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Transmission advice

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Transmission advice
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Montanaphilly

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So here's my deal , I have a postal jeep that I'm doing a 4x4 conversion on , I have a Dana 30 passenger side axle installed , now comes the Transfer Case , I have a 727 torqueflite 2wd , I would need an adapter and longer main shaft to do the conversion , but by that were talking a whole tear down(rebuild) I don't do too much deep Transmission work , so I'm looking at about 1000$+ to do this,
PLUS buying a Transfer Case ,which is well, more money.....im short on money ... seems to me I can buy a Transmission and x case that's used and working for less, not to mention put together

My question is what other options do I have ?, I am open minded to any manual/ auto Transmission with a passenger side drop x case, the motor is a AMC 232 i6

Thanks
 
Kind of sounds like you are heading toward a basic CJ5 drive line. The CJ's of that period used T-14 and T-15 3 speed transmissions, and Dana 20 transfer cases. You may even want to consider a T-18 4 speed which is available with a 6.32 granny low depending on what you want to use the Jeep for. If you ever want to put lower gears into the Transfer Case , stay away from the T-14 . It has a different input shaft spline count, and is not compatible with the low gear kits. Can't help you much with automatics.
 
Thankyou , looks like I need to just find a beat up cj and strip the goodies, seems I would get the most for the money, + some extra stuff,
Just would need to figure out a clutch pedal , shouldn't be to hard , maybe a universal setup,

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Montanaphilly said:
Thankyou , looks like I need to just find a beat up cj and strip the goodies, seems I would get the most for the money, + some extra stuff,
Just would need to figure out a clutch pedal , shouldn't be to hard , maybe a universal setup,

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Click to expand...

Either that or one that's being parted out. Assuming the AMC 232 i6 is the AMC I6, then you can use almost any 72+ CJ Transmission /tcase combo that was behind an AMC engine. The T-150 /Dana 20 combo from a 76-79 CJ would work and are plentiful, cheap, and fairly strong. Also, very short, which is nice for a '5. The T18s are great transmissions, but hard to find, and usually pretty expensive, especially with the 6.32 1st gear. IMO, the best factory setup for most situations is the T-176 /Dana 300 combo used in the 80s. It's a medium duty 4 speed with decent gearing and the Dana 300 is a great Transfer Case with better gearing than the Dana 20 .

2 different automatics were used in CJs, but I believe they would both be too long for a '5.


What are you wanting to do with the jeep? What tire size, and what axle ratios?
 
jp360cj said:
Either that or one that's being parted out. Assuming the AMC 232 i6 is the AMC I6, then you can use almost any 72+ CJ Transmission /tcase combo that was behind an AMC engine. The T-150 /Dana 20 combo from a 76-79 CJ would work and are plentiful, cheap, and fairly strong. Also, very short, which is nice for a '5. The T18s are great transmissions, but hard to find, and usually pretty expensive, especially with the 6.32 1st gear. IMO, the best factory setup for most situations is the T-176 /Dana 300 combo used in the 80s. It's a medium duty 4 speed with decent gearing and the Dana 300 is a great Transfer Case with better gearing than the Dana 20 .

2 different automatics were used in CJs, but I believe they would both be too long for a '5.


What are you wanting to do with the jeep? What tire size, and what axle ratios?
Click to expand...

So how do I determine if my AMC 232 i6 is amc or jeep? Its in a 1975 postal , so those 1975 jeep years vary, And I have 4.10 gears (just in the rear for now), 33x12.5s with the 3 speed auto... which is just ok ,was going to go with 4.56s but with no Overdrive I didn't want to do that , mostly highways around here , so going at least 55mph is what i was going for looking to cruise around in the creek , and I'm in the high desert of southern California , mostly local trails , moderate rocks, not rock crawling per say, so a medium duty setup would be sufficient , would be nice to have a good low range because it dogs up hills if I don't stay on the gas,

