A local guy that does bench rebuilds in town recommended that Steve
find a good runner over a core even though the transmission would need
to be rebuilt. The thinking is that if any major parts are damaged in
a core, the cost of new parts will far exceed the cost of a good
runner. Steve purchased a running T-18, but the shift lever was
missing. It seems that the shift levers and the input bearing
retainers are some of the most commonly damaged parts on Ford T-18s
and this one was slightly canabilized.
Most Ford T-18 conversion kits I've seen replace the main shaft and
the tail housing of the transmission, so when you searching for a Ford
T-18 to swap into a CJ with a Dana 300, it is best to get the 2WD
version. The 2WD versions are generally cheaper than the 4WD versions
and the adapter kit bolts right on the 2WD version where the 4WD
version may need to have holes tapped in the case.
Ford T-18 bolted to AMC bell
housing with adapter for Dana 300
Steve dropped off his Ford T-18 and a conversion kit from Advanced
Adapters at a for a bench rebuild. Bench rebuilds are fairly
inexpensive, normally $150-$200 plus parts. New bearings were put in
this transmission and a synchro was replaced. It is well worth to
replace any questionable parts at this time.
Advanced Adapters makes a special pilot bushing for the conversion
that is AMC on the outside and Ford on the inside. It is not part of
the Ford T-18 conversion kit, so you will need to order it separtely.
You can make you own pilot bushing by taking a stardard Ford pilot
bushing and turning down the outside to the size of the outer large
hole in the crank shaft. I've had one custom made at a clutch shop
local, but there was no cost savings over the Advanced Adapters
bushing.
A standard pressure plate can be used for the conversion, you may
want to keep your old one if it is fairly new. Since pulling a
transmission is very time consuming, a new pressure plate is a good
idea if you haven't put in a new one in a while.
The Jeep T-150, T-18, T-176, SR-4, T-4, and T-5 all use a 1 1/8" 10
spline input shaft and the Ford T-18 uses a 1 1/16" 10 spline input
shaft. Your old clutch disk will not fit snuggly on the Ford input
shaft, so you will need to purchase a new disk. The disk can be a
regular 10 1/2" Ford disk (or 11" if you have an 11" clutch). The
Centerforce clutch disk #384180 is a 10 1/2" clutch that will fit the
Ford transmission.
Ford T-18 front view. Ford T-18s have a slightly different bolt
pattern than most Jeep T-18s. The drivers side lower bolt is lower
on the Ford version. The Ford pattern matches the T-150 and T-176.
The bell housing bolt pattern for the Ford T-18 is exactly the same as
the T-150 and the T-176 transmissions. The Jeep T-18 has one bolt hole
different, the bolt near the clutch fork is higher on the Jeep
version. The SR-4, T-4, and T-5 use a different bolt pattern.
Steve's Jeep had the bell housing that went with the T-5, so the
holes didn't line up quite right. If you drill carefully, a drill
press would help here, you can drill out the bolt pattern for the Ford
T-18 on one of these bell housings. The transmission can be tilted a
bit to the left or right, alignment on that plane is not critical. We
were trying to drill out the holes with a hand drill and messed up one
of the holes, so Steve purchased a used bell housing for $30 with the
proper bolt pattern. If you are going to drill the holes, make sure
you have the right size bit for the tap you are going to use to thread
them.
80s CJ-7 skid plate
modification to fit Ford T-18
Minor modifications are required to the skid plate to fit the larger
T-18. A notch needs to be cut in the leading edge of the skid plate to
allow room for the drain plug in the bottom of the T-18. The picture
on the left shows the modified skid plate with notch cut out. The
notch was cut with a regular circular hand saw with metal cutting
blade.
Modification to the stock CJ
mount bracket for T-18 installation.
On the transmission mount, Advanced Adapters supplies a aluminum
spacer block to mate the bolt holes in the bottom of the transmission
to transfer case adapter to the transmission mount. This spacer block
forces the transmission very close to the tub and causes a minor drive
shaft vibration with a 2 1/2" spring lift. Dropping the skid plate
would resolve the problem, but at the cost of ground clearance.
In order to set up the transmission mount with out losing ground
clearance, the transmission mount must be modified. It is easier to
take care of this before you install the transmission.
- Toss the spacer block in your scrap metal pile.
- Bolt the torque arm directly to the transmission to transfer
case adapter directly with the bolt hole on the drivers side (fig.
1, item D) and the limiting donut to the drivers side.
- Mark and drill the torque arm for the other hole (fig. 1, item
B) into the transmission to transfer case adapter. Bolt the torque
arm with both bolts to the transmission to transfer case adapter.
