ROCK HARVEY
Full Access Member
I bought a non-running truck (89 f-250 4x4 5 speed) exactly 2 months ago, and have been going through the process of getting it fixed up. I got the engine running, but have only driven it a couple times for short distances. The transmission seemed loud to me, but it has a solid flywheel conversion so I assumed it was just rollover noise. When I drained the transmission I noticed the fluid smelled burnt, wasn’t ATF, and there were a couple tiny bits of metal on the plug. Now I’m thinking the noise was more sinister. I found a low-mileage zf5-42 4x4 locally, but it’s from a 460 gas truck. I’ve heard that you can re-drill the top two bolts to make it mount to the IDI, but has anyone here actually done it? I noticed this on Diesel Conversion Specialists’ website:
“The best way to identify if you have a gasoline version of the ZF5 is the .5" dowels on the bellhousing. The dowel pins are also staggered, the driver's side being higher up on the bellhousing than the passenger side. The diesel version uses .375" dowel and are directly across from one another.”
I do understand that the gasser zf5s are geared slightly differently. I’ve also looked into rebuilding my zf5, and it looks time consuming but not too difficultt. The way I see it I have 3 options: rebuild my current tranny, attempt swap to gasser tranny, or swap cases between the two transmissions. What do you guys recommend?
“The best way to identify if you have a gasoline version of the ZF5 is the .5" dowels on the bellhousing. The dowel pins are also staggered, the driver's side being higher up on the bellhousing than the passenger side. The diesel version uses .375" dowel and are directly across from one another.”
I do understand that the gasser zf5s are geared slightly differently. I’ve also looked into rebuilding my zf5, and it looks time consuming but not too difficultt. The way I see it I have 3 options: rebuild my current tranny, attempt swap to gasser tranny, or swap cases between the two transmissions. What do you guys recommend?