Contemplating a drive train swap on my 59 F600. 351W and C6 replacing the Y block and manual. I know how to accomplish this mechanically and I know I will lose the PTO, but I don't know how driveable this may be with the 2spd axle. I'm thinking there would be no problem, simply let off the gas to shift, just like the manual. Am I missing anything?

 

Let off to shift to hi. Downshift at or near stop or under load. Downshifts can be tricky.

What kind of loads are you talking? That C6 is geared pretty high for this use and isn't going to be happy with heavy loads.

 

Very true and that is something I may not have fully considered. Truck was a fire pumper in it's previous life. Poor storage ruined the pump and the old engine is stuck. I'm going with a flat deck, maybe a rollback. Largest load would be a car trailer. I'm looking for highway performance, not so much heavy loads. Not expecting more than your average 1 ton would pull.

Retaining the manual is a possibility. Never seen a Windsor V8 in this type of application, but I probably could cobble up a bell housing using 300 6 pieces. If I could free up the 292, I may even stick with that, but the 351W would likely be easier and cheaper to maintain. I already have several good ones from E/F150 applications and EFI is a tempting possibility.

I have operated 2spd axles before, just never with an AT. May take some figuring out what would make it happy, but I am expecting it would be more like an overdrive than an opportunity to split gears.

 

Ford made them this way. In the early 70's to try and get around the high cost of the Allison automatic, they put the C-6 in some of the lighter duty F 500 / 600's. Due to having exactly half the gears of the Allison - and hence not enough gear ratio spread to do the job, these came with a two speed rear axle as a option, so at least some Interstate travel could be accomplished, otherwise about 35-40 mph was a good cruise for these so they could still pull some load.

Not sure how much saving there was after you figured that the C6 has no converter lockup, hence uses more fuel than the Allison that featured converter lockup in ALL six forward gears (equaling a manual transmission in steady state cruising) and then adding in the cost of a two speed rear axle...

But that said, it was recommended right in the owners manual to ONLY upshift, all downshifts on the rear axle were to be done stopped. That was directly from Ford.

David

 

in 88 and 89 ford used the C6 in the F-SUPERDUTY (F-450 really) and it was rated at 14,500 GVW. I'd almost bet that is quite close to the specs on your 59 F-600 .
I think a C6 is quite up to the task.
IIRC the 88 and newer F450 had a 351W EFI as standard equipment, although I have only seen 460s and 7.3L deisels

 

Well the GVW's on the 59' F600 ranged up to 20k, so they are a little more stout than the F450.

Still the C6 will work, you will probably find its service life is a little less than desirable if you run the truck loaded all the time. Second gear will be the failure point I imagine.

Put a big cooler on it, it will generate a lot of heat with that open converter!

David

 

Well, here's a picture of the beauty in question. As you can see, it's actually a M600. Gotta love those Canadian Mercury's!

I'm going to have to investigate the ratings plate. It's a little muddy here today in Saskatchewan, but I'm going to guess that the Budd wheels would indicate a lower GVWR.

Thanks for all the replies!

 

They ran all the way up to 23k on slightly newer F600's -same on either Dayton or the six 6 hole budd wheels, they do not affect the GVWR, just how it was optioned!

Daytons were standard, Budds optional. It could have standard Daytons and be spec'd at 15k GVWR, and have optional Budds and be spec'd at 20k if that is what the buyer wanted, what matters is what the rating plate says.

David