47-59 1959 Viking 40 6 speed manual

[70C10Ginger]

Hey all, I have a mad scheme and some questions. I have a 1959 Viking 40 that currently has a 350 with a gm 6 speed manual transmission??? Can anyone help me identify it? I’m not having much luck.

I also have a 70 K20 with a sbc 350, sm 465 and a np205.

I’m in the process of trying to put a 12 valve Cummins in the 1959 and have a mad scheme to swap the sm 465 and put a three speed brownie box (slap shifter, gear splitter) in it so I have 12 gears.

If I can I would like to take the 6 speed and put it into the 70 k20 I have. So I was wondering if I could get some help on making sure I’m doing all of this correctly.

So, for clarification, I am trying to make a 1959 Chevy Viking 40 with a 12 valve Cummins, SM 465, 3 speed brownie.

And a 70 K20 with a 383 stroker, whatever that 6 speed is, and have the divorced NP205 still.

Am I crazy? Does this work? Will someone talk to me hahaha

[Rickysnickers]

Flipped it

[1project2many]

I have a 1959 Viking 40 that currently has a 350 with a gm 6 speed manual transmission??? Can anyone help me identify it?

So how old is the transmission you want to use? Cast iron or aluminum? Is it original to the truck? (not likely) Does the shifter knob have a six speed pattern that matches the transmission? Does the truck use a cast iron or aluminum bell housing? Is there a park brake mounted to the transmission? Have you found any numbers on the transmission that might help? Do you have any pictures of it?

Without any more details, I'm thinking the six speed might be a "real" truck transmission much better suited for the torque created by the diesel engine than the SM465. Medium and heavy truck six speeds generally have more gears below 1:1 than light duty transmissions. Many are 1:1 in high gear instead of overdrive.

[mongocanfly]

Post a pic of the trans along with any numbers that might be on it..
But if its currently behind a 350sb then itll fit your 383...

[burnin oil]

Brownies are unsyncroed so speed shifting is out. That said you can shift them pretty quick with practice. I have a 3spd and a 4spd brownie and both have a low "oil field" 1st gear so that one is not a splitter gear. Some of the hard parts are getting hard to find for the Spicer units but I did find a kit for a Spicer 7041 through SKF that was a hodge podge of bearings and seals from different manufacturers. I love the swap but I would either get a Clark trans or one of the dodge 5/6 spds with OD and make your life simple.

I have rhe 4spd in my dodge 5500 behind a 6spd manual and you definatly would have to want to hit all the gears to use it. When I do use it I just take off in under and work the main into fourth before I start an action on the auxilary. This is only when loaded heavy since the 6.7 will pretty much pull anything with the 6spd. The difference is I can pick the road speed and keep EGTs in check vs running a dictated gear/speed based on the standard gearing. My 51 Mack has a 5x3 but only 9 usable gears. The top 2 are the same and the low hole is 2 something to one so only used to creap.

[1project2many]

I would either get a Clark trans or one of the dodge 5/6 spds with OD and make your life simple.

I'm thinking he probably has a ZF transmission. They were used in a pile of Fords and a fair number of GM's from '01 - '06. They were really a 5 speed with creeper gear. I've replaced a number of them. I think they could take a little abuse but they were nothing like the Clark or Mercedes transmissions.

[burnin oil]

Actually alot of guys switch to the ZF in the horse power wars . They are supposed to take a good amount of abuse with a smoother shift. I never liked the ZF 6spd much since it is such a tight pattern I would miss the upshift. I have gotten way to used to the truck feeling shifter gates. The ZFs probably became popular from all the 6.0 Ford to cummins swaps.