Hello!
As some of you know, I've been planning a transmission swap for a few months now. This actually started out as a need to change out the rear main seal on the engine. Then, much like my head gasket project last summer, I realized that my buddy Seth (who's now in a transmission and driveline class) was looking for a school project. Considering that there were 220K miles on my T-19 and at least 4 people (including me, back when I was 15) learned how to drive a clutch in this truck, I figured this would be a good time for a rebuild. Then, that voice saying "Why repair when you can upgrade?" (you know, the one that winds up draining your bank account when you least expect it) popped into my head...and I started looking around for a ZF5 to put in. I found one that was in need of rebuild for $500 (thanks again towcat), and thought to myself "Great! Tranny, clutch, rebuild kit, miscellaneous parts, a bit over $1000 total." Famous last words
For various reasons, Seth wound up being unable to do the rebuild himself, so towcat came to the rescue again and introduced me to his tranny guy to get the rebuild done. With the rebuild being done professionally, and various other small surprises, I think I've got about $2300 into this now 
It's a good thing this truck means so much to me and that I plan to keep her long-term; between this and the project last summer, I'm just about certain that I've poured far more $$ into her than would be considered wise.
So, that brings us to today. Seth is given one Friday per month to use the auto shop at his school for personal projects, so we walked in knowing that we had to get in and out today. Originally, we were supposed to start at noon and go as long as necessary, but Seth went and got a job
and he couldn't get today off...so we weren't able to even start until 5:30pm. I spent the morning and afternoon gathering last-minute parts (the throwout bearing and rear main seal mentioned in other threads, for example) and removing everything I could while still being able to drive the truck. I drove over there with no front driveshaft and a hole where the transfer case shift lever used to be (among other things).
I walked in there thinking that there was no way we could get it done, but he assured me that it was possible. Again, famous last words...as my truck is currently sitting in the shop, on the lift (but the wheels are touching the ground), with nothing whatsoever connected to the back of the engine except for the flywheel. BTW, Seth was mainly working by himself. According to shop rules, I wasn't supposed to even be in the shop, but I hid out of the way and took pictures, and actually wound up helping a little.
In that time, the rear driveshaft was removed, the crossmember was partially unbolted, and the transfer case was removed. Based on what the shop manual said, it sounded like the tranny could come out with the crossmember still in place, but we couldn't figure out how...and the crossmember needed to come out anyways (the ZF5 crossmember is different), so Seth then got to work on pulling the crossmember. The crossmember, however, decided it didn't want to come out, and threw a fit when he tried. On the T-19 crossmember, there are two brackets that go up to the top rail of the frame, and from how the bolts are located, it's clear that the crossmember was installed at the factory before the cab was lowered onto the frame, and the Ford engineers didn't consider the possible need to ever remove the crossmember. The brackets unbolted from the crossmember without a problem, but it's impossible to remove the top bolts from the bracket with the cab in-place short of cutting the bolts, and while the crossmember would simply slide out with the brackets removed, with the brackets in place, it wasn't going anywhere. Seth wound up using a crowbar to bend the bracket slightly and a few love-taps with a BFH to push the crossmember out from under the bracket...and it finally came out.
It was 8:30 by this time, with an hour left before we had to start clean-up...and we knew at that point that there was no way we were going to finish tonight. Fortunately, the teacher supervising realized this as well, and came over to talk to us. During this talk, he decided to allow Seth to work on this on the mornings of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday...so the pressure was at least removed, and we decided to try and do what we could before we had to clean up.
In that hour, we got the tranny removed (unbolted the tranny from the bellhousing), pulled the bellhousing, and got the pressure plate off of the flywheel. So, as of now, the old flywheel is still on the truck, but otherwise, everything's been removed that's going to come off.
At this point, the only two problems I can foresee are possible issues with changing the rear main seal, or getting the new crossmember in...but, I imagine more issues will crop up (get them Murphys away from me!!). I measured the T-19 and the ZF5 from bellhousing to transfer case mount, and it looks like they're the exact same length! 26.75 inches. So, no need to worry about driveshaft cutting... I also found that the T-19 and the ZF5 throwout bearings are different, due to different input shaft diameters. So, the greasable throwout bearing I bought is useless to me, now...but live and learn, eh?
I think that's about it...thank you all again for your help, and I'll keep you all updated as things progress!
