Good morning! I picked up an NP435 cheap and would like to ditch my 3 spd manual.

I need to find the right bellhousing and web research seems to indicate the C5TA-7505-B should be a direct swap.

I have a '69 with a 360, NP came out of a 65 with 352.

I am guessing the stock clutch kit should all be the same pilot bearing etc.

Am I barking up the right tree? Anyone know?

Thanks in advance!

 

Have you driven a truck with an NP435?

For normal use the NP435 is essentially a 3 speed. First gear is something like 6.7 to 1, so unless you plan to get a huge load moving, it isn't much use.

You might want to look for a Borg Warner T191 before you go to the trouble to switch.

I think the bell housing is the same for all FEs, so the 435 should mate up if it came out of a Ford. If not, you probably need an adapter as you wouldn't change the bell housing.

 

Thanks for the advice. The bolt pattern is different as the tranny I want to put in came out of a '65 with a 352. I had the 3 on the tree and hated it, so I put a floor kit in it and have not been too happy with the resultsc of that either.

The blank in the floor is there for the 4 sp and I found the tranny cheap so it seemed like the best thing to do at the moment so I can hook up a back up switch and make this thing a little easier to drive.

From everything I've seen, the T-19 appears to be what I would want to do one day, but for now, I am going to stick with what I got since it will not cost me much. The good news there is that if I find the T-19, the bolt pattern is the exact same as the NP from what I have read and it would be a really easy swap if and when I find one reasonably priced.

I was a little worried about the granny 1st gear too, but it can't be any worse than it is now.

Where would be the best place to find an adapter plate? The bolt pattern is not the same for these two trannys.

Thanks again for your help.

 

but what if you put highway friendly gears in the rear end?
that would make first gear more useable, and turn 4th gear into an overdrive.
at least thats what i was thinking of doing, i got this shop right now gathering up a bunch of info for me to possibly do a tremec swap, but it could just turn out to be way too expensive

 

There is really nothing you can do to make an NP435 or a BW T18 with the old "farmer 4 speed" or bull low drivable. I mentioned the T19 (sorry for the typo - I didn't mean T191) because the T19 and T18 were interchangeable, and the T18 came on a lot of these trucks as original equipment, and the T19 is a more useful tranny.

Part of the issue is the low first gear, typically around 7 to 1, next are the splits, you are always in a bad gear because the rations are too wide, and finally, you have no synchro on 1st.

I have put pretty big tires and rims on mine so at 70 mph I'm not screaming the engine, but I still have really wide splits and first gear is basically good to get to the truck about 10 feet before I have to shift, so like everyone else, I start it in second.

Sorry I don't have any info on the bell housing, i am frankly surprised that they are different for an old 352 than for the rest of the family of FEs. Probably the easiest solution would be to get a 352 bell housing as I expect it will bolt to your engine without adaptation.

 

I don't know how well this applies to trucks, but there was indeed a different transmission bolt pattern back in '65 on the passenger cars with the smallblock. I encountered this when changing from the stock tranny in my Tiger many years ago.

Check out the pic below. On the left is the early pattern that's on my original Toploader 4-speed, on the right is the later pattern that's shared with virtually all later Ford trannies. I suspect that since your current tranny is a 3-speed then it's a Toploader (which came in 3 and 4-speed versions) and is possibly the early pattern:



It should be easy to find an FE bellhousing that has the late pattern which will allow you to install that NP435 and then later swap to a T19 when you come across one.

On my '68, the original NP435 was pretty tired The previous owner did a lot of towing and used 3rd gear a lot, and it whined and moaned like 5-yr-old wanting candy. I replaced it with a T19 from an '86 F250 diesel, which has no granny low gear so it's a true 4-speed. It was a straight bolt-in swap with one small exception: the yoke takes a bigger u-joint so I went to NAPA with the dimensions of both u-joints and got a conversion u-joint to adapt the driveshaft to the larger yoke on the tranny.

It's so much nicer to drive with the T19. Not only is it quieter now, but it shifts so much nicer especially with the synchro first gear. And the gear ratios are better suited for towing, there's not such a huge gap between 3rd and 4th as there was with the NP435. I'm also running the stock 3.73 gears with a Gear Vendors overdrive.

 

I Have the bellhousing you want

 

Hmmmm, let me see.

Your alias is "NOTMYREALNAME", you have a total of one posting ever, and it is an offer to sell something.

You aren't from Nigeria, are you?

Just kidding. You actually didn't offer to sell it.

TigerDan, I envy you. I want to do the swap to a T19, but with the 4WD it is a bit trickier. I wrote to Novak and they wanted about $1,600 for a tranny and an adapter, but didn't really make me comfortable that it was a simple swap, so I'm putting it off.

 

Unless I'm missing something here, with a divorced T-case it should still be a bolt-in swap. For a married T-case, I'd look for a T19 with T-case in an '80s 4X4, ditch the BW 1345 that's probably on there and get a NP205 which should bolt right on. Don't need no stinkin' $1600 adapter etc.

 

TigerDan,

I'll revisit this come summer time. I have a Dana 21 T-case now. I assume you suggest the NP 205 to replace the Dana 21.

 

You're right, I did not offer to sell it, but I was hoping beater would offer to buy it. However, he would have to pay shipping from Maryland, not Nigeria.

 

Well, I've been to Maryland and Nigeria, I'd rather go back to Maryland.

BTW, the junkyards have lots of FE bell-housings, unless he's near Maryland shipping that will be pretty expensive.

 

it weighs 33 pounds

 

Thanks to everyone for all of the info. Notmyrealname: I would be interested to purchase your bellhousing. I have run into almost the right one on E-Bay multiple times, and am getting a little tired of searching. There is a yard here that specializes in this stuff, but I have been working non stop and have not had a chance to get out there to see what he can sell me. Let me know what you want to sell it for and then I can check on the shipping and such. thanks.

 

This is where it gets a little tough. Selling in the open forums isn't allowed, and since you're both new users neither of you have enough posts yet for your PMs to be enabled. notmyrealname has chosen to allow system emails, so if you, beater123 will go into your user control panel and do the same, then the two of you can communicate privately.