well you have to remember that most vehicles are not special ordered. they are ordered by the sales staff and they usually dont know what the options mean or there differences. with the ZF, I am sure it would be a more expensive option and they would most likely just order the M5OD to boost earnings. When I worked at a local dealership as a tech, we had lots of trouble with the sales staff selling a customer a truck that was not built up to the customers use specs such as the F150 with the 4R70W instead of selling them a E4OD or an F250. I do agree that the ZF with any engine combo would have been a better choice but sales only looks at the bottom line.

 

There was actually a salesman that specail ordered a truck with the offroad package and all the right stuff from ford to bolster that package. He then sent it out to an offroad shop and had more stuff added like a winch, grill guard and a lift and tires. well it was a cool truck and would have done well offroad but the sales manager and dealership wasnt pleased. He had to purchase the truck himself and almost lost his job over it. The word down the pipe was that we are in the business to sell vehicles from ford not specially ordered one of a kind vehicles that are not well recieved by the general public. So much for fun!

 

OK... my bad... my wording is very poor....
In a f150 and bronco a ZF was not available, but if it was, then it was a factory order..
the F250s came with ZFs in the 300, 351 ect
the F250s with 302s still had the M5

 

The ZF is one of the best trannies ever put into a ford truck. 88-91 f250-450 came equipped with the 5spd in 2 different versions, one for diesel, and the other gas. All other bronco's fromf 87' up came with the MDOD-R2 tranny, still spd and good for everyday driving, the ZF is just a bulletproof trans. I'd love to put one in my 82' just dont have the money for the swap right now.