Have you thought about installing a T5 but were confused with all the info?

[NEWFISHER]

Found an easy peasy half a day way to do it in any inliner or V8 with a truck bell housing and a corse 10 spline clutch. Check it out in the engine / trans section
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=644565

[Clarance J]

Hello NEWFISHER. I did that swap also and its working great. My trans was taken from an 85 S10. Just curious, what size clutch plate did you use and what spline count did you change from? I know that there are at least 3 different spline count and size diameters shafts depending what the T5 was pulled from. Mine is a 14 spline with 11" disc for a Astro van. I liked your posts about the swap. Its a non-electric speedo. With the mods to the shaft and collar its almost a bolt in.

Earl

[NEWFISHER]

It was a 14 spline comon T5 and I swapped in the jeep input with the 10 spline 1" shaft ( most common GM clutch disc/input shaft on the planet) and left my bell hsng with all the clutch stuff alone. Stabbed the T5 right into the old stuff and didnt mess with conversion discs from speedway or astro clutches etc. Easy peasy.

[Old Crow]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

It was a 14 spline comon T5 and I swapped in the jeep input with the 10 spline 1" shaft ( most common GM clutch disc/input shaft on the planet) and left my bell hsng with all the clutch stuff alone. Stabbed the T5 right into the old stuff and didnt mess with conversion discs from speedway or astro clutches etc. Easy peasy.

I know it's taking me a long time to get around to this. Life got in the way, but I finally got the rear end changed out to an open rear end and ready to start on the trans.
If I need a clutch disc anyway, is there a disc(or a complete clutch kit)I can get for the T-5 that will use the stock T-5 input shaft with perhaps the '54 flywheel and clutch linkage?

[chevyguyase]

I'm running a T-5 and using my stock bell housing, fork, flywheel, pilot bearing & throw out bearing. I cut off the very end of input shaft, about 3/4 in of the bearing retainer and slightly modified the hub of an Astro van 11" clutch. You can avoid machining the clutch plate hub if you cut the 14 splines longer towards the trans or buy a spacer that makes it a bolt in. I'm not a fan of spacers, I like to keep it simple. I chose to modify the hub. Make sure you chose a T-5 from a 6 or 8 cyl vehicle, because the 4 cyl vehicles have a .90 to 1 overdrive, the 6 & 8 have a preferable .70 to 1 overdrive. . You can check yours by marking the input and output shafts, 3/4 turn of the input should turn the output 1 turn. Also make sure to pick an older trans with a speedo cable. The combination works great with 3.50 rear gear. I'm running a 3.46 10 bolt and a straight 6 cyl. Older GM cars had a speedo adapter that allows you to dial in your speedo, that comes in handy. I'll send you a picture of one if you have never seen one.

[Old Crow]

Originally Posted by chevyguyase

I'm running a T-5 and using my stock bell housing, fork, flywheel, pilot bearing & throw out bearing. I cut off the very end of input shaft, about 3/4 in of the bearing retainer and slightly modified the hub of an Astro van 11" clutch. You can avoid machining the clutch plate hub if you cut the 14 splines longer towards the trans or buy a spacer that makes it a bolt in. I'm not a fan of spacers, I like to keep it simple. I chose to modify the hub. Make sure you chose a T-5 from a 6 or 8 cyl vehicle, because the 4 cyl vehicles have a .90 to 1 overdrive, the 6 & 8 have a preferable .70 to 1 overdrive. . You can check yours by marking the input and output shafts, 3/4 turn of the input should turn the output 1 turn. Also make sure to pick an older trans with a speedo cable. The combination works great with 3.50 rear gear. I'm running a 3.46 10 bolt and a straight 6 cyl. Older GM cars had a speedo adapter that allows you to dial in your speedo, that comes in handy. I'll send you a picture of one if you have never seen one.

