Well, I did it.

[Radar Chief]

I pulled the drive train from the Corveep to prepare it for a transmission swap.

[Radar Chief]

Here’s the old. The transmission is a T-10, close ratio four speed, out of the same Corvette the engine came from. If I’ve read correctly this is what they called the Super 10, which was used with any engine making over 300 lb ft of torque.
The transfer case is a Dana 18 which is going to loose the overdrive that’s attached to the backside of it and get mounted to Big Red.

[Radar Chief]

And here’s “Big Red”, an SM420 transmission. They were used from ’38 to ’67 in ½ to 2 ½ ton trucks and feature a 7.05:1 first gear ratio.

[Radar Chief]

BTW, the T-10, B/W R-10 Overdrive unit and this T-90 are all for sale if you guys know anyone that would want them.

[Phobia]

Cool. I'll bet that little rig is pretty impressive offroad.

[Radar Chief]

Cool. I'll bet that little rig is pretty impressive offroad.

Not bad, it’ll get better with this transmission swap. My Crawl Ratio, lowest possible final drive gearing, will more than double from the current 30:1 to over 70:1.

[jspchief]

What year is your Jeep? I had an '87 Wrangelr for about 8 years. It was stock other than tires with more agressive tread, but I was amazed at the jambs it got me out of. Those things don't get stuck very easily.

Unfortunately, I lost it to an engine fire. Bright side being my insurance settlement was only 1k less than the purchase price (not bad for owning it 8 years).

[Radar Chief]

What year is your Jeep? I had an '87 Wrangelr for about 8 years. It was stock other than tires with more agressive tread, but I was amazed at the jambs it got me out of. Those things don't get stuck very easily.

Unfortunately, I lost it to an engine fire. Bright side being my insurance settlement was only 1k less than the purchase price (not bad for owning it 8 years).

Sorry for your loss, I’d have cried like a kid that just lost his puppy if that had happened to me.
My Jeep is a ’60 CJ-5 I call the Corveep since it’s a cross between a Corvette and a Jeep.
It’s got around 5” lift and positive locking differentials front and rear. If I ever get it truly stuck it’ll take a sky crane helicopter to get it out.

[Radar Chief]

Progress report.
Well, despite its greatest efforts to maintain it’s grip on the transfer case, the overdrive has been beaten into submission. You’d think by looking at it that four bolts would remove it from the adapter plate but oh no, nothing can be that simple. I had to completely disassemble it for removal. The shaft sticking out of it is actually the rear output shaft from the transfer case and the overdrive planetary gear set and clutch assembly are attached to it with “oh Jesus” clips. Spent all day Sunday just putting this thing back together with plans to sell it on Ebay.

[Radar Chief]

This is the mostly rebuilt transfer case on a badly cluttered bench. It got new input and output bearings/races and did it ever need it. The bearings felt and sounded like they had sand in’em.
Now all I can do is wait on parts. Gasket/seal kit should be in tomorrow for the t-case and the transmission to transfer case adapter should be in the day after.

[Bwana]

Now that looks like some fun. That thing should be hanging out with the Billy goats when you are done. :thumb:

[Radar Chief]

Now that looks like some fun. That thing should be hanging out with the Billy goats when you are done. :thumb:

It is fun, but I could never do it for a living. Hate working on a project like this on someone else’s timetable.

[Radar Chief]

Progress report, for anyone that gives a chit to read it.

The transfer case has been mounted to the transmission and Big Red absolutely dwarfs that little t-case. The t-case also ended up being clocked slightly downward from where it was originally, which brought up the next hurdle.

[Radar Chief]

The cross member no longer fits. After looking at it, it’s made from some fairly thin stamped steel, and had been cut and modified a couple of times already. So, instead of cutting and modifying it again, we decided to go with something stronger to begin with. Looking through some of the scrap steel I’ve pilfered from work, we found a nice long piece of 2” X 3” X 1/4” c-channel steel.
A little creative cutting here and there, some bending, then filling the gaps with weld and voila, a new nearly bullet proof cross member. This I won’t be worried about scrapping across the rocks, or attaching pivot points for traction bars later on.

[Radar Chief]

Since we got the cross member bolted into place, and the transfer case mounts bolted up to it, we put the front drive shaft in and the Corveep actually moved under it’s own power Sunday. WOO HOO! PBJ PBJ PBJ
Now all that’s left is to bolt the floor back in and wait on the rear drive shaft. Last Thursday I ordered it from the driveshaftsuperstore.com with a high angle CV joint at the transfer case end and about 4” of slip, standard. Should be here in a couple of weeks, if I can wait that long.
After all this work, I’m ready to wheel it.