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Montanaphilly said:
So how do I determine if my AMC 232 i6 is amc or jeep? Its in a 1975 postal , so those 1975 jeep years vary, And I have 4.10 gears (just in the rear for now), 33x12.5s with the 3 speed auto... which is just ok ,was going to go with 4.56s but with no Overdrive I didn't want to do that , mostly highways around here , so going at least 55mph is what i was going for looking to cruise around in the creek , and I'm in the high desert of southern California , mostly local trails , moderate rocks, not rock crawling per say, so a medium duty setup would be sufficient , would be nice to have a good low range because it dogs up hills if I don't stay on the gas,

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The AMC motor is the Jeep motor. Didn't know what year DJ you had and just wanted to verify which motor is was (There was also a 231 Dauntless Buick 225 V6 used in earlier Jeeps.)

I think the T-176 would serve you best. If you aren't lifted more than 4", you can probably use the front driveshaft from the CJ too. Almost all CJs have a simple mechanical clutch that shouldn't be hard to swap into. Though I think you'll also need the brake pedal from the manual CJ.

You can check out Novak-adapt.com for good info on different Jeep transmissions. And Gear Ratio Calculator for a gear ratio calculator that will give you crawl ratios, crawl speed, and highway rpm/speed of different combos
 
I have a 4" lift in the front , next is the back , so i think i should clear drive shafts , and thanks , this has been a big help ,

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Montanaphilly said:
I have a 4" lift in the front , next is the back , so i think i should clear drive shafts , and thanks , this has been a big help ,

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Oh I see what you meant , the length! I figure I'm going to have to have some custom shafts anyways , I figure I'll just worry about that when I get there, .....just 1 more dollar , that's what I tell myself

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Unless I am missing something here, enough lift to successfully clear 33's and the short wheelbase of a DJ + auto Transmission is going to result in a rear driveshaft that is about 6" long (Ok, maybe not THAT short, but still...)and runs at a 45* angle. There is a reason you don't usually see autos in a CJ5 , because unless you do something like moving the axle rearward, moving the powertrain forward, etc. they don't fit very well. The DJ also has the wheelbase of the EARLY CJ5 so its even shorter than the 1972-1983 CJ5 's. One of the issues you may have with a manual Transmission is that if the jeep is still right drive, the clutch linkage will be on the wrong side, although there may be parts available to address that.

This is not to say it can't be done, but running an auto in a LIFTED short wheelbase jeep is tough. I see an axle rotation and CV rear driveshaft in you future.
 
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PistolDave said:
Unless I am missing something here, enough lift to successfully clear 33's and the short wheelbase of a DJ + auto Transmission is going to result in a rear driveshaft that is about 6" long and runs at a 45* angle. There is a reason you don't usually see autos in a CJ5 , because unless you do something like moving the axle rearward, moving the powertrain forward, etc. they don't fit very well. The DJ also has the wheelbase of the EARLY CJ5 so its even shorter than the 1972-1983 CJ5 's. One of the issues you may have with a manual Transmission is that if the jeep is still right drive, the clutch linkage will be on the wrong side, although there may be parts available to address that.
Click to expand...
As far as the auto fitment , you're spot on , I already only have a 1 foot drive shaft.... As far as linkage , I was thinking a universal hydraulic type master and slave cylinder, and I clear 33s just fine after trimming all the excess fender I could

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Posi said:
Just to clarify, the 65-71 CJ5 came with a 225 Dauntless Buick 225 V6 , however, the 231 was used as a swap-in.

I wouldn't go with an auto in a 5, but if there was a need the shortest would be a 350 mated to the AMC 232 i6 engine.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the correction.

Montanaphilly said:
Are you talking about the gm 350 Transmission ?

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Yes, I believe he is talking about a TH350 Transmission .

I wasn't even thinking about the DJ being right hand drive. That will definitely complicate the clutch situation, and hydraulic will probably be the easiest solution.
 
Yes, the th350.
 
After wrench'n on CJ's for many decades, I say this.........
Don't waste your time & $$$$$ on trying to put an auto Transmission in a '5'.
Think abut this--AMC never did :notworthy:
LG
 
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