I was in contact with the OP back when he first posted this. It's taken me a while to get this far as I had to change out the rear end to an open setup.
There is a chart out there with tag numbers and OD ratios. I've given the correct tag numbers from my transmission supplier to get me the .70 OD ratio and hopefully the cable speedo. We'll see what he comes up with.
I was all for swapping out the input shaft to the Jeep shaft. I do this for a living, so no biggie for me, but I got looking at the stock clutch and decided to change it too. That got me to thinking about finding an 11" disc that fit the tranny and seeing if I couldn't make it work with the stock '54 pressure plate and linkage and stock S-10 output shaft.
I was going to cut the bearing support and the nose of the new shaft anyway so that's not an issue.
Basically, it sounds like I have to shorten the hub of the 14 spline disc on the transmission side to keep it from riding up on the end of the input shaft splines after shortening the bearing support? Not a problem, and easier even than swapping out the input shaft. I do have a friend who would be more than happy to lengthen the splines on the output shaft, but then you're taking the tranny apart again.

[chevyguyase]

Right OldCrow, all I did was take a large pipe cutter and slowly turned it on the bearing retainer until it popped off but others are grinding it off, drilled out the mounting holes to 1/2 inch, trimmed the pilot bearing snout and that's all I did to the trans. I have a '54 3100 6cyl short bed. I took out a 4 speed granny gear trans. If you get a 14 splined shaft an 11" Astro van clutch disk should work for you. You are correct the trans will bolt up but the splines will push the disk up against the flywheel and you can't disengage the clutch. All I had to do to the clutch disk was counter sink the hub on the trans side about a 1/4 inch. I put the trans in with a couple of bolts with just the flywheel to make sure I could turn the input shaft with the disk by hand. Hope this saves you some time.

[Lo1dakota]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

It was a 14 spline comon T5 and I swapped in the jeep input with the 10 spline 1" shaft ( most common GM clutch disc/input shaft on the planet) and left my bell hsng with all the clutch stuff alone. Stabbed the T5 right into the old stuff and didnt mess with conversion discs from speedway or astro clutches etc. Easy peasy.

Similar to what I did but mine is behind a 327. I bought the input shaft and had Garage Motorsports in Vancouver swap the shafts. I still had to trim a small amount off the input shaft de but that was easy with a micrometer measured from the mating surface of the bell housing to mating surface of the input shaft at the crank. I've put on a few hundred miles with 0 issues except my clutch linkage interferes with my brake linkage. I have an idea to remedy this.

[Divine 59]

Dang it "Fish" your giving me ideas.

I am hoping to get my project out of mothballs soon and get it moving towards completion.

[sawyerrm]

If you are gong to pay someone to do the work, can you go so any reputable transmission shop or should you take it to a classic car restoration place?

Rob

[Old Crow]

Thanks, easy enough for me for sure. Now, to get life out of the way so I can get back to work on the truck.

[mr48chev]

I bought an Astro Van disk from Rock Auto for an Ot project but could have got the 10 spline inputshaft for not much more and made things a lot

I'm still pondering what trans to run in the 48 behind the 292 when it goes back together but may stay with the Saginaw 3 speed as it still works great and the shifter works great.

[73kay]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

I bought an Astro Van disk from Rock Auto for an Ot project but could have got the 10 spline inputshaft for not much more and made things a lot

I'm still pondering what trans to run in the 48 behind the 292 when it goes back together but may stay with the Saginaw 3 speed as it still works great and the shifter works great.

Hey just saw that you have a Saginaw 3speed. How did you get your shifter to work? I bought one off eBay but it really hits the bench seat. I can only think to make brackets to move up the shifter 3-4 inches. Curious what you did for yours. Thanks!

[chevyguyase]

Hope you had a great vacation OldCrow. I don't remember how much I cut off of the pilot bearing part of the input shaft. I do remember measuring from the bell housing trans mount area to the bottom of the hole in the crankshaft. I took a little extra off for clearance. My crankshaft hole was plenty deep.

[Old Crow]

Well, vacation was "interesting" to say the least. Took the motorhome with the jeep behind it. Second night out the Jeep was stolen from the Natchez Trace National Park in MS. On the next to the last day I got a call from a ranger on the Trace, but up in TN, that they had recovered the jeep and I could come get it. So I got it back, insurance paid for the paint job and most of the stuff they stole, and I didn't get murdered in my sleep.
I call it a win.

It just came to me that I can use a tape measure and measure from the inside of the pilot bearing hole to the transmission mounting surface to get the length for the input shaft. Thanks.

