Moose has been running without the crossmember braces since birth. Obviously not the recommended or desired practice, but the truck hasn't cracked in half yet and it's almost a year. We hope to put them in some day.

 

[jperecko]

If it's any help, the Night Moose has been running without the crossmember braces since birth. Obviously not the recommended or desired practice, but the truck hasn't cracked in half yet and it's almost a year. We hope to put them in some day.

I do not think much bracing is really necessary unless you get into some rough offroading.

 

[zpd307]

so, nobody has modded their e40d cross member?

 

[BigRigTech]

When I did my swap I made my own crossmember from 2x2 box tubing, 1/4" wall. I made it so it bolts to the outside of the frame - much easier to remove. If I recall the E4OD crossmember fit the ZF too but my memory could be fooling me.

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[Jake S.]

When I swapped out the C6, I used the C6 cross member, lengthened the holes a bit and put the c6 mount on the zf. It kept the angles the same. I checked them with a anglefinder. I have a ford book with all the stock angle specs in it.

 

[zpd307]

at the least, it looks like i will have to drill new holes in the frame. i looked and didnt see holes in the same pattern closer to the front of the truck. i am assuming since the zf cross member is completely different. what is the driveshaft angle that i need so i can see if the e40d cm will work.