I would like to switch my 1989 F150 4X4 5-speed to automatic. How difficult would this be? Has anyone done this?

I use the truck for plowing, and I'm sick of shifting. I also have a problem with a grabbing clutch, which I can't seem to fix. The next move would be to try a new flywheel, but the cheapest I can find is about $400 (remember, I live in Canada where evrything is extemely expensive and not one wrecker has this part - I've called them all).

I would rather put that money into making the switch to automatic if I have to drop that kind of cash.

 

Its not that bad of a swap, though you need to replace a little more than the transmission. The flywheel needs to come out, and be replaced with a flexplate and a torque converter obviously, and in the 89's you could get away without replacing the computer, though you'll find the timing is a little different between the manual and automatic data tables, so it might be worth swapping (its plug and play, and feel free to leech from either another truck of similar year, or even a van - the computers are the same).

89 should be EFI is my undercaffienated brain booted properly this morning....

 

Don't forget about the shift lever and linkage. Maybe you can go with some sort of floor shift lever simpler than rigging up the column shift.