Swapping a c6 for an AOD

[SleeperStyle]

Okay it has been a long while since i have been here, but i ran into a problem. My truck died a few months back, but i couldn't seem to part with it. the transmission just up and died. Well i now have the opportunity to bring it back from the dead. I have had an AOD tranny pretty much fall in my lap from another bronco. so i need to know what it would take for me to install this trans in-place of my old c6. what exactly am i getting myself into? I will have a whole donor truck for parts so i would think i can just strip that one down. Please let me know. I am looking at doing it all this weekend. thanks in advance.

-Terrence [-o<

I guess it would help to give you the year and engine, huh? 88 with the 302

 

[BLADE262US]

Well to do this its good you have a donor truck . You will need the tranny , flywheel for the AOD dont use your C^ one or you will **** it , the throttle valve cable and associated brackets , the transfercase shifter linkage , The wiring pigtail will need to be spliced into your tuck for the reverse lights and neutral safety and you will need to swap out the steering column so it has the correct travel to shift the gears . When I put the C6 inplace of my AOD I didnt have a steering column and had to choose between park and 1st gear figured park was more important . /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[SleeperStyle]

can it be done without the steering column? i one day would like to go back to the c6.

 

[SleeperStyle]

anyone done this? know how much time i am looking at?

 

[Broncobill78]

can it be done without the steering column? i one day would like to go back to the c6.

As best I know you'll need to swap columns but that's a pretty straightforward swap and all you'll need to do is not throw away the one you're taking out, but why ? I can't imagine any reason for doing that. If you have a 300/302/351 then the AOD is plenty strong enough so that strength isn't an issue. If you swap up to a 460 then yes, you *would* need to upgrade/rebuild the AOD to compensate for that but even if the 460 was fuel injected you would absolutely want that 4th gear to help offset the milage penalty you're looking at. Once you spend some time with a 4-speed going back to a 3-speed won't make any sense, unless you're building a truck mainly for trail riding, towing or street-class competition use and having a built-up smallblock would benefit from the stronger C6, or if it's a secondary vehicle you just don't drive much. The C6 IS stronger but the AOD is just fine behind any smallblock or I6 and if you drive it around much the improved milage from the 4th gear really shows up.

As far as time goes, I just replaced the AOD in my 88'. With the proper tools and a helper you can do it in a weekend if you're motivated. If you have the stock exhaust the difficult part will be taking off the passenger side crossmember bolts because the stock exhaust runs right over them with little to no clearance. What worked best for me was to pull the driveshafts & transfer case, then position the transmission jack undet the transmission oil pan and get the tranny strapped to the jack. With that done I removed nuts from the rear transmission mount (the rubber tranny to crossmember mount) and ALSO removed the nuts from both motor mounts. With this done you can jack the entire assembly *upwards* and you'll have the clearance to get at the crossmember bolts. Doing the same thing when reinstalling the transmission will also go a long way towards making life easier. Whe reinstalling the crossmember you'll want to loosely install the *drivers* side first and then slide the passenger side forward and into place. You want to do it this way because it HAS to have one side installed loosely and then you'll need to use a lrg rubber mallet or a3-5lb. maul to knock the opposite side into place so that you can bolt up the angled supports but the drivers side has brake, fuel & electrical lines all run right through there. If you bolt in the drivers side first there aren't any lines or obstructions on the passenger side. You'll still need to knock the crossmember into position but at least you won't be pinching or hitting any lines when you do. Also, before removing the driveshafts take a moment to mark the position of all 4 yokes ans how the shaft is bolted in so that when you put the shafts back in you don't install them out of phase and wind up with an annoying vibration. The correct flywheel is easy to identify because it will have "AOD" stamped into it.

 

[SleeperStyle]

great info. thanks for the tip. any special tools i need to pick up prior to this?

 

[Broncobill78]

I didn't need any *special* tools for the job, it can be done w/hand tools. Air tools made it go a bit faster especially with the tranny mount & crossmember bolts. You'll need a handfull of standard & deepwell metric sockets 15mm,16mm,19mm etc. Flarenut wrenches for the tranny lines. The only other thing would be a transmission jack. I wound up using it to take down te transfer case, lieft the engine/tranny combo to gain clearance for the pass-side crossmember bolts and dropping & replacing the transmission itself. I prefer using an actual tranny jack, the saddles that drop onto standard floorjacks don't always have enough lift when used on a truck (especially so if you need to use it to boost up the engine/tranny to get at the bolts), but I guess in the end you work with what you have. Most of that stuff just makes the job go easier & faster but you can do it with nothing but hand tools & a floorjack if that's all you have access to.

Let us know how you make out & don't be shy if you hit any snags. Shout out or send a PM, it can be tricky the first time around.

 

[SleeperStyle]

hmm...the steering column in the donor truck seems to have the same gear set up as mine. is it possible that either the column or the tranny is from a different truck? or is it that there is no visible differences until this thing is pulled out?

 

[BLADE262US]

The one for the AOD will show the overdrive in the indicator window the C6 will not . The linkage arm on the end of the column is longer on one than the other . Doesnt give the linkage full movement . /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[Broncobill78]

Like Blade said, ck the shift indicator to see if by chance your truck & this truck have the same shift pattern. The shift pattern on the indicator is a quick way to ck which transmission the truck has

 

[SleeperStyle]

htye are the same. P-R-N-D-1-2 hence why i am wondering if something is screwy here.