I've currently got a 69 F100 that is in various stages of dis/reassembly, but it is now in the state that it can be reliably used for road trips/work runs ect.

It has the stock 302 engine in it now, but I plan on putting a slightly built 351W in the mid 300hp range in it. Enough to get down the road and haul the ATV trailer now and then. But, it has the 3.03 tranny in it and anything over 55mph well..doesn't happen. The tranny is definitely the first part of the power train to upgrade, because the little 302 actually is fairly peppy and can get me down the road just fine. And I can swap transmission now, and just bolt the new engine in later (Mostly).

I was planning on putting a TKO 5 speed in it because I thought it was really the only option for a decently geared manual. However, I was recently turned onto the idea of drooping a ZF 5 speed from a later F150 into it.

I just need some clarification before I go out looking for a ZF to rebuild.

1-While not a TKO, the ZF should handle my power numbers just fine. Am I wrong in that assumption?

2-From an initial standpoint, the ZF is half the price of the TKO. However, I've never heard of a ZF mounted to a 351W, only newer 5.0's and some diesels. The TKO has a fairly strait forward installation as they are mounted in mustangs with 351W's pretty regularly's. My only change there is getting the shiftier mounted in the right spot. I know that 5.0/302's and 351's should have the same bell pattern, so is there any unforeseen issues I am missing when it comes to mounting a ZF to a 351 over the 5.0? Because it seems almost drop in.

Thanks gent's. I've tried doing as much research as I can myself. But local knowledge is...limited/not to be trusted and you guys pretty much know it all.

 

Consider this.... a new Tremec TKO with zero miles or a ZF with 100K+ miles.

I chose to buy confidence and went with a TKO.... its wide pattern bolted right to the stock FE bell because I specified a short input shaft. Try that with a ZF.

Contact Modern Driveline and speak to Bruce or Paul and they'll have you rowing five gears of glory.

 

first off, you will never find a ZF in an F150. And if you can only go 55 you might want to do a gear change, even 4.56 gears will cruise better than that. I've had ZFs, even put one behind a 300 six and I love them but they are a truck transmission. It sounds like you would be better off with the Tremac

 

I think that ZF was actually a M5OD(mazda 5spd) since they didn't offer a ZF in a 1/2 ton truck.

How bad is the gearing out back if it won't go over 55mph?? Stock they had something around 3.50/3.73 at the worst. With a decent size tire it should run 70 without breaking a sweat.

I used to run my 302 with 4.10 gears at 3500 rpm all day up the highway. Little motor just cruised along.

I would vote for TKO. The ZF would take a hydraulic throw out conversion, correct? No way to use mechanical linkage with them that I know of.

And another reason to NOT get the ZF.........you can't hot rod it. The TKO will take powershifts and spirited driving. The big, clunky ZF will not.

 

Freightrain Hit the nail on the head. The ZF doesn't like sprited driving. Or at least the one I pulled out of a 1989 F250 EFI I6 didn't. I got the whole donor truck for 400 dollars though. My setup was 4wd and the recipient was a 1982 F150 so the hydraulic setup was easy swap minus the pedals. The S5-42 is good to 420 ft-lbs and if it was behind a 4.9 300 it has the
SBF bell pattern. The diesel version won't work as far as I know since the bell is different and neither have a removable bell housing. The ZF is tough but I'm not too crazy about the gear ratios, first is pretty low and second is a bit too high with the 3.55s I have. On a 2wd I'd have gone with something else but I'm pleased with it as it is minus the 3.55s.

 

AFAIK, Ford didn't mate a 300 and a ZF. Was yours a put together deal like mine was? If you had a factory set up, the 300 probably had the Mazda tranny.

 

It was an f250 so I'm pretty sure that was how it came. I don't think a Mazda trans came in any F250s.

 

It really depends on what you need out of it. I've had both of them transmissions and I liked them both. but the tremec was in my 73 challenger I swapped in a TKO600 in place of the 727. Best thing I did to that car. The gearing was great shifted good but there for awhile 3rd gear issues were an issue with some. It's not much different from a tko you would get for your truck. So I can imagine how much fun that would be in a 2wd f100. The zf is a good transmission in my opinion. But it's a truck trans so you can't really bash on it just because it can't slam gears and whatever gearing issues you may have. It wasn't made for that it was made for work, hauling, driving being reliable for the abuse. Let's see the zf in a street truck and a tko in a work truck and see how they perform.

 

Psssst.........


Christmas is only 10 days away. There is still time to write to Santa!

 

if you like driving a truck, use the truck trans


if you want to scare passengers and rip through gears like you dreamed of in high school go TKO

 

I'm not sure either but I thought the light dutys might have had the lighter tranny. On my 92 F250, the light duty and heavy duty were 2 completely different animals.
I guess I mistakenly thought the 300 never got paired with a zf.

 

Can anybody tell me if the TKO will bolt up to a transfer case or will it require a divorced transfer case?

 

You will need to either get one built with a 4x4 tailhousing and married np205 t case or run a short shaft to a divorced t case. I would get length measurements of the transmission if you do the divorced t case. If it's to long you may run into issues of to short of a intermediate shaft.

 

I am planning on turning my 2005 F150 into kind of a project truck. It's got the 5.4L 3V modular engine in it and I know the TKO will bolt up to that. The BW4406 transfer case in it works great yet but everything has ~230k miles on it. Would the TKO be a good transmission for that engine, or could I get away with something like a T5. I thought about something like the ZF5 (pretty sure) that they put behind this engine in the F250/350 trucks, but I'm a little worried that it wouldn't fit under the transmission hump very well. I also plan on using the truck as a truck, I pull stumps with it, trailers and other things that I really miss a manual transmission for. I would just go buy a different truck with a manual in it, but ford didn't make the 1/2 ton with a manual and that engine.

If I was going to have something like the TKO built with a 4X4 tailhousing, where would be the best place to look?

 

Sounds like a tko might not be your best option. They are more of a pavement pounder not made for off road the gearing would probably need changed as well to have more torque to get started if your hauling and pulling stumps and such. The tko is custom built so you can specify what you want out of it and what you need out of it. Sometimes you can't both of them in the same package.