A while back someone here was talking about Clark 5 speeds and I have since found one. If anyone can tell me what this is it would be appreciated. Thanks!

DOTA7004L
Clark 285V

 

I'm glad you re-energized this subject----I believe it was d.Fisher who had some good info on the clark 5 speed with 5th being over drive---it could have been somebody else who was making the observations---it was 3 months or so back-----I would love to find one and install into my 77----but somebody said it would have to come from an early 80's truck(f 600 or so) for it to matchup to the bell housing on my 400----I believe it would have to have been mated to a 391 truck engine which would have the same bolt pattern as my 400!!!!!!!!What year of truck did you take it out of????If it is from a 76 or earlier model it will have a different bolt pattern than the commercial truck engines from 77 and forward-----I believe this too be correct , but I don't have perfect recall!!!!!At least you have the tranny , they are fairly hard to find or so it would seem!!!fd :-X11

 

TKONO, I have a couple of those. What are you wanting to know about it ? DF

 

I was really just wantig to know if it was an overdrive and if it was worth anything. Thanks

 

John, your Clark might be worth 100-400$, but only to a person who needs a clark. The Clark 280 series 5 speeds were installed in medium and heavy duty ford trucks from the mid 60s to the late seventies. They are a very beefy and durable design. Most guys aren't interested in them because they need a differant bellhousing than the one most light trucks (F100-350 )came with. But if you are willing to change the flywheel, bell, and fab a new rear tranny mount, they are excellent transmissions. The only Clark 280 series with overdrive is the 285VO. I have seen them listed in repair manuals, but have never come across one. The problem I have with the NP435 & T18s most of our trucks have is not the lack of overdrive but the spacing of the gear ratios. The 6.69/3.50/1.69/1.00 gear set is not really driver friendly. I'll expound on that issue more after I get my son and myself some lunch.........DF

 

An overdrive would be nice, and the NP542 and NV4500 have them, but still leaves you with the 6.69/3.50/1.69/1.00 gear spread on 1st through 4th. Usually this means 1st gear is so low we almost never use it, most drivers leave a stop sign in 2nd. The other problem comes when you're drivin' along in 4th and traffic slows down a bit and the engine starts to buck and chug a bit so you drop it down into 3rd. But 3rd gear gives you 1.69 times the rpm you had in 4th. Maybe 1200 RPM was to low for 4th gear, but dropping into third gives you more than 2K, which might well be more than you wanted. How about if the next gear was only 45-50% more, then dropping down would give you 1700 or so. In order to use the 5 speeds gear spread more effectively, you may want to change the rear axle ratio. If the rear axle ratio was more highway friendly, overdrive might not be needed and 1st gear could actually become useful. heres an example- say we have a truck with 4.56 gears in the axle and a NP 435 tranny, and 35 inch tall tires. This truck will turn just over 3300 to go 75 mph on the freeway. And it will suck up a tremendous amount of fuel while doing it. Usually the driver will start off in 2nd, (3.50x4.56= 15.96 crawl) because the the 1st gear is too low (6.69x4.56= 30+, overkill). Now if we swap out that NP435 and put in a Clark 285V (6.99/4.09/2.24/1.46/1.00) AND change the axle(s) to 3.50, we get a whole new picture: 75 mph on the freeway is now only 2550 and we get a lot better mileage. And if we still leave corners in 2nd, we have a crawl of 14.3, if we actually use 1st gear as it is intended, we have 24.5. AND we have smaller rpm drops between gears. Whats not to like ? The only problem I can imagine is the bell housing issue. But since lots of these Clarks came behind 361&391FTs, this would seem to make an excellent upgrade for 4 spd FE powered trucks. John, does your Clark have a bellhousing and flywheel with it ? :-) DF

 

 

so I can't use a standard 4spd housing to hook to the clark? I have a late '70s GMC farm truck that has a 5spd in it....I assume it is a Clark....I need to check before I send it to scrap. Would it work with the correct housing behind my 410 Merc? I think this sounds like the perfect setup for what I do with my '71 F250 4x.

 

I have a clark 280v in a 81 f 350 4x4 with a 460 gas moter and i striped my output shaft does anyone know where i can get one it is not a standerd shaft. I can get a stock one but it takes a yoke not made to go in to a transfercase or can i get a different female pice for my bw 1345

 

[QUOTE=TKONO;321269]A while back someone here was talking about Clark 5 speeds and I have since found one. If anyone can tell me what this is it would be appreciated. Thanks!

DOTA7004L

I have one from a 60's Ford school bus. I think it's a 251 VO. I know it's 5 speeds and top gear is overdrive. It was from a project that never got done. Can anyone put it to good use?

 

[QUOTE=OklahomaSupercab;20099474]Put an ad in Marketplace and then we can do a link to your ad in several forums.

Serving suggestion. Look up at the black band at the top of the page to get to Marketplace.

 

I have a 285v Clark manual transmission in my 1969 Ford C610. I am looking to swap it out for an automatic transmission that would also be compatible with the layout for the shifter or easily adaptable. Does anyone know which automatic transmission might be compatible? I have the original FE 330 V8 engine. I would also be happy if there were some way to take some of the slop out of the shifter so it is easier for less experienced drivers to learn how to drive. Thank you for any help in advance.

 

See:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...p-to-auto.html

This thread is from 20 years ago, with an update 10 years ago, and a for sale from last year.....