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Manual or hydraulic clutch

Manual or hydraulic clutch

86jpcj7

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1986 jeep cj7 with a 258 4.2 bored 30 over. 4 inch suspension lift and 1 inch body lift. When completely done it will be camo wrapped and have bumpers,winch,33s or 35s,a double outlet header and performance carbeurator.
I am switching my automatic CJ7 to a standard but I have a few questions. First are all clutch pedal assembly's the same for my model? Second do you need certain bell housings or anything with a hydraulic or manual clutch or does it not matter? I'm just curious about the manual and hydraulic clutches. Please help and thank you.
 
In my opinion the oem style CJ clutch linkage leaves a lot to be desired, I would say keep the auto. The later model clutch linkage is all the same for the AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l .
 
I have a manual a recently upgraded the linkage to all heim joints and it is a huge improvement. I bought a kit but you can also make your own.


Wooly
 
I am switching my automatic CJ7 to a standard but I have a few questions. First are all clutch pedal assembly's the same for my model? Second do you need certain bell housings or anything with a hydraulic or manual clutch or does it not matter? I'm just curious about the manual and hydraulic clutches. Please help and thank you.

Well I think the first question that needs to be answered is what tranny are you going to? There are a bazillion manual Transmission choices out there.

There are kits available to replace the manual linkages for the stock cj trannies, I would say hydraulic over manual any day.
 
I'm going with a T-4
 
Have you confirmed that your crankshaft is in fact drilled for a pilot bearing?
Why do you want to dump the auto?:confused:
X2 on a T-176 /T-177 over the T-4 !
What R&P ratio are you running, and what tire size??
BEFORE you do anydangthing-Call these guys.
The Novak Conversions Transmission Information Gateway

Oh-I don't like hydo clutches at all.

LG
 
I have a 3.54 gear ratio and I'm dumping the auto cause I've had it rebuilt several times and I keep having problems. And yes my crankshaft is drilled for a pilot bearing. And the only reason I'm going with the T-4 is because it's made by Borg Warner. How many gears does the T-176 have?
 
I have a 3.54 gear ratio and I'm dumping the auto cause I've had it rebuilt several times and I keep having problems. And yes my crankshaft is drilled for a pilot bearing. And the only reason I'm going with the T-4 is because it's made by Borg Warner. How many gears does the T-176 have?

T-176 has 4 gears and will make your jeep ride like a dump truck. The T-4 /T-5 do not have a good reputation for longevity.

What's the intended use of the cj? If it sees a lot of street then I'd recommend an ax15 or nv3550. If it goes mostly off-road and you need something strong a t 176 is a good option but there are other natively compatible options as well.
 
The SR4 , T-4 and T-5 are all related and can be considered to be the runts of the jeep line. A line that should be kicked out of the jeep family a quickly as is possible. I had an SR4 back in the 1980's and even back then the Transmission shops would not work on them. Consider your self warned.

By the way, exactly what is wrong with a jeep driving like a jeep, it is and never was intended to be a luxury car. It's made to work and there isn't any shame in that.
 
I have a 3.54 gear ratio and I'm dumping the auto cause I've had it rebuilt several times and I keep having problems. And yes my crankshaft is drilled for a pilot bearing. And the only reason I'm going with the T-4 is because it's made by Borg Warner. How many gears does the T-176 have?

Are you totally sold on the idea of a manual? There are a lot of good automatic transmissions on the market. My CJ7 has a GM Turbo 400 which was the work horse of Chevy for many years in trucks and other vehicles. Mine is the true Chevy housing, but I also have a spare in the Jeep configuration. The QuadraTrac Transfer Case is a good case IMHO, but I'd love to have a Dana 300 . Is that what is in yours? A good adapter could mate that to a GM Turbo 400 . Besides the adapter, you would most likely need a new drive shaft as I believe the TF999 is slightly smaller than the GM Turbo 400 . But, you're going to do that anyway with a change to a manual Transmission . Rod
 
T-176 has 4 gears and will make your jeep ride like a dump truck. The T-4 /T-5 do not have a good reputation for longevity.

What's the intended use of the cj? If it sees a lot of street then I'd recommend an ax15 or nv3550. If it goes mostly off-road and you need something strong a t 176 is a good option but there are other natively compatible options as well.


On my 2nd T-5 in 30 years.:D
They work fine, if you don't over load'em with torque like run'n 3 something to 1 R&P with 33" tires.
OP--just cause BW built it-Doesn't mean it's the BEST of choice.;)
LG
 
By the way, exactly what is wrong with a jeep driving like a jeep, it is and never was intended to be a luxury car. It's made to work and there isn't any shame in that.

