Decision, decisions, decisions.

[sjo426]

I know there is no one great answer here but any input would be great.

This past weekend I drove my 78 CJ7 (304/T150/Dana20) to the seymour jamboree. Well on the way back let's just say I had some major problems and limped back on just the front axle. Well the engine is tired and I hate the transmission/t-case combo. I do have access to a 360 (I think) so I would love to get that.

So my questions....Is the 360 a direct swap for the 304? What transmission/tcase combo will bolt up to the 360 that is strong and has a low first gear? Any other issues I might have when swapping this type of motor?

Thanks for the help!!

 

[David]

Try looking for a late 70's/early 80's J-10 or J-20. From what I can tell on the internet, some of them came with a 360/T-18/D-20 combination. I won't pretend to know about input shaft lengths, spline counts, etc., but that should be a good place to start.

 

[redrooster]

Anything that bolted to a 304 will bolt to a 360 or 401. The T18 would be nice, but you need to look for a Dana 300 case. The T176 transmission and Dana 300 are a common swap.

 

[sjo426]

So a T18 will bolt up to a 360 but a Dana 300 will not bolt up to the T18. And a T176 will bolt up to a Dana 300 but the T176 will not bolt up to the 360. Not without some adapter plates anyway.

So am I correct in thinking that the T18 is a stronger transmission than the T176? Making it best to shell out the bucks for an adapter for the T18 to Dana 300?

 

[David]

You are correct in thinking that the T-18 is stronger than a T-176. The T-18 is considered to be a heavy duty transmission, while the T-176 is considered medium duty. Having said that, the T-176 is a good transmission, and should stand up to normal use behind a V-8. Many people desire the T-18 b/c some varients came with a "granny" low gear--very nice for crawling.

If you get tired of searching the internet for answers, the people at Advance(d?) Adapters are very good at all kinds of swaps. Get their number, give them a call, and they can tell you what will go with what (and how much they will charge you for the adapter to make it all fit).

Although the 300 is considered to be a "better" transfer case than the Dana 20, the 20 isn't at all bad. It's chief weakness is that from the factory, the low range is only 2:1. If that isn't low enough for you, look for an internals swap, rather than fooling with an adapter for a 300. Note that if you go with a transmission with a very low range first gear ("granny" gear), then the low range of the transfer case becomes less important. Now all of this is out the window if you're planning to do very technical rock crawling. But for standard trail riding, you won't have a problem.