Falcon/Ranchero 2.77 manual Transmission rebuild start-to-finish Tech!

First of all, the transmission we're talking about here is the 1960-196? Ford 3 speed, 2.77 manual transmission found in Falcons, Rancheros, and Comets. Okay dudes....it's been a damn while since i posted anything tech related, mostly because i didn't have anything to work on, but I got my chance to change that when my '62 Ranchero 3spd manual transmission recently died a miserable death. Since i have no garage, or shade tree, i had to do this outside, in the frickin' rain, with no work bench, etc....MEGA FUN! so...i did all the removal of the tranny and such outside next to my building in a gravel lot. I don't have a real creeper so i used "Kansas creeper"...cardboard boxes from a large appliance. It doubles as a creeper/absorbant and works great for sliding in and out from under the car. Now, to get the party started, i found a good donor transmission on craigslist (a local online classified forum) and had that ready to do the swap. Upon initial inspection, the donor tranny looked great but wound up having a dead hub on the shaft. the inner teath were worn out and damn near gone. On top of that, the tail shaft housing and shaft from the donor tranny were around 2+ inches shorter than the one in my truck. DOHHH! So....i realized i'd be taking the two transmissions completely apart, taking the good parts from both and the tail shaft and housing i need and making one good transmission. I lucked out and have the parts to make it work from the two trannys. All i had to get was a gasket set and some fresh gear lube. Now that we have the prelude to the story out of the way, here's what i did first:
1. chock the rear wheels on both sides, then jack the truck up in the front and get some jack stands under it to make the work scene all safe and stuff. 2. drain the transmission fluid. 3. disconnect everything going to the transmission. This includes the following: shift linkage rods from the column, speedo drive cable, and e-brake (you won't have this for safety, and this is another reason why you chock the wheels on both sides). 3.Now you're ready to drop the driveshaft. real simple...remove the two little u-bolts at the tail end of the driveshaft, slide it forward into the tranny a tad, drop the shaft rear down, and slide her out of the transmission, done. Below are some pics to show you what we've done so far. Now, in the pics, the transmission's gone already so just pretend it's still there okay?

 

Moving on...... 4. Okay, now we drop the transmission. Remove the transmission support spring from the tail shaft housing, two small bolts. Don't worry, it's not under load and won't kill you. Once you've done that, slide the spring off to the side out of the way. 5. Jack the rear of the engine up a bit with a wood block and jack at the bell housing to lift the tranny up off the transmission support. 6. Unbolt the rear transmission support on one side and swing it down so you can drop the transmission. 7. Make a platform to rest the transmission on once it comes down, or get a jack ready under it. The transmission doesn't weigh much so I just dropped it down onto my chest. You can do the same if you want to. 8. Remove the four bolts that bolt the transmission to the bell housing, starting with the bottom ones first. Leave the bottom ones in just a bit to allow the transmission to rest on them when you're ready to remove it. Now, take the top two bolts all the way out. Slowly slide the transmission away from the bell housing, remove the two lower bolts all the way out now with the transmission supported and then bring it down and out.

 

Now the transmission's out. store the drive shaft in a dry place and cover up the input end with a rag or plastic bag to keep it nice. I don't have a garage, so my kitchen served as the rebuild area. Thank God I have dark brown linoleum in the kitchen, plenty of room, and no wife to deal with, otherwise this wouldn't be cool. I have a little fold out table thingy from my sink that i attach when needed, and that's what i used as a work bench. Now, time to dissassemble these bad Larrys.
Okay here we go: 9. remove the output shaft housing, and be carefull not to let the output shaft come out with the housing or your needle bearings will fall out and that sucks. Put the housing aside. 10. Remove the speedo drive gear snap ring and slide off the gear. (My speedo drive gear was shot on mine and so i pirated the drive gear off the good one, and gained a working speedometer which i didn't have before, yeah!) 11. Remove the little piece of flat rectangular metal that holds both the shafts in place from the rear of the transmission. 12. Press the idler gear shaft out of the transmission, and lower the cluster gear to the bottom of the tranny case. Kind of hard to do 'cause you can't get your hands inside there yet, so just try to not let it drop to the bottom hard. 13. Now, remove the input shaft housing/retainer, and slide the input shaft out of the transmission. 14. Remove the synchronizer snap ring near the snoot of the output shaft, and then while holding the whole synchro assembly together, slide the the output shaft out and away from the assembly. Now, put the assembly down together out of the way. Remove the shifter forks from the case. 15. Remove the reverse idler shaft from the transmission. I don't have special tools, so i used a steel clamp and a small long socket to press the shaft out. works great and doesn't hurt anything. Now, that's as far as i needed to go with the dissassembly. Below are pics of the disassembly, how it came out, and detail pics. I will try to post them in order of my steps above.....bear with me.

