5 speed for a 1969 Dart Swinger

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erafuse

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Have a 1969 Dart Swinger 4 speed. Thinking about putting a 5 speed in. Anyone know what to put in and where to buy one that will fit right in. Anyone ever do this on a 1969 Dart?
 
I think Passons make their own 5 speed based on the Mopar A833 tranny. Can't remember the name, but I think it's called a A533. They look very similar to the Mopar 4 speed & I think they bolt right in with little or no modifications. A friend is installing a TKO 5 speed in his 69 Dart, but a lot of mods involved. Check them out.
 
I did a Tremec TKO 5 speed in my 69, got the kit from Hurst, I liked the transmission bracket design the best
 
I think Passons make their own 5 speed based on the Mopar A833 tranny. Can't remember the name, but I think it's called a A533. They look very similar to the Mopar 4 speed & I think they bolt right in with little or no modifications. A friend is installing a TKO 5 speed in his 69 Dart, but a lot of mods involved. Check them out.
thanks wouldn’t happen to have a website ?
 
. Will it bolt right in without modifications ?

Have to redo the tunnel and new drive shaft. They furnish the tunnel piece.

tunnel.jpeg
 
If you decide to go with the Passon unit, read this thread first. One of our members had a nightmare experience with Passon. It's a long read but very informative.

A855 - 5 Speed
 
Beware, I was also told it would bolt right in.
Obviously that's not the truth, especially in A body's.
Stick with the 4 speed for now.
 
Go with a TKO 5 or a tremec 6 spd. I wouldn’t buy a passion product he doesn’t stand by it. Passon doesn’t build these A855 or warranty his transmissions without threat of lawsuit.
 
I did a Tremec TKO 5 speed in my 69, got the kit from Hurst, I liked the transmission bracket design the best

Same here. Hurst no longer sells the kit but you can buy the brackets still. The one thing I didn't like about the mount was how it clipped part of the exhaust reliefs in the torsion bar mount. otherwise a beefy piece.

As others stated you'll need to cut the floor and widen it for a unmodified TKO or T56. SST sell ones that are supposed to drop in but $$$$. I used the SST shifter handle, as the shifter mounting moved closer to the center of the car. I also added a console, which requires the brackets to be reworked and the console body to be shaved down to fit the new floor plan to place it in the original location.

With the TKO I was able to reuse my 4 speed drive shaft with a conversion u-joint and use the yoke Hurst supplied.

The aluminum bell that came with my kit required the 72-up bell z bar pivot to accurately locate the Z-bar.

Last I looked kits from American Powertain don't include a bell housing.
 
In had no idea there were so many problems with the Passon 5 speed. I guess I'll stay away from them if I want one.
 
Can I ask why you are interested in another gear?
Just thought it would be better for highway driving.Also it slips out is second gear when slowing down. But reading the comments think I will stick with a 4 speed.
 
Just thought it would be better for highway driving.Also it slips out is second gear when slowing down. But reading the comments think I will stick with a 4 speed.
Depending on your hiway rpm, it's a heckuva lot cheaper to swap rearends.
Or even to mod the engine for more bottom-end torque.
Fixing the slipping-out business is easy and cheap. I have been running the same gearset for a long long time.

Without knowing anything about your combo, it's hard to make any recommendations, but;
I found that in the early sixties, there was a gearset that had a 3.09 low gear in it, and I refer to it as the Commando box. The other three ratios are very similar to the later 2.66low box.
The Commando ratios are 3.09-1.92-1.40-1.00, and
the standard ratios are .... 2.66-1.92-1.40-1.00
The difference is 3.09/2.66= plus 16%. This allows you to take out the same 16% rear gear for very little performance loss.
For example; just spitballing here;
Say you had 3.91s now,with a 2.66 box Your roadgears are
10.40-7.51-5.47-3.91.. Swapping to the Commando box and 3.91 less 16% =3.37, which rounds down to 3.23s,or up to 3.55s. Lets go
With 3.55s, your road gears are ;
10.97-6.82-4.97-3.55 .....With 3.23s they would be
9.98-6.20-4.52-3.23

Your hiway rpm drops to 3.55/3.91=.908, so if you were currently cruising at 65=3233, then, now with 3.55 you will be cruising at;
3233 x.903=2919, (2670 with 3.23s)
Your starter gear is about the same. but
your second gear is a lil slower to the shift. However, there is a good chance it is a better gear to hit 65mph with.
With the standard box, 65 in 2nd is 6210
With the Commando box, 65=5640, which;
Depending on your cam, could be quicker to the stripe.

This is what I did, and have never been sorry.
There is one hiccup, maybe two.
1) the Commando comes with the old-style Ball&Trunnion output on it, so you have to rob parts from your standard box,to make it work, and
2) there are zero gears that can be swapped between these two boxes. Well except for reverse,lol.
I called up Passon, and he had what I needed, and I right away also ordered a brand new HD-aluminum case and aluminum cover from him. I thought the prices were reasonable.

I tried the 3.23s with that 3.09 Commando box, and I really liked it. But I have an HO 360 with BB type low-rpm torque.. For anything less, I think 3.09x3.23=9.98 will still be Ok, but if your coming from 3.91s, you will notice the loss off the line.

