C6 to 4spd top loader swap advice help me not to get ripped
 

I have been thinking of my best bang for the buck options for my 69 F250 C/S 3:73 rear Dana 60 I can't take going 70 at 3,000 RPM any more the gas and the racing of the motor 65 is no better 2,800 RPM I have thought of a ratio swap Dana 60 only offers 3:55/3:54 drops 1,800 RPM bigger tires from 29.8 9.5 x16.5 to a biggest 33" rear a little more drop to 400 RPM or so it's going to cost money regardless .....so I was looking at 4spd top loaders are they all geared the same ? Says it was built from 64 to 73 then changed to tremec T10 or something chart shows in4th I would be at 2,200 RPM 600 RPM less at 65 !!!!! I see them rebuilt in the 1,300.range I'm hoping to find one in a junk yard on a F100 F250 or a mustang I know a auto to manual is not a over night swap Maybe swap meets better idea what should I look for in my search .....

Original top loader performance transmission is 1:1 in 4th. T10 is a Borg Warner performance transmission again 1:1 in 4th. Later 4 speed OD is patterned on the performance transmission. More later.

The 4 speed OD was found in cars and F/E 150s. Not in F250s. The transmissions used in cars are aluminum case, as are some of the truck transmissions. These are known as "SROD", or Single Rail Over Drive" transmissions. Such a transmission would probably lead a short life in an F250.

There was an iron cased version. One had external linkage just like the 1960s transmissions. I'm not sure, but I think there is an iron top shift version as well. (tin cover replaced with a shifter cover) The external linkage, iron cased trans is found in vans and some F150s.

Ratios are semi-miserable. Tallish first gear, big gap 2nd to 3rd. More info:
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Toploader Imposters

I wouldn't pay $1300 for one those.

A major question is how your use your truck. If you haul a camper and pull a trailer, the 4 speed OD would be a real question mark.

A NV4500 swap gives you a real truck trans. Most of the refitting work is the same.

https://high-impact.net/replacing-t1...05-with-nv4500

You might lower revs and save a little gas, but you will be hard pressed to save money overall with any swap.

The top loader will self destruct in a heavy vehicle.

Thanks for the reply yeah see I don't know much the is a C6 but I for sure needs another gear I might had done better with the 3spd manual vs the C6 I fun around with the truck enjoy a 50 yr old truck still going down the road a camper I doubt it any time soon I floor it alot cruise it just enjoy it although I want to go far in it and the 3k at 70 is too much unless I find some truck that had the hard to find Dana 60 3:33 gears in it , the top loader I seen is a goldish looking external linkage one out of a 390 mustang rebuilt I think 1,300 is way more than I wanted to spend and if the torque of a 3:73 ratio will eat it up then why bother .....was the NV installed on F250 later years like 77/78 type F250

There is no heavy duty OD offered for a FE engine. The only real modern OD swap involves using a GM 4L80 transmission. But it's still a 3k investment.

The top loader out of a 390 Mustang would be a 1:1 4th, same as the C6. Possibly with a very unhandy 2.32 first gear.

The NV was never installed in Fords. It was a GM or Dodge option, and the link I gave you is for conversions of those transmissions to work in Fords.

I had a top loader OD unit in an 85 f150.When I first got it had some noise issues.Pulled it and found no one supported it with parts.It was a top shifted unit with an iron case and the source of the noise was bearings in the counter shaft.On the OD unit the countershaft is used when in top gear.The needle bearings were fine in a traditional toploader but continuous load at cold temperatures ate mine up.Honed it and put in new needle bearings.It lasted a couple of years but ended up with a t18.Walk away from the ODs based on the 4speed top loaders.

There are several FE manual swaps, but they are spendy $$$$, because the FE ended in 1976 before OD appeared in general use. There is the Dodge-Ram/GM NV-4500 using a special FE bellhousing from several suppliers. There is also available FE to AOD/AODE (AODE requires a standalone controller), and FE to SBF manual (M5OD and ZF-5), from Bendtsen's. They also show the kit instructions.
https://transmissionadapters.com/pag...d-engine-types
And the Gear Vendors installation.

The NV looked pretty hefty although it 2,500
The tremec TKO 500 can't handle a 390 ? So that means that in any year they didn't put a manual in a F250 camper special it was only a C6 offered ?

1967 F100/350 352 came with MX Cruise-O-Matic. 1968/76 360/390 C6 & 1973/79 460 C6.

The trucks came with T18 or NP435 both are heavy duty direct drive transmissions.

TKO says 500 ft/lbs, but I don't find any comment about GVWR limits. Plus, the lowest first is 3.27 and reverse is 3.0. Do you have one laying around?

TREMEC TKO-500 TCET4615 5-Speed Transmission for Ford

http://www.tremec.com/anexos/File/TR...erformance.pdf

No trimec T 500 laying around ....lol:-missingt
I still have alot I can do to the truck before I fold on a decision I looked into gear vendor not a bad investment if I'm spending 50 bucks every 2/3 days just joyriding my truck around now , although a big block ain't a gas sipper either . Everything works and I can daily drive and pretty much go anywhere in it if it ran on water . :-X04 .354 Dana 60 gears and 32/33 inch tires and I will drop close to 400 rpm although I didn't want a big donut tire on there .