 

Okay...now here are a few shots of my work area- this should encourage any of you who are garage-less. It don't mean you can't work on cars!! Plus, I live on the 2nd story of my building!

 

Great tech! Dont have the three speed but if I get one this will come in handy.

Thanks

 

Now...let's see what i found to be the culprit in my transmission's death......(as a note: i bought this Ranchero cheap, and it had been neglected for decades. Expect that when you buy an old car, shit like this has been brewing for a long time, and it may all come apart on YOU...lol! This is directed more at the younger guys who are new to the wonderful world of old cars and wrenching, who might think that a cheap old car will be problem free for a while...think again! hahaha!)
So.....i found the brass sychro ring (blocking ring) to be missing teeth, and missing 1/8" chunk from the ring. Also the low/reverse gear had significant wear. The Hub had only one insert remaining. the other two, as well as the brass synchro chunk had been ground up into fine metallic dust over a long period of time.The frickin' tranny oil looked like metallic copper One-Shot paint lol! It's amazing the transmission worked at all when i bought the truck, and it explains the feel of the shifting from day one since i've owned it. Check it out.....
I also included a couple of pics of the transmissions, broke down to show how small they are. The thumbs down is the old tranny, thumbs up, the new one. And that's me in the "Von Drunk" hat(courtesy of our own Abe Lugo) after i'm done and ready to reassemble. Hope you all enjoyed this as much as i didn't lol

oh yeah... this new transmission will be a floor-shift rather than a column 3- on the tree. My shift column/collar and whole mess is tired and i scored the vintage Hurst setup with the tranny i picked up and it's way better feeling. I'll have to cut a hole in the tranny hump/floor of the Ranchero to put it in, but that's okay. I included a couple of pics of the new/old setup for you to gawk at.

 

Cool man, thanks! I realize what i could have done better for the tech post, and will make a better one on the next go round.

 

The old one is a 2.77 and so is the donor, the only difference is the donor had a shorter output shaft and housing. All the guts are the same, same tooth count, etc. etc. i was told the short housing 2.77 might have come from a comet or falcon coupe or sedan, just not a ranchero. It'll all work fine. re: the hump, it would be overkill for clearance i'd think but it would work fine. the Hurst kit i have will only require a hole cut into the floor. I saw it in the '61 Ranchero it was in before the guy pulled it and i got it. That's the only thing that has me boggled....the short shaft on the donor tranny and it came from a Ranchero? maybe the guy swapped drive shafts at one point or something and had to have the shorter housing? Only Ford knows the answer.....
What i wonder is why didn't the Falcons come with an overdrive to spare us all from our 3spd non synchro 1rst gear grief? lol

Oh...here's a picture to show the tail shaft and housing length differences side by side....The shorty was from the donor, the long guy is the one i'm using. the housing looks so much bigger 'cause of the frame mount on it, and linkage, but it bolts right up. also the tail looks bigger in diam. but it's not. The long guy appears to be from a later transmission, as it's drilled to fit more than just my 2.77 box. maybe it fits behind a 4spd or toploader?

 

Farmer... bitchen tech dude... thanks for posting it man

for the newbies out there... THIS is what the HAMB is about

 

thanks man! at least it's what the HAMB USED to be about.....after a couple of hours it was on page 4......my stupid post about dumb gas station names got more interest than this lol....go figure....but i don't feel too bad, most of the best tech posts get buried on here by posts that are totally useless. I still love the Hamb though, despite it's Starbucks popularity now

 

you mean Dangle-hiemer? lol

 

Nice Tech dude!!! lots of falcon/ranchero/comet guys on this board, me being one of them!!

