Making a T18 top end nice and tight: canes and top covers.

[robroy]

Good evening Alvin, thanks for replying!

• Does anybody know of a great place to find shifter knobs for a 3/8", 24 tpi thread?

Depends on what you want.
A red or black round ball by any chance?

http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/gearshift1.jpg
(without the filth, I mean :/)

Your shift knob does look nice!

Last October already feels like a decade ago--so much has happened between then and now! At any rate, in the end (if such a thing exists), I wound up having Valley Fabrication in Salinas put the factory threads on the end of my new cane. So I'll be able to use the factory shift knob, which I always liked a lot!

Now it's just a matter of restoring the factory knob as much as possible. I'd love to see those white letters, numbers, and the shift pattern on there again!

I'll get some updated photos when this area goes back together. For the moment the transmission's out of the truck again, because of What's this loud tapping sound from my new engine?

Thanks for your great reply Alvin!
Robroy

[Skifu]

I just did a T-18 swap in from a E40D,everyone knows by now,Ive been reading as much as I could find on the T-18,
and NP-435,Think about it for a minute,these transmissions are so good,that the shift covers wear out before the bottom end of the tranny actually becomes unserviceable,provided it is serviced as recommended,and not ran low on gear oil.Im well
pleased with my T-18,It made my truck act and feel like a truck should.and the swap in was a lot easier than so called mechanic know it all types said it would be.

[Alvin in AZ]

Yeah Ski,
I've always liked the gear sound that the T18 makes too! LOL :)
Wondering if the ZF is going to do the ~same in my '91 Bronco?

Robroy,
Yeah but. ;)
It'll be great if you make a point of putting your hand on top of the knob. :)
With my extended lever, -I- grab mine from the side.
The flat oval original doesn't feel good that way. :/
Tried it out again a while back.

I have quite a collection of knobs and old key-type drill chucks. :)
The two screwed together makes a pretty handy tool.
Drill bits, countersinks, etc.

Alvin in AZ
ps- Posted this thread on "FSB", a guy over there has a '8~ Bronco 300/6 +T18

[390Nut]

Robroy. Didn't see what you did to make the shifter locking/locating (whatever it's actually called) pin fit, but the same place you got the shifter cane (Novak) has the pins as well. Got a pack of 4 of them for my truck, because I can't quite afford the new/rebuilt tranny, (that same area of the shift ball is wiped out on mine as well) and until I can, it eats those pins for breakfast. I just got tired of making them out of cut-down bolts.

[Alvin in AZ]

I'd be curious to hear your full report on the ZF!
Maybe you should start a project updates thread on that?

Today I'm making two hangers for the exhaust system. :)
They will be bolted to conveyor belt like material then to 4" pipe clamps and
will hold up either end of a 45" Thrush straight through muffler. LOL :)
BTDT on my '75 so the design and method has been worked out and tested. :)
I'll take pictures.

And since I knew I liked the original setup very much, I just thought,
"Heck, I'll go with the tried and true this time."

Oops, I forgot you did that. :)

"Alvin wrote...
ps- Posted this thread on "FSB", a guy over there has a '8? Bronco 300/6 +T18
"Robroy wrote...
Oh great! Thanks for doing this.
The more people this thread helps and/or entertains the better!

Cool, and as a matter of fact he said your thread fixed 'im right up too! :)

390Nut wrote...
(that same area of the shift ball is wiped out on mine as well) and until I can, it eats
those pins for breakfast. I just got tired of making them out of cut-down bolts.
'Robroy wrote...
...when I was trying to remove just the perfect amount of metal from its slot (for
the pin to slide in perfectly), I accidentally removed a little too much metal!

No sweat for a tinkerer, Robroy! ;)
Just make sure the slot is "square" and then make a pin from the butt-end of a drill
bit to fit the slot. While your at it, drill out the hole to match the new pin size. ;)

Nut, were you making the pins from grade 8 bolts or what?

Alvin in AZ

[390Nut]

Nut, were you making the pins from grade 8 bolts or what?

Alvin in AZ

Pretty much. When you need to drive right now you grab what ever is handy to make it go forward. With heat from the cutting/grinding of the bolts, they got really soft, and didn't last very long.

Robroy: pretty much the whole tranny is worn out. Socket, cane, pin slot in both, shift rods are loose, synchros are mostly worn out, gears grind a bit when they shouldn't, and the input shaft is just a bit loose and wobbly. Oh, and the rear seal leaks a bit, too. 41 years and over 300,000 HARD driven miles will do that to even the toughest of trannys.

Thought about rebuilding, but I am probably going to wait and just buy a rebuilt from Novak. Not much free time these days for me, and I need the truck running if at all possible, as I always like to have a backup vehicle for some odd reason.

[Alvin in AZ]

41 years and over 300,000 HARD driven miles will do that to even the toughest of trannys.

Hard miles for sure compared to an air-cooled VW trans-axle but they went-out at about 350k.
That was a common way for a guy to tell how many miles a bug really had on it.
Was it the original trans-axle or not? LOL :)

With a magnesium case (but much lighter duty!) that was the rule-of-thumb mileage for them.

