1975 Brutally Simple Daily Driver

I’ll measure it before it all goes back together, but my throw out bearing part number matches for a comparable year Ford truck that this transmission would’ve come out of. I mean… not to get cocky yet. I’m sure I’m missing something.

 

It may be a good time to consider going to a hydraulic clutch if you have not done so.
Fairly easy since you already have the swinging peddles.

 

I looked into it a while back. It used to feel like a guessing game especially when turning a corner and shifting at the same time. Then after I built the rock sliders and tied the cage into the frame, my clutch felt great! I like the simplicity of how it is.

 

I suppose that stiffened the frame area of the clutch tube. You may still have a geometry work out getting the new clutch configuration
working and hydraulic may be the solution.

 

This was an expensive box…



… but I thoroughly love how well it was packaged, the quality feel of the products, the full color instructions, and the fact that they supplied gaskets without the expectation of just goobing it all together with RTV. Well done, Novak! I’m hoping to get started on everything this weekend.

 

Wow that adapter is purdy!

 

Sure is! It’s a cast piece that’s got a machined and removable bearing retainer that I didn’t notice yesterday. The overall feel of it is great that it’s heavy, there’s no sharp edges anywhere, and the threaded holes don’t have that crunchy feel when putting a bolt in.





The price was a bit to get over, but the more I look at it, the more I see the care that went into it.

 

Easy weekend

 

This past spring I converted a 435 with their kit. I love how the 435 is designed. While they practically fall/come apart in your lap, I did struggle with a couple things installing the Novak kit.

The two anti rattle springs for the large (1st/rev) gear were a REALLY tight fit(tighter than my original shafts). What a pain to assemble. I used axle grease to hold them in place while installing the gear. Could have used a second set of hands that day.

The rear bearing needed a generous amount of love to install on the new shaft. There wasn’t more than a slight interference fit on both my original main shafts.

As for setting the input shaft end play; I needed to buy some thick gasket paper and cut my own input retainer gaskets to meet the spec. Otherwise it was too tight. FYI, 9mm brass makes a perfect punch to make the bolt holes in the gasket paper. Also, shoot for the larger end of the spec. When you do your final assembly, you don’t want it to come in just under and be too tight. AMHIK.

The above is meant to hopefully help your swap go a little smoother than mine. Like you, I think the 435 is a good transmission. Good luck!

 

This stuff works better than regular grease for assembling transmissions-


Also, a good trick when installing bearings is to heat them in an old toaster oven (you can use the regular oven if the Mrs isn't home!) and put the shaft in the freezer if possible. Often this will expand/shrink the parts enough to enable easy assembly.

 

Is the Asseblee Goo sticky? Good for holding needle rollers in the D18/20 intermediate gear, and transmission cluster gears?

 

Yes!

 

Yes it is . Good stuff .

 

Yes indeed!
Also good for holding blind nuts and washers that you can only get a fingertip on.

 

HorrorFright has a decent set of various size punches for make holes in gaskets.

 

The shop got rearranged so the CJ isn’t an ice cube bringing the room temperature down while I’m trying to work on it. I really like the CJ size to shop ratio compared to just about every other vehicle I’ve had in there. TONS of space to work around it for a 16x26 footprint!

Anyhow, I made up a quick mock up stand for the NP435 and got the oil draining.




Looking forward to getting started.

 

Big day in the shop with one potential road block… more on that in a bit. For the most part, everything went fairly smooth with rebuilding the new transmission.




I didn’t take hardly any pictures while trying to get through it while everything was fresh in my head. With the shifter straightened out, I declared the 435 un-Bronco-ed. Removal of the Dana 20 and T150 was also very straight forward after cracking loose what seemed like an entire tube of red RTV.





Had to set them side by side for a good comparison. That T150 is tiny! Then, even though nothing was cleaned, I mocked up the whole assembly to double check measurements.



Here’s where I’m leery… I had the pilot bushing fairly far into the crankshaft for the T150 input shaft.



The input shaft on the NP435 is shorter than the T150’s. With the bell housing back on the engine I could measure how far the pilot bushing needed to move. One slice of bread later…




… and it moved fairly easy. The bushing is now protruding out 7/16” (14/32”) and the bushing itself is right around 21/32” leaving 7/32” still in the crank. With it that far out, the measurement from the face of the bushing to the transmission matting surface on the bell housing looks like this…




… giving me just over 7/32” on engagement after the taper.

So… what say everyone? Run it or figure a different pilot bushing?

 

Man, I don't know, looks a little shallow to me.

 

I know AA sells extended pilot bushings, Novak would certainly have a solution.
Is oilite bronze available in generic lengths?

Edited, start surfing :https://www.oilite.com/oilite

 

I'ld try to get a longer bushing. Ideally you could have an index ring on the inside of the flywheel for better support.
As it is if that bushing moves forward it will loose the shaft and if it moves aft it will loose the flywheel. You need to at least have something that can't move far enough to loose the other side.