Cj 4 speed swap

[Curtis_H]

Have a buddy who's is wanting to swap his 3 speed for a 4 speed trans.

He has a 1980 Cj5 with the 304.

Questions

What trans will work with his motor and tcase?

Will his 3 speed bellhousing work or will he need to find one with the 4speed?

Will clutch linkage need modified?

Will the cross member need modified.

 

[Tom@Hilltop_Machine]

Depends on what tranny he goes with. If its a T18 then same bellhousing will work. Clutch linkage will be the same and crossmember will work also, But a 1980 didn't come with a 3 speed from the factory. If he goes with a SR4, T4 or T176 then different bellhousings come into play.

 

[strange1]

...But a 1980 didn't come with a 3 speed from the factory...

Nor did a dana300 ever come mated to a jeep 3-speed. He may want to make sure he knows what he has before he starts looking for parts to swap.

 

[Curtis_H]

Yea Idk what he's got then He just bought it. Says its a 1980 3 speed but guess either not a 80 or somebody swapped it out. He was just asking me what it would take to swap to a 4 speed and I wasn't completely sure. Thanks for info so far.

 

[strange1]

go to Novak-adapt.com, they have some of the best jeep transmission tech I have found. At least as far as identifying and learning what will swap and what will not.

 

[RenegadeT]

Yeah I'm as confused as these other guys. Are you sure it's a d300 and not a dana20? The t150 3 speed transmissions always had a d20 behind them. The t150 to T18 swap is pretty well documented on the net, it helped me do the swap.
One more thing, I believe the 1980 and up CJ's got a different crossmember to fit the d300, compared to the 76-79 CJ's with the d20. I can't remember why they are different (I probably knew back in the day), maybe the 80+ are compatible with the larger transmission offerings. Or maybe the d300 is clocked lower, I think the newer xmbr has worse ground clearance.