I dont want to make a bunch of waves, but I
will reiterate: the
T-4 /5 is a ticking timebomb.
I thought the exact same way at one time, that I would just keep the
T-5 because it hadn't given me any trouble to date. All it took was a simple missed shift to cause a very exensive rebuild. Ok, I thought, I'll be ok with it now that it is fresh again. It wasn't long before the true nature of it's light duty rating raied it's ugly head again...with mild offroading. Stupidly, I rebuilt it yet again and every time I drove it, I held my breath. I finally couldnt take the thought of being stranded on the road onemore time due to a weak component. At that point I upgraded for way less then a shop charges to rebuild a
T-5 .
The bottom line is if you have a bald tire, do you say "well, it's still holding air" and
hope it doesnt leave you stranded? Or do you replace it with the peace of mind that you are taking a more reliable step.
Im not advocating that you spend a ton of money, and I know you want to keep it as stock as you can. So here's the deal: I'll bet you can find someone willing to give you a
T-176 for nearly nothing. You can have your drivelines lenghtened and shortened for about $100..or pick up some stock drivelines from a
T-176 equiped CJ .And That is a good investment against finding yourself stranded on the side of the road with torched synchros and looking at a
lot of money to fix it.
This is just my opinion, been around the block a few times on this subect so hindsight to me is 20/20. But its your jeep and you have gotten a lot of valuable opinions and information on this thread. Good luck with what ever you decide
