Tranny internals - tail vs. Side Options

[kenpolives]

Are there any major internal differences between the side shifters and the tail shifters? My tranny was "howling" and my mechanic said it was the ring and pinion. I had a old tail shifter that looked good but he said that the gears must be matched? and that since these were from the early and late model that they would not work.

Of course he had a "spare" tranny in his shop that he is willing to sell me.

[Dave_Darling]

The ring and pinion must be matched to each other, and are best if kept matched with their original case. Otherwise you get to spend a bunch of time with the $$ factory tools setting everything up again.

You can swap your gear shift linkage parts (all the internal rails and such) as well as the side-shift console and the end cover into/onto the tail-shifter, and have yourself a side-shifter. You can even leave out the end cover if you don't want yours.

But you can't just take the pinion gear out with the gear stack and swap it, nor can you realistically swap the ring and pinion into the other case.

--DD