The synchro's in my '75 T18 went only about 200k.
The 2nd and 3rd gear synchro's were out at only 188k on the ZF I bought.

Alvin in AZ

[robroy]

Good morning Alvin and Paul, thanks for your excellent replies!

Cool, and as a matter of fact he said your thread fixed 'im right up too!

Most excellent!

when I was trying to remove just the perfect amount of metal from its slot (for the pin to slide in perfectly), I accidentally removed a little too much metal!

No sweat for a tinkerer, Robroy!
Just make sure the slot is "square" and then make a pin from the butt-end of a drill
bit to fit the slot. While your at it, drill out the hole to match the new pin size.

Thanks for this idea! Perhaps if I run in to this type of situation again in the future I'll try this method. I admire your creative, free thinking when it comes to repairing and upgrading these trucks!

Robroy: pretty much the whole tranny is worn out. Socket, cane, pin slot in both, shift rods are loose, synchros are mostly worn out, gears grind a bit when they shouldn't, and the input shaft is just a bit loose and wobbly. Oh, and the rear seal leaks a bit, too. 41 years and over 300,000 HARD driven miles will do that to even the toughest of trannys.

I see! I suppose having a single new part wouldn't help you very much then. It sounds like your transmission has had a l-o-n-g, quality life!

Thought about rebuilding, but I am probably going to wait and just buy a rebuilt from Novak. Not much free time these days for me, and I need the truck running if at all possible, as I always like to have a backup vehicle for some odd reason.

Paul, I think this is a VERY good idea. I had my T18 completely rebuilt by a local shop, and while I think they did a great job, they replaced (at my request) enough expensive "hard parts" that the bill wound up being similar to Novak's. And what I like about the Novak transmissions is that you get to select exactly which transmission you'd like! And if I had it to do completely over again, I'd probably have ordered a T19 from Novak instead. (This said, I'm very happy with how things turned out, and extremely grateful for the help I received with rebuilding the T18 top plate!)

The synchro's in my '75 T18 went only about 200k.
The 2nd and 3rd gear synchro's were out at only 188k on the ZF I bought.

This is interesting information! I'll bet it's a little unusual for people to know how long their transmission parts lasted, since trucks often get traded around before hitting these types of miles.

I suppose my T18 probably didn't have an enormous amount of miles on it then, or it had rather lucky synchro's, because they were all still working when I had it rebuilt. It had other problems, of course, but the synchro's weren't causing any major trouble (no gear grinding).

Alvin and Paul, thank you both for your excellent replies!
Robroy

[Skifu]

I really like the way RobRoy pointed out the stiff Hardcore feel you get from a Granny low 4 spd. when you shift thru the gears,very well articulated RobRoy.After I get my rims,and re-build my spare motor,Im thinking heavily about a gear vendors OD.add on box,If it adds a viable overdrive as advertised,and splits all the shifts,It just may be a sweet set up.

[robroy]

Good day Skifu, thanks for replying!

I really like the way RobRoy pointed out the stiff Hardcore feel you get from a Granny low 4 spd. when you shift thru the gears,very well articulated RobRoy.

Well thanks very much for appreciating my description! I've never tried another transmission that felt as heavy duty as these truck four speeds.

After I get my rims,and re-build my spare motor,Im thinking heavily about a gear vendors OD.add on box,If it adds a viable overdrive as advertised,and splits all the shifts,It just may be a sweet set up.

That sounds like a great idea. The Gear Vendors box is something I'm considering for the next major iteration of work on #50; it would be pretty cool to have eight forward gears!

I finally painted the top plate, which had remained bare up until today. I used some "Hi-Po Yellow" POR-15 engine paint that Tom Lucas gave me with my rebuilt engine (it was left over from painting the engine).

You can click on any of these photos for dramatically higher definition and resolution versions!




I brushed on the POR-15 using a small throw-away foam brush, and found it quite difficult to work with. It had the consistency of chocolate syrup! It wanted to pool up, form air bubbles, and run everywhere. And despite using a foam brush, it wasn't easy to avoid brush marks showing up in the finished product.

In contrast, the Rust Bullet Automotive product goes on smoothly and hides brush marks very well. That said, its silver color doesn't compare to the beautiful yellow of this POR-15!

I wouldn't try to brush this particular paint on again. I'll bet it goes on very nicely from an HVLP, so that's what I'll try next time I want to use it.

In the end, the top plate's now basically protected from surface rust and looks fantastic from a few feet away! I'm happy with it.

Robroy

[FreakysFords]

I like the contras, looks good.

[robroy]

I like the contras, looks good.

Thanks Frank! I suppose it ought to be a pretty durable finish.

Robroy

[Caseys71]

, Your T18 Looks great, especially bolted up to the 390!

[390Nut]

Nice looking duo. One question, though. Is that tape dispenser a bolt on power adder or just art deco?