Transmission/transfer case question...

Browsing though an internet site, I seen a guy wanting to sell his T18 with 4.02 first gear & Dana 20 transfer case for $200...it supposedly came out of a 73 Jeep commando with a 258 engine...My 66 has a V6 with overdrive & 3 speed...it has 3-73 gearing on the axles (I think) it's really high geared...anyway, the only thing I don't really like about the high gearing is it seems a little fast when in low range...I really have no intention of ever getting into rock crawling & am wondering if this tranny/transfer case might give me a little better gearing for rough forest service roads/trails...

How difficult would it be to adapt this into my old CJ5?

 

IMO there's not much here for you. The Dana 20 won't work with your offset rear axle. You can bolt the T-18 to your Dana 18 with a change of output gear. You'll need the Dana 18 gear with 6 splines, to match the T-18 (your 3-speed has 10 splines). Then, the front of the transmission won't fit your V6 without modification. There is no easy way to adapt the close-ratio (4.02 1st) to the V6 engine. You could make a plate adapter to go between the Buick bell and the T-18, or there are very few V6/T-18 1971 CJs out there whose input shaft and bell and adapter would work. But you'd separate those parts from the V6 T-18 and junk the rest, so that's unlikely.

You could take the output shaft and transfer case adapter from the Jeep transmission, and install that in a Ford truck T-18 - this would be pretty easy to adapt to a V6 (instructions on the Novak site). This requires some minor machining - drilling holes and filling them in - but it can be done. But it does not make use of much of what's being sold here.

 

It would be so much simpler to get new gears for your axles.
Only issue I am aware of, but do not know the details, the carrier for the ring and pinion may not work with gears that will get you where you want to go. there are 2 carriers, one for the high gears and another for the low gears.
I chose to change the gears in the dana 18 transfer case, went from 2.46 to 3.6, and I like it. $2K and change with over drive, but soooooooo much simpler to get into the 1970 dana 18, large bore than a transmission swap.

 

OD with 3.73's?? That would be great for the Bonneville salt flats, and not much else.
Find some 4.88 axles, and you'll have a whole different Jeep.

 

Thanks guys...it runs pretty sweet on the flat freeways here in the valley...back in 65-68??? My dad bought a brand new CJ5 with the V6 & overdrive...it was my all time favorite of the jeeps he had. Unfortunately he's no loner around & I have no idea what gearing he had in it. I've had several intermediate CJ's two with inline 6's & one with a 304. I never worked on them much but the gear ratios on all of them were pretty close & near perfect for the kind of driving I do both on & off road.

The axle idea is probably my best bet...

 

Hey Middlefork,
Take a look at this from CL...
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/pts/3791804153.html

I also really like 4.88 axles with a V6.

Don

 

Thanks Don... Right now, I'm out of extra cash because I picked up a nice Troybilt tiller last week & work suddenly slowed down, but I might have something I could tempt him with...

I could live with what I've got (at least for a while)....but the sooner I can get things done that need doing, the happier I'll be... thanks again for the heads up.