I did this swap years ago to put a Ford
T-18 into a CJ that had a
T-5 in it. Since the
T-18 with adapters is as long as the
T-5 the drive shafts don't need to be modified or replaced. This puts the
T-18 where the
T-5 was. At the bottom of the
T-18 where the drain plug is the
T-18 extends down farther than the
T-5 did. You just have to cut a notch out of the skid plate. The notch has to extend about 2 inches into the skid plate and it should be at least 3 inches wide. If you do this last it's easy to see what has to be cut. Just put the skid plate up under the jeep and you'll see what needs to get cut.
IO is right, it is nice to drill the bellhousing with a drill press. When I did this I had access to a drill press but I couldn't get the bellhousing under the press. I did it by hand and didn't have a problem. I laid the bellhousing on the ground. I put the
T-18 on top of the bellhousing so the output shaft of the
T-18 was facing up.
Then it's easy to see where you have to drill. I marked the bellhousing and removed the
T-18 . I drilled and tapped the bellhousing. I didn't use helicoils but that's a very good idea whenever you tap aluminum. But the OEM bellhousings don't have helicoils. Just tapped aluminum.
I found a of link regarding this swap. This guy also tried to drill the bellhousing with a hand drill. He messed up one of the holes and had to buy another used bellhousing.
Ford T-18 swap into a CJ
The
T-18 is
HEAVY!
The
T-5 I took out was 65 pounds. The
T-18 I put in was
AMC 150 pounds. Almost 100 pounds more.
First bolt up the
T-18 and then bolt up the TCase separately.