Hi Cranky
Crossmember: Easiest to use the crossmember from the donor truck. The ZF's mount is farther back, so make sure you grab the wing mounts from the frame of the donor truck as well, since they are angled rearward and move the crossmember farther back. The only issue I had was the two bolts on the frame rail...since there weren't any holes in that location I had to drill a single hole on each side (see my pictures at the beginning of this thread).

Slave Cylinder: Everything I have read says I can use the current slave cylinder from my truck, and that it will bolt to the ZF tranny, and have the proper stroke to operate the clutch correctly.

Transfer case: The T-19 slave will work with the ZF, no issues. It is held on by a clip and will fit perfectly. The transfer case shifter will bolt right onto the side of the ZF and will line up correctly. The only issue is if you plan on reusing the ZF shifter boot, it will not fit the hole in the floor. The transfer case will bolt right up to the ZF with no issues; same spline count on the shafts, same bolt pattern.

Clutch/Flywheel: My truck is an '84. The T-19 used a smaller diameter clutch disc and has a smaller input shaft than the ZF. As far as I know the input shaft on all T-19s is smaller than the ZF, so I don't think it'll work. Since the ZF uses a larger disc, the pressure plate is larger so it wouldn't fit the bolt pattern on my flywheel. So, I had to use the flywheel from the donor truck and I ended up putting a new clutch in while I had it apart.

Driveshafts: No issues that I'm aware of. As far as I know the overall length of the two trannies is about the same. Although the crossmember is moved farther back on account of the mount location, the driveshaft length was not affected in any way on my truck. In fact by looking at the slip yokes before and after the conversion they were in the exact same position.

Sheetmetal: Correct. I had to gently massage one area (again, see my pics). Like I said before, the only issue is the shifter boot: The ZF boot will not fit the hole on the T-19 plate, so you'll either have to reuse your T-19 boot of modify the floor plate slightly. Otherwise you'll have to use the floor plate from the donor truck, which relocated the transfer case shifter. Be aware I had the plate removed when I installed the transmission, so I'm not sure how easy it will be to remove and install with the plate in there since the ZF is a little taller.

Any other questions, feel free to ask. I'm sure others have done this conversion too...I'd highly recommend it. I love my truck even more since installing the ZF and it's a true bolt in swap.

 

^I made a mistake on the slave cylinder part but I can't find a way to edit it now. The first sentence of the transfer case part explains the slave.

 

You can't get nothing right can you...???

Just kidding, I thought it was a good write up, Kudos!

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

I thought so too, and I appreciate you going over the high points again for my benift. Going to pick up the tranny, flywheel, and crossmember from the donor truck friday, hopefully I can get in in my truck soon and use it this summer.

Thanks for the help guys

 

I think driving around in a huge manual truck would be fun .[/QUOTE]
It is lots of fun!

 

Hello,

After much looking around in many forums, I'm convinced to switch over to a ZF for my '84 F250. SmartPartsAuto has them rebuilt for just over a $1000, anywhere else I can look? Any other advice much appreciated as I embark on this journey.

 

there will probably be a core charge on a reman unit

 

yep around $300. a little leery of going the salvage route, unless someone can give me a little assurance? just don't have much experience with salvage and specifically with tranny's.

 

I have no personal experience with the zf but I assumed since everyone seems to think its such a great upgrade that they were pretty bulletproof. If thats correct then a used unit should be good.

 

makes sense, i'll look around, thank you.

 

Based on my own experience with the ZF in two of the trucks I own, plus being a full time mechanic I would feel fairly comfortable picking up a used one because I've very seldom seen any problems with them. They are a very sturdy transmission.

 

What about them getting burned up from towing in OD?
I have heard a lot about that.

 

I've only heard of automatics burning up from towing in OD

 

Why would an auto not just down shift automatically? What autos have you heard of doing that?
I have heard of several guys on FTE that said they had burned there ZF up driving in OD with a load. I would like to swap my T19 for a ZF but I do not want a weaker trany.
My truck has 416K on the original T19 an still works. Does the ZF hold up like that?

 

That just sounds like user error. Why you would be towing in OD in the first place, then be surprised when something goes bad is beyond me.