4spd to 5spd

[ryanb360]

I am looking at gear replacements and a million other things on my bronco, after talkingt a guy at West Coast Diff. He said I was pretty screwed having only a 4 spd manual tranny. How hard is it to change from a 4 to a 5? And where can I get one? I saw one on ebay that is a M5R2, is that what I need? Looking on the net, there's not a huge amount of info I can find. Anybody know? Thanks.

**I was told I have a T-18 tranny, is that correct?**

 

[Justshootme84]

The T-18 may not be the best tranny for rock crawling, but it is a good, strong 4-sp. The Mazda 5-sp with OD is not. A better 5-sp would be a ZF model. There are some previous posts on the tranny swaps, or you can visit Novak Enterprises. They make many adapters to bolt up several trannies from different makers, and have a good description of each modle in their tech library, including the Borg-Warner T-18 versions. JSM84

http://www.novak-adapt.com/knowledge/t18_t19.htm

 

[snowman74]

Really? You don't think the T18 is a good rock crawler tranny? I must disagree with ya. I have this tranny, as well. It has an extra-low first gear, used primarily as a granny when towing...but also does wonders when off road, needing that extra low gear to get up and over. The last three gears serve their purpose very well. It's not geared right to smoke mustangs off the line, but it does fine for getting up to highway speed, and cruising there all day. I'm pretty happy with it...don't know why the guy told you that you were screwed.

Snowman74 >-

 

[Justshootme84]

Snowman, not disagreeing with you, Just stating the T-18 may not be the "best" tranny for rock crawling due to the non-synchronized shift for 1st gear. the granny low-range is good for low-speed crawling, and the T-18 is much stronger than the M5OD. I run an NP435 in my 86 Bronco, and would put it close to the T-18.

 

[snowman74]

Snowman, not disagreeing with you, Just stating the T-18 may not be the "best" tranny for rock crawling due to the non-synchronized shift for 1st gear. the granny low-range is good for low-speed crawling, and the T-18 is much stronger than the M5OD. I run an NP435 in my 86 Bronco, and would put it close to the T-18.

How do you like that new process 435? As I've been told, 1st and 4th aren't synchronized in that one. What advantage does one gain from having synchronization? Why are some tranny's only synchronized in some gears, but not in others? I am still learning...

Hypothetically speaking, if you could put any tranny you wanted in your bronco for off road use, what would you use? Anyway, thanks jsm84...wasn't trying to be argumentative (sorry)...just really like the towing and off-road performance of the BW T-18.

Snowman74 >-