460 Ford Forum banner

seriously thinking of a 4 speed

732 views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  Fordguy545 
#1 ·
I need some opinions about going to a 4 speed, what transmission, and clutch. I have a 67 1/2 ton drag truck with a 521, BT heads, roller, dominator, ladder bar suspension, 35 spline with strange n-iron and 4:56's. The truck is heavy 3900lbs, so parts must be strong. What do you think?
Thanks
Bob
 
#4 ·
Breakage

I think you'll break it, and it won't be as fast in the 1/4 as a properly equipped automatic. Nearly 4K lbs, and it's a drag truck; meaning you're going to launch it hard and load it hard between gears. That's a tough job for most manual transmissions.

That said, I dig sticks...so I say go for it. Jerico, Liberty...or even better...Lenco. I don't think I'd try any of the production passenger car transmissions for a serious drag car. I think you'd even bust the richmond, "tranzilla" t56, etc...that's a lot of load.
 
#5 ·
I'm running a virtually stock toploader behind my 545. I swapped it from a close ratio to a wide ratio, and added the 2.90 first gear and big input. Truck put down 475 whp/496 wtq on motor and 549whp/593 wtq on 100 shot. This is in a 5200# truck running mid 12's. A couple months ago, the factory bearings finally let go after 43 years :shock: (trans is out of a 64 galaxie)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top