- Drill and tap the transmission to transfer case adapter for the
hole in the torque arm that falls between the two holes (fig. 1,
item C) that bolt into the adapter. This hole should be either for a
1/2" or 7/16" bolt. The transmission mount will bolt through the
torque arm into the transfer case adapter.
- Cut a small notch out of the middle of the transmission mount
with a circular hand saw (fig 1, item E). The notch needs to be
large enough for the head of the bolt.
- The passenget side bolt hole for the transmission mount remains
unchanged (fig. 1, item A).
If you are swapping in a Ford T-18 for a T-176 or T-150, the rear
drive shaft may need to be shortened and the front drive shaft may
need to be lengthed since the overall length of the Ford T-18 and
adapter is longer than the T-176. If you have an SR-4, T-4, or T-5, no
drive shaft modifications are required for the swap if you use the
Advanced Adapters kit.
Ford T-18 in a CJ-7 from in the cab
The shift lever for the Ford T-18 is in the same place as the shift
lever for the T-176 and T-150, but is several inches forward of the
shift lever for the T-5, T-4, and SR-4. For these transmissions, a
hole must be cut in the tunnel cover for the T-18 shift lever and the
old hole should be covered with sheet metal. If you have carpeting
over the tunnel, you'll end up with an extra hole in that as well. A
new boot is necessary, especially if you have the integrated
transmission and transfer case boot.
Depending on the source of you Ford T-18, you might need to heat
and bend the shift lever so it clears your console and dash. The T-18
in Steve's Jeep is from a '83 Ford pickup and it did not need any
bending. My Ford T-18 is also out of an '82 F-250 and the lever is
snug on console. I've had my T-18 pop out of reverse a couple of times
when there is a lot of flex, but it normally doesn't happen.
If you have a T-5, T-4, or SR-4, the position of the transfer case is
nearly unchanged. No modifications are necessary to the transfer case
linkage or the hole in the tunnel cover. Modifications may be
necessary to the tunnel cover when you are swapping out a T-176 or
T-150 because the transfer case lever will be repositioned slightly.
Most Ford T-18s I've seen come with a little pop-up breather. While
the transmission on the floor, it would be a good time to remove the
pop-up breather, remove the transmission top cover, and thread the
hole with a tap. A short barbed fitting can be installed to run a long
breather hose somewhere high. The hose can be tied into the transfer
case breather if your original transmission didn't have a breather
hose.
The easiest thing to do with the backup switch is cut the other end of
the plug out of the donor and splice it in. There aren't many styles
of backup switch, so your old plug may work with the Ford T-18. The
switch from you old transmission might even work in the Ford T-18.
None of those options worked for me, so I spliced in a 2 wire plug and
put soldered the wires to the Ford T-18 switch. After soldering the
wires on the switch, I filled it with RTV to keep it water proof.
You'll find a significant difference between the weight of the Ford
T-18 and your originally transmission. The transmissions used in 80s
Jeeps all have aluminum cases and weigh about 80 pounds or so. The
Ford T-18 weighs closer to 150 pounds dry. A good transmission jack
will help a great deal for installation.
Back view of T-18 converted for Dana 300
Side view of T-18 converted for Dana 300
Ford T-18 front view. Ford T-18s have a slightly different bolt
pattern than most Jeep T-18s. The drivers side lower bolt is lower
on the Ford version. The Ford pattern matches the T-150 and T-176.
Most of the problems with Steve's Ford T-18 swap were not directly
related to the swap itself. One big problem we had was Steve didn't
have a shift lever right off. This wasn't really much of a problem,
but we hadn't run the transmission through the gears until we had it
completely installed. It turned out one of the dogs popped off
somewhere along the way and we had to pull the entire thing and take
it back to the transmission guy. Shift your transmission through the
gears before you install it! The other problem we had was Steve
chunked a rear bearing on the test drive, completely unrelated, but it
meant Steves Jeep sat in my garage for an extra week or so.
The payoff in the end was big. The truck crawls much better and it
doesn't leak trans fluid on steep climbs like the T-5 tends to. Steves
crawl ratio went from 3.31*2.62*4.03 = 34.94:1 to 3.31*2.62*6.32 =
54.79:1. Reliability of the transmission is also greatly improved with
the heavy cast iron case and larger gears.
Thanks to Jeepin Joe Heinrich for the 2WD Ford T-18 picture. Thanks to
Predator 4 Wheel Drive for allowing some of the converted Ford T-18
pictures.
