Automatic to manual swap

Dpainter · Jan 14, 2019

New here and have a question on my truck. So I have a 360 out of a 1990 ram charger 4x4 that had an automatic trans and I am getting ready to put it into a 1990 w150 truck with a 4 speed manual but the pilot bearing does not fit in the crank. Too big. Any help would be much appreciated

SGTPaul · Jan 14, 2019

Welcome! Auto trans cranks are normally not drilled out for the bushing. I had this issue on a GTX in high school way back when. You can take your new bushing on a lathe and cut it dow to a .003" pinch fit to the hole you have in the crank. That is what I did. Or swap out the auto crank for a manual one.

hunt2elk · Jan 14, 2019

SGTPaul said:
Welcome! Auto trans cranks are normally not drilled out for the bushing. I had this issue on a GTX in high school way back when. You can take your new bushing on a lathe and cut it dow to a .003" pinch fit to the hole you have in the crank. That is what I did. Or swap out the auto crank for a manual one.

Or shorten the transmission shaft and use a pilot bearing instead of a bushing. This would be your cheapest option. Probably not the best solution if you want to keep your tranny stock, but it gets done a lot.

moparedtn · Jan 14, 2019

Many times it happens that a crank hasn't been final machined for the pilot bushing.
Fortunately, Ma Mopar has a quick and easy answer - the famous "Dakota pilot bearing":

It fits right in the recess in the crank where the torque convertor snout would have been.
The only other thing to worry about at that point is whether the input shaft of the transmission actually
bottoms out against the back of the crank - and if it does, it wouldn't be the first time someone cut off
a little bit of it to clear, since the input shaft will now be riding in the above bearing anyways.

After that, as long as your bellhousing indexes correctly to the block, you're golden.

vintage chromoly · Jan 14, 2019

Get an undersized OD bushing.
This will work provided the crank is rough drilled and not finish honed.

PurpleBeeper · Jan 14, 2019

I went the route of cutting an inch off my trans input shaft & using the Dakota bearing. Works just fine

Kern Dog · Jan 16, 2019

Yeah, while to some, the "cut off some of the input shaft" seems to be a huge mistake, it actually is not. As long as the remaining portion of the input shaft is supported as shown using that Dakota bearing, all of it works fine. I did this in a 360 I built for my "FrankenDuster 74 Plymouth.

Yeah...That is a tilt steering wheel out of a Cordoba. I miss that! I have another...I may modify it to use in the Charger someday!

Automatic to manual swap

Dpainter

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SGTPaul

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hunt2elk

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moparedtn

I got your Staff Member riiiight heeeere...

vintage chromoly

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PurpleBeeper

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Kern Dog

Life is full of turns. Build your car to handle.

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