[svr]

Are S-10 4x4 with T-5 trans different? Or can be made ok with different tail? not sure how they are configured, thanks, Blake

[chevyguyase]

Hi, SLR, The trans is the same except for the tail housing & the out put shaft being to short, but 5th gear is in the tail housing and so is the speedo gear hole and the shifter. T5s are 38 cents a pound so I'd pick up the right one. Look for one that came from behind a V6 or a V8, for the .70 to 1 ratio, 4cyl has a .90 to 1 overdrive ratio. Also look for one with a speedo cable, not an electrical sensor. I hope I've answered your question.

[Jemezcrusher]

I would like to find out where you can get em by the pound. Have been looking in salvage yards, have a wanted ad on Craigslist and have told every one I know I am looking for a T5 out of 85-87 S10 1352-145 is the tag I am looking for. No hits. May have a line on one in Georgia, but have to get it to NM if it is the right one. I keep hearing these atre everywhere, but I am coming up short.

One of the guys at the salvage yard told me the trucks of that vintage are all going to Mexico. If anyone has a source, I would appreciate lead

[chevyguyase]

Hi, jemecruser I live near St Louis. We have junk yards like U-pic-a-part and similar places that you can walk around in and remove your own parts. They have week end specials, trans for 50.00 or engines for 100.00 ETC Also we have places that you are not allowed in the yard area, but you can tell them what you want and they will find it from their yard or another local junk yard. I'm sure that is an extra cost. Also type in "parting out" on Craigslist. There are people that part out cars, especially trucks. I bought mine on Craigslist for 25.00 or so about 5 yrs ago. I know every place is different. We all want a NM or AZ rust free truck. They may be shipping your parts to the rust belt.

[Jemezcrusher]

Thanks chevyguyase. If you hear of any in that neck of the woods, let me know. I can get stuff moved around as i work for a trucking company so shipping is not an issue

[Old Crow]

Well, here we are in Feb of 2017. After the truck sat for almost 2 years I've finally gotten around to finishing it.
Rear end out of a mid '60's 1/2 ton with the POL spring perch kit. T-5 out of an '89 S-10(along with the driveshaft from the same truck.
Pulled the stock clutch out of the truck and discovered that it was a 10", not an 11" as other people have had. Found out that 4 cyl S-10's used a 9 1/2" clutch, so ordered that disc. Had the spines machined out of the inside as chevyguyase mentioned and put everything back together.
I've got about 250 miles on the conversion, including a 180 mile round trip yesterday to deliver a grandfather clock to my son. Not one problem(except getting used to the 2 extra gears)on the whole trip. Rode in the right lane on the freeway, keeping up with truck traffic, no sweat.
In fact, since I have no working gas gauge, and now the speedo is unhooked, I used GPS mileage and stopped at the same gas station coming and going, I calculated that I'm getting in the vicinity of 17 mpg with the stock 235.
I'm a happy camper.

[tmoble]

>>> 17 mpg with the stock 235.

Sounds wonderful to me. probably going faster than 45MPH too.

[chevyguyase]

Glad you've got it on the road. I hope you have the cable driven speedo attachment at the trans so you can just measure the length and get a cable. If your trans had a 14 tooth spline you can probably use the Astro van 11" clutch if you ever have to take it out again. I think the 9 1/2" should work out as long as you keep student drivers out of it. I'm running 3.46 rear gears, which works perfectly with the overdrive. I can take slight grades without down shifting . I use to avoid highways now I don't think twice about them. You're panel van is probably a little heavier.

[Old Crow]

Unfortunately, the only trans that was available to me has the electric speed sensor, and not the cable driven one. One of these days maybe I'll hook up the electric box. For now I'll just drive it.

I bought the 11" disc before I ever took the thing apart. When I got it apart, I discovered the smaller clutch so I had to send that one back and order the 4 cylinder disc. I'd have to change the flywheel and everything else, so I'm not going to sweat it until it breaks.

[Old Crow]

Originally Posted by tmoble

>>> 17 mpg with the stock 235.

Sounds wonderful to me. probably going faster than 45MPH too.

I'm guessing 55 easy, maybe as much as 60-65 if I wound it like I use to have to. Stayed with the traffic on highways, but on the interstate I just stayed in the right lane with the big trucks and had no problems.