the 77's upgrades

[blazinchuck]

ok, well yesterday didnt go as planned! I got off work early so I could get a big jump on things. 1st thing i noticed was the broken input shaft bearing retainer plate...the sleeve for the throw out bearing was broken off and laying on the input shaft. Began calling every where for one and found one at a local dodge dealer....$109!!! My buddy Jonathon works there and hooked me up with a discount~$71, plus 3 quarts of special tranny fluid $20 each~got it for $13 ea.

once i got home and compared the 2 sleeves, i could see the broken sleeve was paper thin(completely worn out). this meant the input was walking around, so i checked the pilot bushing and found the I.D. was .825"! its supposed to be .750-.755. Now i had to find another bushing, but everyone that had one was in California. so i went and bought a stock ford bushing and had a local machine shop bore the inside to .755 for a perfect fit, he also had to remove a couple thousand off the outside to a 1.377(was 1.381)

got the dust shield,fly wheel and clutch assembly installed. installed the bell housing and clutch assembly...no pedals yet.

cut the floor support out(this was recommended since i didnt have a 1'body lift) that gave me some more room, so i installed the tranny(no D20). already the tranny is touching the floor! even worst...i started to install the crossmember...but it needs to go UP 1.5" and the tranny is still touching the floor! a while back i installed my monster motor mounts...i think if i swap those for stock, that will allow me to drop the tranny some and go up with the crossmember...I HOPE! so today, i will try to get stock mounts, and bolt the crossmember in..then D20 and pedals..FAWK im tired of deadends!!!

[blazinchuck]

anyone know how much longer/shorter the nv3550/D20 compared to the C4/D20? i prefer no surprises...hoping the drive shafts will still work. for some reason back in the day, i seem to remember when i swap a C4 for a np435...it was a lil longer and i had to swap out the front/rear slip yokes to make the shafts the right length. im thinking this will be about the same thing since the vn3550 should be within 1/4" on a 3 or 4 speed tranny


any ideas guys?

[medwards01]

ok, well yesterday didnt go as planned! FAWK im tired of deadends!!!

Dayum Chuck, I feel for you bro....Your experiences yesterday reminds me of that old time gospel hymn, "We Shall Overcome". The chorus goes like this:

Oh deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome someday

For my $.02 worth, it should be the anthem for us EB owners!! :rockon:

[broncosbybart]

From what I was told by someone who did the 3550 swap, they are close. I think it a little longer, 1/2" or so. I've never done one, so I can't say, but that is what I was told by someone who did one over the winter.

[Crawdad]

From what I have read no modifications to the driveline are needed. But keep in mind driveshaft lengths may differ. You should be fine.

[nhopman]

[SIZE="4"]Are you wishing you had just left the C4 in there yet? :hysterical:[/SIZE]

Not sure why anyone would put a manual trans into one, but looking at the gear ratios of that trans, I can understand it for a daily driver that sees some offroad use.

I've come to the conclusion that There is no such things a "DROP-IN" Even when I buy stock parts, they still have to be modified most of the time.

Good luck with it all and hopefully it will get easier and not have any more surprises for you.

Nick

[blazinchuck]

thanks guys...and Nick...not so much lol
[SIZE="7"][COLOR="DarkOrange"]

IT DRIVES![/COLOR][/SIZE] got it going yesterday at 5:30.

lets see...after the big pilot bushing,input shaft bearing retainer episode the other day, i decided to work on swapping the pedal assembly. thursday night i saw that the pedal assem. i got with the tranny was missing the stud on the brake pedal(this is what the brake push rod and brake light switch attach too). so friday i almost went to LKQ(local pull yard) to start looking for a brake lever from another clutch assem...but i decided against it(tired of going everywhere and buying everything to make this work). so i reused my auto brake pedal and cut it to the right size as the clutch brake pedal. got looking right and installed a pedal cover i had laying around.

had the remove the steering column to get the pedal assem out(i think it would have been easier and faster pulling the pedal shaft out instead of the whole assembly-not sure if it would slide out...but looks like it)

got the pedals all done, time to work on the exhaust...

i was really worried the dual exhaust i just finshed a couple weeks back would not work, but after measuring and checking...looked like it would work. had to the front long sections and add slip joints and band clamps to fit it all in. got the drive shafts installed(no problems there), took care of the 2 neutral safety wires(from the C4), and capped the vacuum line for the C4.

today i had to redo the top of the shifter tunnel. didnt want to weld another one in place, so i made a removable cover. reused the toyota shifter boot from a previous project. havent cut a hole for the tcase yet. i just bought a set of JBFab twin sticks a month ago...so Jon was nice enough to offer me ship my old sticks back and he would swap them for the new twins that are made for the nv3550. once they come in..ill measure where the hole needs to be. all in all...it drove great last night...no real issues. shifts very nice. really wish i had installed a new throwout bearing. its ok, but wish i did...(oh well)

i did notice after my drive last night, i lost a nut from one of the 2 bolts that hold the trans mount to the cross member! that was the only part that was still bolted together when i got everything...and for some dumb reasom, i didnt check it. anyway, had to install a new 7/16th nut and all is good.

here are some pics...

[blazinchuck]

couple more...

[JayT]

Sexy. Glad it worked out well for ya!

That is some giant Props to JBfab, too!

[chuzie]

Good job bro. Glad you stuck with it considering all the roadblocks you encountered on this "simple bolt on" swap. I bet you are exhausted. Wish I could have been there to help this time.