I sold my old 89 f250 302 five speed to a friend and helped him swap in a coil sprung adapted d60 and switched to a C6/1356 and it ran just fine. Except for him over revving it and puking the cam out of the block into the flex plate. But that's a different issue

 

Good to know that I can keep my options open. I'm sure a c6 would be more durable than an m50d.

Since I already have the hole in my floor and don't have the column for an auto shifter, could I just run a floor shifter on a c6? I guess I'd need the auto pedal assembly too.

 

I used to have a 68 j2000 that someone converted to automatic they didn't pull the clutch pedal out they took a torch to it

 

I guess I could just disconnect the pedal and have an awkward narrow brake pedal.

My only drawback on doing an auto is that I'd need a torque converter too. I've never worked on an auto vehicle so I don't know what all is needed.

 

Hit a junkyard and pull up the carpet in a truck if I remember correctly all fords are setup for a manual the autos just have a cover plate over the hole. Grab it and mount a B&M floor shifter like we did its easy. Also we just pushed the clutch pedal all the way down you can't really see it back there and if you decide later to go with a zf5 trans, you haven't hacked up the truck.

 

You might want to go aod as it has overdrive and as I recall the tow ratings for the truck are cut in half by using an m5od piece of jap as opposed to the automatics so they're definitely stronger

 

If you had a 4x4 manual trans I'd say come to my house and you can have my auto for your manual. I don't care about the towing rating either, I'd tow with the M5 til it goes kablooey and pukes it's gears out. Probably wouldn't happen any time soon because I only tow a few times a month and it ain't real heavy either. Then again it just might because I use my truck hard sometimes (backed by appropriate maintenance of course) and that Mazda might not take it for too long. Lol.

 

The most I've ever towed was about 2k lbs. I want the 5 speed for control offroad though but if I can't find one I'll run what I can get.

I'm really trying to decide if I want to regear while all this junk is pulled apart. 4.10s might be too steep for my 4.9 though. I only have about 4000 usable rpms.

 

Yeah I want a 5 speed for that reason too, both on and off road.

4.10's should be fine, where do you do most of your driving?

 

Mostly just around town. I actually only have a 1 mile commute to work but when I take it to where I'll be going offroad, I'll be driving 45-60 or more miles. Mileage will be terrible going that far with 4.10s and 33s or 35s in the future. It's bad enough in 2wd with 3.55s.

 

The f250 I did had a 302 and c6 turning 4.56 gears and 35s to start and wasn't horrible at 55 my buddy said 12 mpg to 14 on a good day. He went to 4.11s and 37s and it went to 10 all day

 

302 and 300 are very different. 55 and 70 are very different. Right now 70 is perfect for my power band. 4.10s would probably be good with 35s. Maybe I'll wait till I need tires. I can do the work myself so I can wait.

 

I'd go 4.10s I've got 3.55 and in the future I will be going 4.10

And I'm not really a fan of the Mazda transmission I had a shift fork come loose fixed it and then one of the gears lost its synchro and the bearings were all shot in it second transmission in 300000 for what that's worth to you

The new one has fine internals but it's warped so it leaks pretty bad I can't get it to seal whether I use gasket maker or RTV or both hence why I call it a piece of jap

 

Do these 80s axles have king pins? It looks different from what I'm used to.

 

They use ball joints instead