[Bwana]

Sweet, so when do you expect to have a fork stuck in this project?

[Dr. Johnny Fever]

I pulled the drive train from the Corveep to prepare it for a transmission swap.
I thought you were gonna say you shaved your balls yesterday.

[Radar Chief]

Sweet, so when do you expect to have a fork stuck in this project?

I’m hope’n to have the drive shaft in my possession in about two weeks, it’s still in the process of being made. After I get it bolted up, I’m pretty much done. There are still a couple of smaller things I’ve got planned, got a new top I need to install and I’d like to put some fender flares on it, but the big project will be finished.

[Radar Chief]

I thought you were gonna say you shaved your balls yesterday.

Hey, if it’d get my last part here any quicker….. :shrug:

[Roy D. Mercer]

I have some stumps that need pullin'. Do you hire out?

[Radar Chief]

I have some stumps that need pullin'. Do you hire out?

Sure, and I’m cheap, I’ll work for beer and whatever gas we burn up. ;)

[Radar Chief]

The amazing part of this whole project to me has been how easily everything went together, course it helped having spare parts lying around. The only real snag was the cross member.
We did run into a little problem with the bell housing on Big Red, it was so big the clutch fork was going to interfere with the brake peddle. As luck, or more like GM’s engineers, would have it the aluminum bell housing from the T-10 fit right onto Big Red. I love parts interchangeability. :)

[Radar Chief]

That sure helps put a dent in the cost of this project.
My overdrive unit just sold for over $400 on eBay. PBJ PBJ PBJ
Now I’ll be scrounging around the garage looking for more parts to sell. :hmmm:

[Radar Chief]

HA! Done! I’d say, “finally” but don’t think that about 2 months is bad for a project like this when only working weekends and whatever nights my Mini-me would let me.
Got the final piece in last night and, of course, couldn’t wait to get it in a take the Corveep for a drive.
After giving it a shake down run, all I can say is wow. Huge difference. No vibrations what so ever, the old drive shaft would vibrate when I’d get on the go pedal, and the gearing difference is amazing. It’s hard not to bark the tires when leaving a stop sign and it’ll absolutely roast’em if given anything over half throttle. Mud tires make an ominous sound when spinning up madly on pavement (tee hee :jester: ).
Anyway, here’s the final piece, and a comparison of the old rear drive shaft vs. the new.

[Idahored]

Wow! That shaft looks like it cost big $$.

I'm going to check out that driveline shop!

[Radar Chief]

Wow! That shaft looks like it cost big $$.

I'm going to check out that driveline shop!

Drive Shaft Super Store. (http://www.driveshaftsuperstore.com/)
Ask for Oscar, friendly dude and he called me back a couple of times to confirm measurements and how measurements were taken. I’d highly recommend them.
The price wasn’t that bad considering what I got with the high angle CV, it was $340 delivered to my door.

[Idahored]

Drive Shaft Super Store. (http://www.driveshaftsuperstore.com/)
Ask for Oscar, friendly dude and he called me back a couple of times to confirm measurements and how measurements were taken. I’d highly recommend them.
The price wasn’t that bad considering what I got with the high angle CV, it was $340 delivered to my door.

Well, I was hoping that they also make high performance shafts for street and race cars, but it looks like they are strictly 4x4. Maybe in the future I will have a jeep build, but currently it is a nova project. Looks like a great source though so I will book mark it for future reference.

[Manila-Chief]

Hey Congrats, Man!!!

That's got to be a thrilling experience.

[Radar Chief]

Well, I was hoping that they also make high performance shafts for street and race cars, but it looks like they are strictly 4x4. Maybe in the future I will have a jeep build, but currently it is a nova project. Looks like a great source though so I will book mark it for future reference.

http://www.4xshaft.com/
Here’s another one, but they’re pretty much the same type of shop. Both can do 1 Ton applications if needed and I’d assume they could hook you up with what’cha need, but shop around. There’s lots of shops out there doing about the same thing.

[Radar Chief]

Hey Congrats, Man!!!

That's got to be a thrilling experience.

It’s gonna take an air chisel to get the smile off my face. :)

[Bwana]

Congrats, now how sweet is that? :thumb: You need to get out and try all the new power house stuff out in the gumbo ASAP. If it take any less than 2 hours to clean your rig when you get home, you were not playing hard enough. :)

[Radar Chief]

Congrats, now how sweet is that? :thumb: You need to get out and try all the new power house stuff out in the gumbo ASAP. If it take any less than 2 hours to clean your rig when you get home, you were not playing hard enough. :)

Damn straight. :thumb:
If I’ve got the patience I’ll try to snap some pictures and post’em here next week, but don’t expect it. We’ll probably be having too much fun to stop and take pictures.