As some of you know, I've been planning a transmission swap for a few months now. This actually started out as a need to change out the rear main seal on the engine. Then, much like my head gasket project last summer, I realized that my buddy Seth (who's now in a transmission and driveline class) was looking for a school project. Considering that there were 220K miles on my T-19 and at least 4 people (including me, back when I was 15) learned how to drive a clutch in this truck, I figured this would be a good time for a rebuild. Then, that voice saying "Why repair when you can upgrade?" (you know, the one that winds up draining your bank account when you least expect it) popped into my head...and I started looking around for a ZF5 to put in. I found one that was in need of rebuild for $500 (thanks again towcat), and thought to myself "Great! Tranny, clutch, rebuild kit, miscellaneous parts, a bit over $1000 total." Famous last words
For various reasons, Seth wound up being unable to do the rebuild himself, so towcat came to the rescue again and introduced me to his tranny guy to get the rebuild done. With the rebuild being done professionally, and various other small surprises, I think I've got about $2300 into this now It's a good thing this truck means so much to me and that I plan to keep her long-term; between this and the project last summer, I'm just about certain that I've poured far more $$ into her than would be considered wise.So, that brings us to today. Seth is given one Friday per month to use the auto shop at his school for personal projects, so we walked in knowing that we had to get in and out today. Originally, we were supposed to start at noon and go as long as necessary, but Seth went and got a job
and he couldn't get today off...so we weren't able to even start until 5:30pm. I spent the morning and afternoon gathering last-minute parts (the throwout bearing and rear main seal mentioned in other threads, for example) and removing everything I could while still being able to drive the truck. I drove over there with no front driveshaft and a hole where the transfer case shift lever used to be (among other things).I walked in there thinking that there was no way we could get it done, but he assured me that it was possible. Again, famous last words...as my truck is currently sitting in the shop, on the lift (but the wheels are touching the ground), with nothing whatsoever connected to the back of the engine except for the flywheel. BTW, Seth was mainly working by himself. According to shop rules, I wasn't supposed to even be in the shop, but I hid out of the way and took pictures, and actually wound up helping a little.
In that time, the rear driveshaft was removed, the crossmember was partially unbolted, and the transfer case was removed. Based on what the shop manual said, it sounded like the tranny could come out with the crossmember still in place, but we couldn't figure out how...and the crossmember needed to come out anyways (the ZF5 crossmember is different), so Seth then got to work on pulling the crossmember. The crossmember, however, decided it didn't want to come out, and threw a fit when he tried. On the T-19 crossmember, there are two brackets that go up to the top rail of the frame, and from how the bolts are located, it's clear that the crossmember was installed at the factory before the cab was lowered onto the frame, and the Ford engineers didn't consider the possible need to ever remove the crossmember. The brackets unbolted from the crossmember without a problem, but it's impossible to remove the top bolts from the bracket with the cab in-place short of cutting the bolts, and while the crossmember would simply slide out with the brackets removed, with the brackets in place, it wasn't going anywhere. Seth wound up using a crowbar to bend the bracket slightly and a few love-taps with a BFH to push the crossmember out from under the bracket...and it finally came out.
It was 8:30 by this time, with an hour left before we had to start clean-up...and we knew at that point that there was no way we were going to finish tonight. Fortunately, the teacher supervising realized this as well, and came over to talk to us. During this talk, he decided to allow Seth to work on this on the mornings of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday...so the pressure was at least removed, and we decided to try and do what we could before we had to clean up.
In that hour, we got the tranny removed (unbolted the tranny from the bellhousing), pulled the bellhousing, and got the pressure plate off of the flywheel. So, as of now, the old flywheel is still on the truck, but otherwise, everything's been removed that's going to come off.
At this point, the only two problems I can foresee are possible issues with changing the rear main seal, or getting the new crossmember in...but, I imagine more issues will crop up (get them Murphys away from me!!). I measured the T-19 and the ZF5 from bellhousing to transfer case mount, and it looks like they're the exact same length! 26.75 inches. So, no need to worry about driveshaft cutting... I also found that the T-19 and the ZF5 throwout bearings are different, due to different input shaft diameters. So, the greasable throwout bearing I bought is useless to me, now...but live and learn, eh?
I think that's about it...thank you all again for your help, and I'll keep you all updated as things progress!
so I wasn't going that route 
I won't be there at all tomorrow...and, barring further problems, the truck should be finished tomorrow. Even if it's someone I trust (or, in this case, someone with good intentions and a teacher to lean on 
