I have 3 C6 transmissions from 70's ford 4x4's with 3 different tailshaft lengths. Is there any rhyme or reason to what they came in? From my junkyard research I haven't noticed any trends. I have found only one of the shortests shafts in all my searching. The mid and long legth seem to be much more common but I have found both lengths in a variety of applications. I came across this issue again today when installing a C6 in my 79 bronco today. The truck did not come with a trans so I was not sure what was in it. I do know it was an auto though. The bronco did have the tcase in it still mounted though. So i put the trans over the crossmember and tried to bolt the trans to the t-case. When i did that i found that the trans housing bolt holes were way farther back than the trans mount on the cross member, So in order to get the trans bolted to the crossmember I had to undolt the t-case from the t-case mount that is bolted to the frame. So what i need to do is also move the t-case mount forward several inches. It appears there is already holes in the frame where it needs to go. Interesting.......I didnt unbolt the mount and move it yet to see if the holes are really right. It looks like they are. If they are thats great, but now I have a driveshaft length issue. Now with the t-case moved forward the front dshaft is compressed and the rear looks like its slip joint is about to come apart. These are HD custom driveshafts. Now I am not sure if I should have the driveshafts changed or pull my free trans out and look for one with the longer tailshaft and longer spacer between the trans and t-case. I really wanted to drop the motor in tonight but now i am not sure what i should do. I was thinking the longer trans would be better for added length for the front driveshaft but who knows. Plus I dont have a spare one of those so that means i have to FIND and PURCHASE one. No matter what the vehicle (bronco, SWB PU, or long box pick-up) the front driveshaft in theory should never change so this tranny should have been fine. Anybody know anything about why there is so many variations in tailshaft length?

 

I don't know WHY there are, but I do know there are a couple.

I'd be interested to see what differences are out there as I have only seen 2 (aside from a married t-case 4 wheel drive one).

Here is the short tail shaft "fixed" yoke on my race c6 (sorry for the bad pic - it's up high on a pallet rack)


and here is the 2nd 2wd style I have seen. Have one that I'm pretty sure is the same as this in my '74 supercab. It's behind an FE motor in there. This pic is of one I got from a buddy though. I think it came out of a cougar but I can't remember right. The pic is when I was looking at how long the trans and gear vendors setup would become...