Fitting gearbox to 3500 - Advice requested

N

Nelson-1

New Member
I would appreciate any advice on fitting a gearbox to a 1974 3500. I purchased this vehicle a few years ago to restore and have a box ready to replace the existing one ( which only engages reverse and is rather inconvenient in traffic!) but when I crawled under to inspect it, it looked as though some specific know how might be very handy.
Any advice or perhaps direction to instructions on the internet would be very much appreciated.
I owned one of the 1st 3500's (picked up from the UK works) in Perth, Western Australia in 1969 & would have to say that it was one of the best cars I have owned, hence the "boys toys" bit.

Tks
Rex
 
I did this many years ago and the details are now vague but it went as described in the factory workshop manual. My only warning is that the box is VERY heavy, you ideally need a transmission jack or a very strong friend and a trolley jack to get the new one back in.
Get the car up front and rear on nice high ramps or secure axle stands, the more clearance underneath the better.
It might be worth changing the flex plate while the box is off. I think they are pretty strong on V8s but on the 2000 they are well known for breaking.
Hope you like the taste of ATF!
Let us know how it goes.
 
Its pretty straight forward really.

Access to all of the bellhousing bolts is good. I would suggest removing the bolts prior to removing the gearbox mount at the rear.

Dont forget all the usual bits like speedo cables and selector linkages etc. The usual one to forget is the kick down cable which is best removed from the throttle linkage.

When lowering the rear of the box down the engine will drop at the rear also, therefore keep a very close eye on the fan/radiator. You should get away without disconnecting any coolant hoses although you will of course have to undo/remove the oil cooler pipes for the g/box.

The box is very heavy and you will need all the access you can. Try and raise the rear of the car as far as you can so that you can get to the gearbox easily with a friend/jack.

When removing the driveshaft simply unbolt it together with the front uj from the gearbox. Leave it attached to the final drive and dont be tempted to leave the front uj on the box and remove the shaft by undoing the sliding joint as you may loose the balance. You will have to jack up one of the rear wheels to allow you to roate the shaft in order to get to all four bolts.

Be careful to align the g/box and drive dogs on the torque converter prior to pushing the box back on as otherwise you could damage either unit.


Good luck

Allen
 
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