just need a little clarification. is the bellhousing the only difference between tranny's? mostly looking at the fm145.
bought a truck with no trans but hoping the 2.8 will last till I cam rebuild a 2.3
makes sense now. so to upgrade to an m5hd ,I would be able to reuse one of my clutches, just not recommended? sorry just not finding much about 4 banger tran vs v6.
yeah for now I just want to get it drivable without spending to much on things I don't need later. so from doing some research they made some 2.8 4x4 with a tk4? if so is that swap worth it. I have a tk4 but its 2wd. so looks like I would only need bell housing and extension housing to bolt it up to the 1350? or even just bell housing and run 2wd for a while.
the 83 2wd was my daily not to long ago. so even he 2.3 in it runs good just needs carb work. (although I starts anytime you want it to even after sittin for a year) . the 85 is just in a lot betters shape overall.
i am confused to the goals and intended lineup.
i take it you were running a 2wd 4 whizzer. failed the trans or no? or is the truck just so rotten now your not wanting to drive it daily because to ol beast is in bad shape overall...???
then, you picked up a transless 4x4 with a 2.8 and it is in good shape?
and the tk4 is out of the the rotten 2wd 4 whizzer??
or is it just a part that was around or recently picked up?
the 2.8 will likely need carb work as well.
the 2wd 4cyl or sans bellhousing tk4 will require an output shaft swap along with the bellhousing swap to go onto a 2.8 and have a 1350 hang off of it....
unless it was from a b2, in which case it is a 4x4 tk4 already and just needs a t case installed.
to give advice on this i would need to know how complete the 4x4 2.8 engine project truck is.
if all of the parts are there and it just has a broken trans, i say get a 4x4 m50d from the junkyard and put it back together. you may have to get some driveshaft work done but it will be worth it.
otherwise just fix the 2.3 carb and swap the 2.3 powertrain in and deal with the drive shaft.
...
or put a 5.3 ls truck and trans in there and be busting axles to death.