I didn't say it drives like a jeep I said it drives like a dump truck.:D

And it entirely depends on the intended use of the cj.
 
After numerous times of losing the mechanical linkage, which was maintained with new bell crank bushings and heim joints I went hydraulic. The bell crank would pop off on rough trails at the worst time. Haven't had any issues since.

Used early 90 Jeep parts and silicone fluid.

Several articles on the Web on how to swap with details about re-drilling the clutch pedal for a linkage pin.
 
ThisGuyUKnow - I happen to like a nice sporty dump truck .... :)

Seriously though, many times it is written that a T-18 (for instance) makes your jeep run like a truck. Yeah, the T-18 has a long throw, big deal a CJ is not a sports car if a sporty car like ride is what you need there are plenty of Wranglers out there to choose from. When you have a Wrangler you can choose the right fluffy seats and get your carpet in about any flavor and open about any 4x4 catalog and buy all the add on parts your heart could desire. But as has happened many times in the past, I digress......

I've had both the hydraulic and mechanical linkage. Both worked as advertised. Honestly I had more trouble with the hydraulic linkage where the seals leaked and had to be replaced. With that being said, I don't bend and twist my jeep very much so I haven't lost the linkage connection yet. I also cheat a little. My linkage is held together with springs. The factory set-up is still in place, but I've added helper springs to keep the moving parts safely in their pockets.
 
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I second a hydraulic clutch and a T-176 /177.

Had a T-5 and it was alright but I love my 177 so much more. I LOVE dump trucks...especially Tonka's. Didn't every boy as a kid? (if LG had driven one for 50+ years like his babied T-5 , then he'd be bragging them up more :poke:)

If you happen to look for a 176/177 make sure you grab the numbers for each. as several of us have found, sellers think they have a 176 but in reality it's a 177 which has slightly lower gears and more inline with the T-4 /5 range.
 
I'm using a T-150 bellhousing on my t177. The slave cylinder for the hydraulic clutch bolts up perfectly to the T-150 bellhousing even though the T-150 bellhousing was designed for a manual clutch. One bolt hole for the slave cylinder isn't threaded though so you need to use a longer bolt and a nut.

The T-176 /177 have good road manners and tighter shifts than a T-18 . Not like a sports car though but, not like a dump truck either.
 
For what it's worth, Ive had all the mentioned transmissions except the T-18 .
I prefer the T-5 and I Know I'm in a small group who do. Here's my quick run down of each.
SR4 (4 speed) horrible IMO, reverse is in a bad spot, sloppy shifts, felt weak, roller bearing design
T-176 : (4 speed)little longer on the throws, shifted like an older truck, 1 to 3 is too tall (depending on your axle gears), noisy input bearing problem is common.
T-177: (4 speed)better gearing allows me to but up with the longer shifts and loose feeling shifter. Still only a 4 speed so axle gears need to match tires for 1 to 1 final ratio at highway speeds, etc. Iron case in T-176 /177 and stronger overall units than the aluminum units.
T-5 : (5 speed)spring loaded shifter returns to center and feels better than the T-176 /177, Has lower gearing than others 1 through 3rd. Overdrive is great (if axle gears and tire height match)
T-4 : (4 speed) same as T-5 without 5th. Both the T-4 and T-5 are not very tolerant to the extra leverage it sees when the axle gears are too tall for the tire size. 3rd gear can blow and they cost more to rebuilt (if broken gears) than to replace. aluminum case. easy to rebuild (well easier than the ax5 and 15).

That said, I use my CJ8 for a little of everything right now. It goes 75mph down the interstate to off road parks and crawls rocky trails when I get there. I drive nice and slow some days and like I stole it on others. The T-5 works great for me.

In stock form the manual clutch linkage works fine. The CJ era Transmission units/ bellhousings are set up for it.
IF upgrading to the NV3550 or AX15 as alot of folks do, I would go hydo as those bellhousing are set up for it and the throw ratio and leverage is stock and correct. Sure, a seal can go out or whatever, but there are a zillion wranglers out there running them just fine. IF you go hydro, swap the pedal too and all will match and work better with less mods.

Note: T-150 , T-14 , and T-15 are older 3 speeds in front of the Dana 20 t case.
 
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:) "Sure, a seal can go out or whatever, but there are a zillion wranglers out there running them"

And that my friends is reason enough not to use one. :) Yes, I know that is stupid reasoning.
 

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