I am building a 1930 Ford Coupe with a 1950 Merc flat head and a 1967 Ford 4-speed top-loader transmission. I am in need of the 1990 SRM magazine article describing the process of removing the side mount shift linkage and installing the Jeep T176 top mount shifting assembly. Thanks for any help!
??? Doesn't fit Hamb rules? Model A with a flathead sounds pretty traditional to me, don't care what tranny it has. You might PM Classic Gary on here, he did that conversion on his Model A with a toploader 4 speed a year or two ago.
I installed a Jeep T-176 top shifter housing on a '66 Mustang toploader. Pretty straight forward install. You have to grind the case to allow the reverse fork to fit so you have to pull the trans apart so as not to get grindings inside the trans.. I used freeze plugs to block off the holes where the shifter shafts came through the case. I had the article but I think it was on my other lap top that died. I think I used Mr. Google to find it. Attached are some photos of the finished install. Sorry no photos of the actual change over.
I bought my roadster in a mockup condition with one of these conversions in it. Once completed with a shift boot on it, it looks just like a '39 toploader if you weld on the right gear stick. But it was balky to shift from 2nd to 3rd at times, and finally hung up in first gear and wouldn't come out. Took out floor insert and removed shifter to find one of the stamped sheet metal parts had failed, most like from the kind of "enthusiastic" shifting most of us do with a hot rod, and not anticipated by Tremec on a trans meant for a Jeep. Bought the parts online from a dealer in Jeep parts and fixed it. After a couple of trips to the drag strip and about a year of around town driving, things went South again. So, having another good trans on hand, I pulled that one out, put a Hurst Comp Plus shifter on the spare, installed it and haven't even looked at the other one with Jeep shifter to see what is wrong inside.
Rich, the Jeep T150 for three speeds and the T 176 for 4 speeds. Easy peasy job on both of them. Have a 3 speed in my deuce roadster and the shifter sits within 1 inch of where the original shifter came through.
Look here on the HAMB at Top-Shift Toploaders... OP was Fat Hack and also Top Loader 4 Speed in Model A and OP was threebone. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I will have to remember this since I do have a 4 speed in stock and nothing to put it in so if I do come up with a 30s car it could go in and have 4 gears and the shifter would not look out of place.
The RUG J-2 top-loader comes with the correct length input shaft for the flathead, it's a little shorter than the top loaders that came with the small block Fords.
Not sure but a complete trans from a 4 wheel drive Jeep minus the bolt on rear transfer case would be a good start to convert to a closed drive shaft. If I remember correctly there was a guy here on the Hamb that was advertising an adapter for a closed drive shaft installation but I could be mistaken. Also check with Model Engineering Company. In case anyone is interested there is a 4 speed trans with a jeep top loader shifter for sale on San Francisco Craigslist: https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/pts/d/ford-mustang-top-loader/6339746834.html Not mine nor do I have any interest or knowledge regarding this trans.
31 pickemup! I am currently converting a three speed toploader to torque tube and machining up a 5/8 adapter plate. You need to still respline the shaft and cut it down. There is a company in New Zealand that sells these adapters also, named Macs, they sell on evil bay
Here is some info that may help, I copied from some other thread. I think the guy was in Australia who had done it. There is a picture as well, but it is not being accepted for loading. PM me with an email address and I can send it to you. Russ. My 3 speed has the Jeep shifter and I converted it to go closed drive to a model A torque tube, shortened the output shaft, made a support adaptor for the clamshell. Actually, Ford did build a full-sync 3 speed with OD. In the late 70s into the 80s Ford offered a re-tasked toploader four speed with third gear converted to OD as a stop-gap. Looks just like the four speed, except it has a bulge on the passenger side of the case to clear the OD gear. A later version had internal linkage and an aluminum case (the SROD), found in light-duty applications. A common issue with both was neither would tolerate more than moderate loading in OD as that would quickly wear out the cluster gear shaft/bearings.
Machine off the extension housing to support the bearing and allow oil drain back ,,I incorporated a seal in the adaptor
Forgot this one ,,,the shaft shortened,splined and drilled ,,some shafts reduce in size here ,,mine was from a stumpy pickup trans and was thick enough to get all splined ,,
Nice work! So you are running the cut off housing , and the adapter bolted to that? Any reason why? You chose that thickness ? Johnny
Yes Johnny, the cut off housing is essential for bearing support ,,the adaptor plate I thought might take a bit of a pounding and I wanted the raised ring to help support the clam shell and the oil seal ,,would probably be ok thinner ,had to shorten the drive shaft and tube 48 mm anyway ,with my new engine (Mercruiser 3.0) I have moved everything forward and will use a standard length drive shaft and tube ,,drove it with the A motor works great ,
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