You can occasionally, score a Commando here on FABO, very well priced. Downright cheap compared to the options.

In the end I installed a GVod for 65=2240rpm,lol. But that wasn't cheap back then and even less so today.

Please recall that the above is just a math exercise because I have no idea what rear gears you have. But the 3.55/3.23 part of the exercise holds true regardless, and all rpms reflect the use of an 83" tire roll-out, which is about 26.4 diameter, a number I picked out of a hat, but is close to a 225/70-14.

BTW
the aluminum cased short-tail weighs about 85 pounds, and you can heave that up by yourself, compared to the 2-man struggle of the cast-iron pig. And you can use an aluminum case from an A/F od box. I have bought complete od boxes at swapmeets for $50 Canadian. The bottom line is that the installed commando box could be $400 or less, and guys practically give away 3.23 chunks; you may even already have one in your garage.

Jus trying to help
 
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Depending on your hiway rpm, it's a heckuva lot cheaper to swap rearends.
Or even to mod the engine for more bottom-end torque.
Fixing the slipping-out business is easy and cheap. I have been running the same gearset for a long long time.

Without knowing anything about your combo, it's hard to make any recommendations, but;
I found that in the early sixties, there was a gearset that had a 3.09 low gear in it, and I refer to it as the Commando box. The other three ratios are very similar to the later 2.66low box.
The difference is 3.09/2.66= plus 16%. This allows you to take out the same 16% rear gear for very little performance loss.
For example; just spitballing here;
Say you had 3.91s now,with a 2.66 box
(2.66-1.92-1.40-1.00) Your roadgears are
10.40-7.51-5.47-3.91..
Swapping to the Commando box
(3.09-1.92-1.40-1.00) and 3.91 less 16% =3.37, which rounds down to 3.23s,or up to 3.55s. Lets go 3.55s.
Your road gears are ;
10.97-6.82-4.97-3.55
(With 3.23s they would be
9.98-6.20-4.52-3.23)

Your hiway rpm drops to 3.55/3.91=.908, so if you were cruising 65=3233, then, now you will be cruising at;
3233 x.903=2919, (2670 with 3.23s)
Your starter gear is about the same. but
your second gear is a lil slower to the shift. However, there is a good chance it is a better gear to hit 65mph with.
With the standard box, 65 in 2nd is 6210
With the Commando box, 65=5640, which;
Depending on your cam, could be quicker to the stripe.

This is what I did, and have never been sorry.
There is one hick up, maybe two.
1) the Commando comes with the old-style Ball&Trunnion output on it, so you have to rob parts from your standard box,to make it work, and
2) there are zero gears that can be swapped between these two boxes. Well except for reverse,lol.
I called up Passon, and he had what I needed, and I right away also ordered a brand new HD-aluminum case and aluminum cover from him. I thought the prices were reasonable.

I tried the 3.23s with that 3.09 Commando box, and I really liked it. But I have an HO 360 with BB type low-rpm torque.. For anything less, I think 3.09x3.23=9.98 will still be Ok, but if your coming from 3.91s, you will notice the loss off the line.

You can occasionally, score a Commando here on FABO, very well priced. Downright cheap compared to the options.

In the end I installed a GVod for 65=2240rpm,lol. But that wasn't cheap back then and even less so today.

Please recall that the above is just a math exercise because I have no idea what rear gears you have. But the 3.55/3.23 part of the exercise holds true regardless, and all rpms reflect the use of an 83" tire roll-out, which is about 26.4 diameter, a number I picked out of a hat, but is close to a 225/70-14.

Jus trying to help
Is the lower 1st in the Commando boxes through 1965. I remember seeing a chart but I can't find it.
 
I was told 64 was the last year. I cannot say if that was true; but
on FABO, I have not seen a slipyoke Commando come up for sale.
Not the chart but a Allpar explanation.

From day one, there were two distinct versions of this box: A-body (later to be used in F-bodies) and B-body (also to be found in later C- and E-bodies). Initially there were three main version-to-version differences: extension housing and mains haft length, low-gear ratio and rear-flange size. The A-car box, while every bit as strong as its larger cousin, carries a 3.09-to-1 low gear, to launch small cars with even smaller mills.

For 1965 there was only one noteworthy upgrade: the 1-2 shifter fork is redesigned to ease second-gear powershifts.

In 1966, though, several important changes appeared. First (and worst), the Hurst shifter was eliminated, replaced by a hollow-shaft Inland unit. Enthusiasts generally agree that this was a giant step backward, but Joe Average liked the reverse lockout feature. Second, the ball-and-trunnion front U-joint flange was gone, replaced by a more typical sliding-spline yoke arrangement.

A new speedometer pinion setup allowed more precise calibration (earlier ones were on a small cable-mounted adapter; starting in 1966 they use larger pinions and adapters). Also, except for the very early production cars, the 8-cylinder A-bodies came with the B-car’s 2.66 first-gear ratio.
 
I was told 64 was the last year. I cannot say if that was true; but
on FABO, I have not seen a slipyoke Commando come up for sale.
3.09 gearset was used in 64 & 65 A-body. It was also used again very late in the 74 model year, and early 75 before the overdrive.
 
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