 

Great tech, Farmer!

If I can make one safety caution, though. I've never seen them fail, but as long as I've ever fooled with old cars, I've heard people warn about using those three legged split pipe jack stands that you have. (O.K., they are better than cinder blocks ) All the ones that I use are four leg welded dudes.

Later,

 

i'd like to nominate this for the Tech Archive,good work Farmer

 

Farmer, this was so good I had to post a link on FordSix.com. Hope nobody minds.

 

man, thanks Yorgatron- and mustangsix! I don't mind at all if you post it elsewhere, hell if it helps anyone at all, that's why i did it

 

my gasket set came in the mail today so now i get to put the tranny back in the Ranchero! yeah!

 

Great tech article and photos! I never remember to take photos until I'm finished. Good job!

 

Great article, this will come in handy when I have the time to rebuild my transmission.

You wouldn't happen to still have the extension housing from the donor transmission around, would you? I know that I have come across this thread quite a while since it was started, but gotta try, right?

 

Thanks for the post! This is exactly what I was looking for. Its a hell of a lot easier (and lighter) than a C-6.

I just bought a little 61 Falcon to make a daily driver. I grew up riding in many Falcons as a kid, those were the days. We were never stranded once. In the 70s my dad switched to Pintos, but that's another story...

EDIT: BTW, Rockauto lists an incorrect output shaft seal. National 470059 is definitely not for the 2.77 manual trans. Try National PN 7495S which is correct and crosses to Ford PN C0DR-7052-A

 

thanks 41fordor!

 

Hey Farmer, Nice tech. I'm rebuilding my 2.77 right now.

I want to know what rear seal part # you used. You can remember back a few years right?? LOL

My latest attempt was a Federal Mogul #470059. But this, along with others, is too big [2.380"] and needs to be 2.253",

I sure hope you check this dusty thread, and throw me a bone.

Thanks.

PS your PAD looks sweet! Lots of old school cool in that place I can tell.

 

I do believe it was a federal mogul bearing but the size....i cannot recall. Im sorry i couldnt help more

 

Hey Farmer.. I don't recall a warning about the bearings falling out of the countershaft when it's dropped. Just busting chops! Great thread. Mines almost back on the road. Did your gear teeth have significant wear on the first/reverse cog? Mine has me wondering.

 

My auto shop teacher taught us to cut a wooden dowel the length of the inside of the case,slide it in and push out the metal shaft,this holds the bearings in place and lets you remove the cluster and install the cluster.

 

How bad are these to drive with a non synchro first gear ?

 

I have a 65 Ranchero, 289, 3 speed manual (I assume it has a 2.77). I added a Hurst floor shifter. My problem is that the internal speedo gear is worn and so I have no speedometer. Can I remove the tail shaft housing with the transmission installed so I can replace the speedo gear? I do not want to remove the entire trans nor do I want to remove the shifter mechanism but I don't know if the tail shaft will slide out with the shifter installed.

 

You have a 3.03.

 

Fudster, if the "drive" gear is shot there may be chunks of it inside the transmission. Others may disagree, but I think it might be best to pull the tranny out to do the repair and clean up. And yes, I believe you have the 3.03 transmission.
-Dave

 

Dave, thanks for your quick answer and yes, I agree I believe it is a 3.03 toploader. I can see the "drive" gear through the hole where the speedo cable is installed. It is white nylon and the middle of the gear is concave indicating wear. I have no problems with it other than speedometer doesn't work and really don't want to pull the tranny out unless I have to pull the engine for some other reason then will pull it out as an assembly. Reading between the lines of your reply, it may not be feasible to just attempt to pull out the tail shaft. If I attempt to take the tail shaft housing off while installed on the vehicle and for some reason I can't get it off, I will really have a problem and then will have to pull the engine/trans assy which I don't want to do right now. Right now i just have to use my GPS as a speedometer and i can live with that until i have to pull the assy out. Thanks for your help.