NP435 4 speed swap. (picture story)

[Stallacrew]

Well a few months ago my dad and I bought a cherry little MJ. Only major problem was that it had no transmission in it. It has a bookoo of miles on it, but the engine was rebuilt "meticulously" 30k ago. I've known the guy that sold it to me for a while. I stopped in his driveway one day when I saw him working outside, and commented on his MJ, the first thing he said was "It's not for sale". I just wanted to tell him about , which I did, and from then on out, we were Jeep buds.

Long story short, bought a sweet 2wd MJ with a rebuilt Renix, missing it's Peugot tranny, and got a sweet set of leather seats in the deal. Now it was time for a transmission...

Crappy pic from night time, but the best I have:

Nice interior, no more than a year old, and also a free FSM!!

I had read on Novak about the SM465/SM420 and such but they required like $1000 in adaptor stuff, so I looked on. I have aperfectly good AW4 with a NP231 on the back of it sitting in the driveway, but we didnt want to deal with the electronics and whatnot. I told dad about Brett M's shifting, and he didnt like the sound if it so we kept looking and came across the NP435 idea.

Little did I know that in the driveway was also a T176 bellhousing that came with my 4.2L engine from last years stroker build. I checked it out, found that it would all peice together and got to work.

We found a complete NP435 transmission ~60 miles from home for $150 and talked him down to $125. This guy claims to know Rusty from Rusty's offroad. I don't know the validity to that story, but he was nice regardless.

NP435:

Logo, which I want made into a sticker:

So now we needed to put a CPS hole precisely in the spot it needed to be to avoid sending it off to NOVAK.

We own a manufacturing co, and have machinery to make whatever we need....I haven't spent enough time to aquire all the skillz I need so dad did the majority of this work while I was still on the clock (come on he's the boss and can do whatever he wants). So when I got off work, I saw a fabulous looking CPS sensor mounting location.

I had to make some washers to put the sensor it the correct place, and to also index the bolt to the right spot since it had a shoulder on it.

Bolt:

Washer beginnings:

Washer in the CPS holes:

We also had to put mounting holes on the big flat area on the bellhousing. The T160 (i think) bellhousing requires no mods to put the NP435 in it, you just need the CPS hole and such. However, we had the T176 housing and we had to drill some holes. 2 of the holes were already piloted in, but not all the way through or tapped, so we had to do that. We also went ahead and used some set screws and blue loctite to plug the previous mounting holes so no crap would enter.

 

[Stallacrew]

Photobucket's image editing sucks, so I cant really outline the new holes or the old ones, but they are there.

Flat part with new holes and plugs:

Inside with new holes and plugs: (you can see some of our shop's product in the background)

AW4 top and Puegot on bottom:

Everything done and mounted, ready to install:

Well we went ahead and finshed the bellhousing, took it home a few days later and tried it on to see if we were in business....

We weren't. I thought we had made the CPS hole in the wrong place, but we had in fact done it correctly. I inadvertently unplugged the MAP sensor's vaccuum plug. Once we (replaced and) plugged it back in, it ran like a champ, just like the day we loaded it on the trailer.

We have since accumulated all the parts (which I will make a list of once I get home and have access to the boxes etc) neccessary to complete it. Now I just need to find a free weekend and mount that puppy up so we can get a driveshaft cut.

 

[Stallacrew]

I'll have more pictures and info when I get home this weekend or next.

Also, for the guys that would consider this, some quick facts about the NP435:

6.69:1 low gear, which is good for crawling or (in my case) launching a bass boat on a steep boat ramp. More than twice as deep of a gear as an AW4 or AX15 if I recall correctly, which eliminates the need for a doubler TC.

Came out of old school F350's so you know its gotta be tough.

Has PTO so you COULD run a dump bed in an MJ, or a winch, or other hydraulics etc.

Doesn't have overdrive, so I can run stock 3.07's in the rear and still run only about 2400 rpm at 70 mph with 30's

Runs a little noisy from what I hear, but nothing a loud stereo cant fix



Looks like the rest of the install will be easy, not a very difficult job in general, just wish I had more free time at home to work. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

 

[CanMan]

Thats some cool work!

 

[Stallacrew]

Well, I know I haven't posted anything new, but that's because I havent been home. I will however be done with summer school in a week and hopefully home the next day.

It should be done soon there after. I will keep you updated once I get started back (not that too many people look at this thread obviously).

 

[cr2000xj]

just noticed you're not to far from me recommend any good wheeling spots close by?

 

[whitneyj]

That is unbelievable! I've always been a big fan of the NP435, not so much of the complexity of the AW4 and am waiting for it to blow up. I'm thinking this might be the tranny! Any chance of machining anymore of the CPS brackets?

 

[Stallacrew]

Depends on where you are. I wouldnt mind doing the machine work for just a little dough, but shipping the thing here might be a bit costly both ways. Not to mention you need to find a t150 or t176 bellhousing to begin with.

Not to mention, I wouldnt be back around home and have time to work on it until Thanksgiving time since I am off to school.

I'll keep you updated. Next thursday I'll have some more to add Im sure.

EDIT: I MAY be looking into making an adaptor for the AW4 bellhousing for the NP435 since it would possibly be easier than doing the CPS hole and the work related to it. This way, you can use the much easier to find AW4 bellhousing w/ CPS hole, an internal slave cylinder, and a plate to join the two together. I'll look into and let you know.

 

[Ghost]

Why not just use the CPS relocation kit? For most people the cost of machine work alone could be as much as the CPS relocation kit. Nice work though.

 

[Stallacrew]

The kit costs around $300. I know not everyone has a machine shop handy, but since I do, that is the route we went.

