ZF6 same pattern as ZF5

Jake_IN

Full Access Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2009
Posts
1,363
Reaction score
97
Location
West Lafayette IN

BigRigTech

Diesel junky
Joined
Feb 10, 2007
Posts
3,288
Reaction score
1
Location
Nova Scotia, Canada
I've removed both more than once and I'm pretty sure the last F550 I did had no adapter plate. My buddy was cursing something to do with the starter bolts, I told him to take the adapter off and f__k with them on the bench...He said "what adapter plate"???....I remember looking at it myself and being surprised that it wasn't there. I wouldn't bother with a ZF6, my buddy's worked great until the external cooler **** the bed on the highway and locked the thing up solid. He had it in a 1990 F350 4x4 with a 95 PSD engine.
 

junk

Full Access Member
Joined
May 25, 2006
Posts
1,773
Reaction score
63
Location
Paullina, IA
Good call on bringing up JayBees post from thedieselstop.com. I myself have a 4 speed with a US gear. I looked at either a ZF5 or 6 swap and for the price I couldn't justify it. I ended up with a reman US gear and a t-19. Total for a remanufactured US gear and Rebuilt T-19 with a new clutch was only $2200.
 

rjjp

Needs to go test
Joined
Dec 16, 2009
Posts
1,766
Reaction score
1
Location
Clare, Mi
First of all, you have to remove the approximately 1" thick adapter plate the IDI's use in order to get the clutch and flywheel spacing correct. In other words, the bellhousing on the ZF6 is deeper and the input shaft is shorter, so the spacer has to go.

Why couldn't you just use the 1" crank spacer from a slush box equipped IDI?
 

Diesel_brad

Dunce
Joined
Nov 8, 2008
Posts
6,099
Reaction score
2
Location
gilbert pa

OnDaRoad

On the road ....
Joined
Feb 13, 2010
Posts
398
Reaction score
2
Location
Dayton, OH
Some folks never say that .....

I was proven wrong once again

Some folks go thru life & never admit they made a mistake ...

Then - there are other folks like me who go thru life and never
seem to quite get it right ..... :D

Just ask OLDBULL



Jim
 

hesutton

The Anti-Anderson
Supporting Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2005
Posts
8,200
Reaction score
738
Location
Bowling Green, KY
There's the problem. With no adaptor plate, you can't bolt the top two mounts on a ZF6 to an IDI. Then there is the issue with the correct flywheel and clutch.

Heath
 

carsonlhammond

Full Access Member
Joined
May 5, 2015
Posts
94
Reaction score
44
Location
Jackson, CA
Why couldn't you just use the 1" crank spacer from a slush box equipped IDI?

I know this is SOOO old and there might be newer threads on this but this is all that came up when I was searching. As for why I brought this up, I plan on replacing my zf5 in the highboy with a s6-650 zf6 and from a parts truck. I read the write up and how the guy built the custom adapter just sounds a little janky(and a lot of effort) to me. I don’t see any reason why you would do that when you could get the same effect by using the 1” flex plate spacer for the flywheel. Please if I’m missing something obvious tell me but I think I’m on the right track here. All you’re doing by removing the block spacer like the write up says is getting the input shaft 1 inch closer to the flywheel. If you just move the flywheel BACK one inch you get exactly what he was going for without anything custom.
 
Last edited:

264WSM

Full Access Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2017
Posts
112
Reaction score
25
Location
Wyotana
I thought about this but couldn't get past the speedo hurdle.
 

carsonlhammond

Full Access Member
Joined
May 5, 2015
Posts
94
Reaction score
44
Location
Jackson, CA
I thought about this but couldn't get past the speedo hurdle.

While that is quite the dilemma for you guys with trucks that have the trans or married tcase speedo drives, I have a divorced NP205 and the speedo is driven off the output of that. So for me the only big hurdle is this whole input shaft spacing issue.
 
Top