85 6.9 I broke the bellhousing... Now what?
 

My 1985 4x4 f250 6.9 auto started making some noise and now I have a cracked bellhousing!... Will any idi auto trans work for parts? How about 2wd trannies? I don't know what kind of job I am looking at.... Does it sound like I will need a bellhousing, flex plate, torque converter, front bushing/seal, rear engine seal?.... How big of a job is this?

Thanks!.... Jeff

Dang those Nevada Sex Stones.............

any IDI tranny will bolt up. so I'm told

what did you have ? a C6 ?

That would be a C6 automatic, which is a one piece case. It's the tail shaft and housing that make a C6 into a 4x4 trans, and to change that requires a full tear down. So you could use a 4x2 trans, and swap the tail shaft and housing over to it. If you are not a transmission man, you are looking at having a shop do it, and freshen up the trans while you are at it.

You mention needing a bellhousing--nope, that's part of the case. Flex plate? Did you destroy your current one? Torque converter? If your trans is questionable, get a new or reman'd unit. Seals? Install new on a job like this. Rear main seal? Only if it's leaking.

On a 4x4 it's a fairly big job, and if you include the rebuild of the transmission, you are looking at an 8 to 9 on a scale of 10 for difficulty/skill all things considered. (scale of 10 for car and light truck, jmo, not a recognized scale under DIN/SAE standards.

C6 is an easy build .... the thing is you need to keep it Cleaner than an engine rebuild and if you don't have Experience then you better have a shop manual.

good snap ring tools and a Clutch Compression fixture with Feeler gauges is all you really need. I've seen the dealers do them with even less LMAO

Thanks for the quick help!... So, I was told that the bell housing was cracked.... Sounds like I need to find a transmission for parts....

yes IF the Bell Housing is Cracked then you need a new Transmission case...... depending on where the crack is, a good welder might be able to fix things.

I will start looking!

it's possible to TIG weld a case back together and it might require the assistance of a machine shop to correct irregularities ..... it's possible

It definitely is possible. However the heat is hard on the cast aluminum and more cracks will spawn. But it's definitely doable. My forward bell housing on my four speed is two pieces that were tig'd back together as I couldn't find a replacement at the time.

yes the heat is hard on the case, we do have a process of Stress relief that can be used to alleviate future cracking but this is not a common practice in most shops.

getting another case is probably the lesser of the evils... I do 100% agree here ;)

Since you have to pull the trans anyway, take it by a few welding/machine shops that specialize in aluminum welding and get a qualified opinion. We all did a lot of welding everywhere I worked, but never aluminum. Many cattle and hay semi trailers had aluminum frames and crossmembers, when cracked we'd have an aluminum welder come in, he'd do a good job and never any later failures.

Id try and get it welded if you can, i had one done a while back that was cracked in 2 places and it cost me $ 180.00 which was basically 2 hours flat rate labor. If you need a core and are anywhere near Lithia Springs Georgia i have a 2 wheel drive core i will make youa deal on, it worked when i pulled it but you have to take it completely apart to switch to the 4x4 output shaft. Good luck with it!