RyanL

Hi, I am new here, so i will tell you alittle about myself. I am 18 and going to school for a diesel mechanic. I have a 1977 Ford F-350 4wd dually with 3:54 gears, flatbed, stacks, and a 6.9L international engine and 4spd i put in it.

I just bought a rebuilt 1990 6BT cummins, it has marine pistons, rods, bearings, the orginal turbo has been replaced with a bigger one from a 2001 with the wastegate, it came with the powerglide automatic (that i want to sell),but I am wanting to put in the nv4500 5-spd i just bought.

The thing i want to make sure of is will the 94 and newer bell housing adapter bolt to the engine. I figure it will but i ddon't want to buy the adapter,bellhousing,starter, clutch and what not i f it won't work.

Also what kind of milage and performance can i expect out of this old beast, will serve as a daily driver, and pull a trailer occasional around 10,000lbs or less. Right now i am averageing between 10-15 mpg.

Thank you,

RyanL

wannadiesel

Yes, the bellhousing will bolt on.

Mileage: I would expect around 18 - 20 on the highway and 14 - 17 around town empty. It depends on how you have the pump set up and how you drive. Loaded will drop it 4 or 5 mpg.

Performance will depend on how far you want to crank it up. Definitely way better than the 6.9 once the turbo spools up.

BTW, do you have the 6.9 straight piped? Those things sound awesome like that!

Vulcan

I know a guy who has a 12v in a ford and I believe he used an adaptor plate to use the ford trans. Its a nice setup. The guy is on nwbombers.com, his handle is "BV".

bgilbert

From what I understand if you want to keep the pre 94 starter, adaptor and other odds and ends, you need the conversion bellhousing. If you use the bell from the 94+ you'll need starter, adaptor, among other things. Just going on what I've read. Haven't gotten this far.. yet.

mhuppertz

Standard Transmissions out of Texas sells the bellhousing you need.

bmoeller

Was the tranny you have come from a Dodge? The GM version is a little different.

RyanL

I did have to add mufflers to my truck because the straight pipe was way to loud. The truck was in TRUCK TREND last year a readers ride. The Trans i have is from a 2wd dodge cummins. I need the 2wd cause i have a divorced transfer case. I have just the trans, no bellhousing no nothing, it was pulled out due to problems, I was told 5th gear chattered or something like that, but i bought it for $200 so i think it is worth it either way.

So would the conversion bellhousing be cheaper and easier than buying the 94 or newer housing and adapter plate which might be hard to come by.

I still need to figure out which flywheel to use. Also Clutch and pressure plate
which ever is the biggest heaviest duty recomened clutch and pressure plate i can get.

As for the slave cylinder, will the one on my 6.9l work?

I am welcome to any and all recommendation's or tips.

Thanks

Ryanl

apwatson50

What pieces do you have right now? just the engine and tranny?

To bolt that engine to that tranny you would either need the adaptor plate, bell housing, slave cylinder, and starter from a 94 or newer dodge.

If you have the adaptor plate, bellhousing, slave cylinder, and starter from the 90 than you would just need the adaptor bell housing and you can use all the afore mentioned parts.

The flywheel and clutch will work from either year.

skchevota

If you use the 94 and up bell houseing, you will need the 94 on up moter plate,fly wheel, starter and clutch. I went this way for 1 the 94 on up clutch is bigger, and you have more options in the aftermarket. and 2 the 93 with the nv4500 was a one year only bell houseing, harder/more expencive to find .
as for the chatter or popping out of in 5th gear, this was a common problem with the early 4500s, dodge has a fix for it and should be availible from you local dealer. its somthing to do with the retaining nut on the 5th gear shaft , it back off or something. from what I have heard its under 20 bucks for the kit. But you will have to see what else if anything might be damaged in you trans. For the slave, just get the right one , I got one for like 45bucks, it bolts up, is the corect length, has the right through, ect.

Micaiahfied

do a little research on here, i believe there is a fix for that 5th gear problem, check the second gen section on that.

apwatson50

Actually the 1st gen clutch is bigger than the 2nd gen clutch. The 1st gen is a cast iron pressure plate and the 2nd gen is a regular stamped steel pressure plate. We installed a 2nd gen clutch into my dad's 1st gen, cause it was cheeper, and it bolted directly to the 1st gen flywheel.

Also, Dodge didn't start using the nv4500 untill 94 in the new body style.

skchevota

Sorry, I was under the impresion the second gen cluthches were bigger,opps, well I know there is more aftermarket support for them. I hered there were some late 93s that came with the 4500? I could be wrong...

bgilbert

2nd gen clutch is 12 1/4". 1st gen clutch is 13". You won't see a 2nd gen clutch holding 750-800ft-lbs like ours can. Sure there were 93's with nv4500's... they were gassers, light duty trans. The heavy duty nv4500 wasn't available til 94 as ap said. As far as aftermarket support, since we can use a 2nd gen clutch then the support is the same. It's just these vendors don't know Dodge made a truck before 94, let alone it had a Cummins in it. Their websites only list 94+. Some don't even know what can be used/work in our 1st gens.

skchevota

I here you there, I have only found a few web sites with aftermarket stuff for first gens

apwatson50

The clutch doesn't know what year truck its in

Thats why I said that you can put a 94 and newer clutch in a 1st gen