I think making a plate for the AW4 would be one of the easier ways to go about it, but I would have to take some measurements down before I said for sure.

 

[97XJ2]

I am by no means up on my transmission tech, but I know you did this for a 2wd MJ. was there ever such a thing for a 4wd vehicle for a transfer case?

 

[Stallacrew]

I am not positive I am understanding your question, but: Do they make a transfercase that fits this transmission? Yes.

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=908839


That is an article I have been going off of for some of the parts I will need. He did a really good job putting his in from what I saw, but never really gave any end results.....not to mention his is MUCH more offroad oriented than mine (later I will be putting a NP231 on it, but I have to make the adaptor.....I have some ideas.)

Anyhow, about the transfercase; I havent looked at NOVAK's website in a white to check, but NOVAK does ( and I am sure Advanced Adaptors does as well) make a kit to mate a transfer case to it.

That will all be covered by me at a later time. I didnt know why he used a doubler with as low of a gear as he did...?

 

[97XJ2]

Yes that was my question, because your transmission, with the output yoke and all, made me think it was 2wd specific. Thanks for the link

 

[Stallacrew]

OK guys....havent had time to do ANY work recently, but I am getting on it this weekend. I'll have progress up soon after it's done.

Thanks for watching.

 

[jmop]

:woohoo:

That is so awesome, I'm glad someone is getting some use out of the writeup.

End result? It rocks. I grew up on 4 speeds so it is like old hat to me but the strength reliability were what I really wanted. I would have added to the write up but that was around the time that they changed the rules on the forums that non members couldn't post in the Advanced Fab section so I never got to finish it.

Oh for adapters for the np231 Advanced Adapters makes a 23 spline main shaft and adapter kit that works for the Atlas/D300/NP231.

And for the question about machining the bell housing, I did the work with a whole saw and a dremel so I know it can be done without a machine shop. I do like how your bracket turned out though, very nice.

 

[Stallacrew]

:woohoo:

That is so awesome, I'm glad someone is getting some use out of the writeup.

End result? It rocks. I grew up on 4 speeds so it is like old hat to me but the strength reliability were what I really wanted. I would have added to the write up but that was around the time that they changed the rules on the forums that non members couldn't post in the Advanced Fab section so I never got to finish it.

Oh for adapters for the np231 Advanced Adapters makes a 23 spline main shaft and adapter kit that works for the Atlas/D300/NP231.

And for the question about machining the bell housing, I did the work with a whole saw and a dremel so I know it can be done without a machine shop. I do like how your bracket turned out though, very nice.

I'm so glad you responded! I didnt want to be like "Hey rememeber that time you put in a NP435 a few years ago? Do you remeber how you did ______?"

BUT since you did get in on this.....do you recall how big of a hole JUST the NP435 would need to fit in and not hang out the bottom?

We got everything gathered, and in the morning we are going to torque things down and shimmy that thing in. I would like to know how big of a hole I am going to cut and how much rubber I will need (Im using thick rubber bolted down to cover the hole I cut).

I'm sure I will PM you about something random and NP435 related some time soon.

Thanks in advance!

--Alex

 

[jmop]

No problem, My hole in the floor got a little excessive. If I remember correctly if you just want the transmission in you have to cut forward a bit because of where the shifter comes out. I can't remember exactly what the minimum size would have been.

I was doing it by my self, cut a little and fit the tranny, cut a little more and refit. I don't think I needed to cut as much out as i did to get it to bolt up, but the 5th or so time I had to slide out to trim some more I went a little craze and cut the whole thing out as well as part of the firewall.

EDIT: I forgot, feel free to PM me if you need any details and I'll help as best I can.

 

[Stallacrew]

Alrighty gang, the last few times I have been home to work on it......ITS BEEN RAINING. So, this thursday night I am headed home, and hopefully Friday, Saturday and Sunday I can get this thing in and done. The only thing I will have to wait on is getting the driveshaft cut locally.

Sorry for all the delay on pictures and other fun-ness, but once again, it was uber wet and kinda depressing to not get to work on it in general.

I think the only thing I did was remove the interior... wait, I did also torque the pressure plate down and replace all the gaskets on the tranny....no leaks for me (I hope).




I will also be laying down some peel-n-stick or whatever its called to sound proof and heat proof just a little (the cheap way).

I promise, if nothing else, I will at least get some pictures even if it is pouring all weekend

Wish me luck

--Alex

 

[Stallacrew]

.....

I promise, if nothing else, I will at least get some pictures even if it is pouring all weekend..........

--Alex

Wow, talk about an empty promise.


Well, here's an update. I still have the Manche, and I will be working on it in the morning. Dad is tired of it sitting in the driveway and Im tired of not being able to drive it. I graduated from college back in December and I've been working like whoa recently. That mixed with cold weather for the last few months and a tonsillectomy, I just now have some good time to work on this thing.

If we dont hit a snafoo, then we will be rolling by end of the day.

I need to find where I have put some parts, but installation will be short and sweet tomorrow.

I have my cam on the charger and a memory card.....somewhere. Ill be sure to post up tomorrow.

I have a few drive shafts to choose from and I will likely be cutting and welding one up tomorrow to work until I can get a Woody, or get one made locally soon. I think a test drive and a few more miles wont kill a jeep even if its a little wobbly.

Wish me luck, Ill be up in a few hours to work on it.

 

[MoparManiac]

Looks sweet man! Definitely ready for some pics.

The 2WD NP435 is the one you want when adapting to a t-case (something like a D20).

[hijack]

Picked this up recently for my MJ build.

[/hijack]