Hey guys,

Since I am in the stages of painting my truck in the next week or two I figured since I had to replace the throwout bearing I would do the Zf swap right now when its all taken apart.

Truck specs are 84 Ford F250 with a 460. 4x4 BW Tcase and t19 trans.

I've read the specs and some searching. If I get a zf 5spd from a 460 big block then everything else I need is the cross member and then drill some holes in my frame, flywheel, pressure plate, clutch, shift plate cover/levers.

I figure I can get these parts for about $400 bucks or so. Everything I've heard states that it should increase mpgs from 1-4 mpgs. A guy got 4.5 mpgs and if I get ten before the swap I would be damn happy with the fourty five percent increase in mpgs.

Thanks guys, sorry to post an overplayed thread but I've read conflicting reports and don't wanna buy anything I don't need or lack things I do need.

 

Sounds good to me. That is what I all got from my parts truck too. However I havent done the swap yet. Depending on what truck you get your parts from you may have to lengthen or shorten your driveshaft. Atleast in my case I will have to get mine extended. Parts truck was a super duty while mine is an extended cab with a long bed.

Keep us updated, I plan on making a thread with pics when I do my swap. Love seeing pic threads about these trucks.

 

Yeah I will certainly do pics! I found one sticky while good overall neglected to provide some good pictures for the process. What year did you grab years out of, and any ideas as to what would require less modification?

 

Got my stuff outta a 91 Super Duty. So technically my box is a 4x4 unit with a trans brake to make it work as a 2wd application. But should work, just need to extend my driveshaft. If I got a real 2wd ZF I would need to extend it ALOT more.

Hmmm, your drivetrain is 4x4 so I have no authority in what will work or what wont. Someone else should chime in and tell you what will work. But it seems you have all that you will need. Your truck is a manual right now? If so you wont need the clutch master and slave. You can use the ones in your truck.

I do have a question tho. For those of you who have done the swap when mounting/drilling the holes for the ZF trans mount are they already on the frame? The whole crossmember moves back and from looking at my truck there are a couple predrilled holes for the wing/upper mounts. Are this in the holes you used?

For the lower how did you guys find out the correct spot to drill it? Bolt the lower mount to the trans and go from there?

Glove I would recommend replacing the clutch, pilot and throwout bearings too. So you dont have to do it again if the parts truck's clutch fails. Resurface the flywheel too. This is what I plan on doing to my swap.

 

I did the swap in my 84 years ago. I used the flywheel (which has a bigger clutch), crossmember, transmission and dust shield from a 1990 F-350 4x4. I did not have to drill any new holes. Although my 84 is on a newer 250 frame. (not sure on year).

If you can get the floor cover inside the cab because the zf will hit the 80-86 factory tranny cover.

At the most I got 1 mpg better, but I do not event think I got that. The truck has 4.10 gears and either 35's or 37's most of its life. The 460 was rebuilt to 473 with a 770 carb. It has bulled a trailer quite often and plowed in the winter.

 

If you aren't able to find one in a parts truck, or in a yard, be prepared to pay a good amount for the transmission. I haven't been able to find one in any of the yards I go to (where I can get the transmission for around $120) and I haven't been able to find one on craigslist either. However, some of the used parts places around here have them, and they want $500-$945+ for the transmission. So good luck, bud.

Also, if I'm not mistaken, the 4x4 version of the ZF should bolt up to the NP208 transfer case. But don't quote me on that, I could be wrong.

 

I haven't done the t19 to zf swap, I did the c6 to zf swap. I have heard that the zf and the t19 are pretty much the same length, so it might all work out. I had to move the crossmember back 1 inch, but there are already holes in the lower part of the frame for that. It's the short upper crossmember wings that are the problem if you have to move the lower crossmember back. The upper ones will not lineup properly after that.

But if you don't have to move anything, you are golden.

 

You cna use your existing crossmember. It should stay in the existing location for a 460. Driveshaft lengths should be the same.

Personally I'm getting sick of these dang Kraut transmissions. Just put yet another ZF5 in my truck last weekend end it vibrates/rattles teh shfiter in 4th. I'm thinking NV4500 because the Germans clearly don't know how to make a truck transmission.

 

Thanks guys! I appreciate the advice will try and track down parts but I may wait as I've heard these t19s are pretty strong trans.