wll an 80s truck 4 spd tranny fit an a body?

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macho781988

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i snagged an 84 or 85 dodge 2wd with a 318 4 spd for the engine for my 78 dodge macho power wagon and was wondering will the 4spd fit in the duster or demon? the shifter mounts in or around the middle of the tailshaft any help and any tips or tricks or values of certain cars would be helpful as i am new and hunting for my first muscle mopar
 
first off welcome

i think the thing that made all the trans different were the tailshaft lengths...

somebody might have a chart or something to post but im thinking not...
 
Welcome to the best site there is !!
i don't think so, the a-body A833 and A833OD trannys were model specific. regular and OD units had different front bearing retainer sizes, not a big deal if you use the same bell and use the correct shift fork or use a hydraulic TO bearing. but the tailshafts for only A-bodies had one shifter mount boss behind the trans mounting point, others had two different shifter bosses in different locations. thats a bigger problem.. not sayin it cant be done though!!
start by identifying what trans you have.
i'm sure theres more to add but i'm still gathering info for my auto to 4speed swap also.
good luck !
 
well i was told that the truck units were more used in b bodes but im not sure im still working on my truck project as of right now and hunting for a duster unless anybody can find me a good road runner project for a good price. but i love cudas and challengers but i believe ppl watch too much barret jackson and want 21 grand for a roller lol but again and a always im new so any and all help will be helpful and appricated
 
Yes, it can be made to fit. Its been covered on here a few times, doing a search for A833 OD should yield some info. I just posted the following on another thread just like this. The article linked at the top should have all the info you need, but below is the short version. The truck A833 OD is the same housing as the B/E transmission.

Excerpt from this article.... http://www.slantsix.org/articles/4-s...fourspeed1.htm

Adapting a Long Tail housing B/E Body Trans to the A-Body by Dave Clement
When I swapped from the 3 speed column shift in my 68 Barracuda to the long tailshaft 833 OD 4-speed from a D100 truck, the only fabricating I had to do (besides the tunnel extension) was to make a mounting plate that positioned the shifter forward from the rear shifter mount and shorten the drive shaft. Here are the things I found out about this conversion:
1. The three speed bell housing in my 68 Barracuda did not have the correct bolt pattern for the 4-speed and the bearing support pilot hole was to small. I used the bell housing from the pickup.
2. The 3 speed's rear tranny mount transferred directly to the OD 4 speed and mounted up with no modifications to the cross member. The distance from the face of the tranny to the center line of the tranny mount was the same for both the 3 speed and 4 speed and the distance down from the centerline of the output shaft to the face of the tranny mount were the same. I read that early B-bodies did have tranny mounts in a different location. Later, all trannies used the tranny mounts in the same position.
3. The z-bar pivot on the 3 speed bell housing transferred directly to the 4 speed bell housing. The truck pivot was longer and in a different position but its mounting pad is in the same location.
4. I had to use the truck clutch fork because its pivot in the bell housing was a ball on the truck and a bracket in the 3 speed and they were not interchangeable (bracket bolts on with two screws; the ball pivot is a single thread-in post). The extra 1" length on the truck clutch fork does not interfere or cause any problems. I am running 6 into 2 headers with this setup.
5. The front boss on the front shifter pad on the OD 4 speed interferes with the A-body torsion bar cross member. You can either dent the cross member or do as I did and cut the boss off the trans. tail housing.
6. The output shaft on the 3 speed is smaller than the 4 speed. You will need a slip yoke from either a 4 speed or 727 car with a universal joint size that matches your drive shaft (or get a crossover "problem solver" universal joint).
7. I forget the actual dimension but I had to shorten the drive shaft about 3 3/8". (Measure everything once the setup is in the vehicle and resting on the ground at ride height.)
8. I used standard 4 speed A-Body shifter rods. The flipped over 3/4 lever puts the rod close to the cross member but since I was fabricating a mounting plate anyway I made sure that I had enough clearance before drilling the shifter mounting holes in the new plate. I used the standard A-Body shift mounting plate (adapter) along with about 1/2" of spacers on my fabricated mounting plate to locate the shifter towards the left so it came through the floor in the correct position, closer to the driver.
9. The shifter mechanism that was on the truck was made by Hurst and looked just like a Competition Plus shifter without the adjustable stops and had the bayonet attachment for the shifter handle. I used this shifter with a handle off an old 3 speed shifter. I did have to ream out one hole on the shifter and one of the tranny levers to get the A-Body linkage rods to fit.
10. The speedo drive mechanism and gear from the 3 speed swapped directly into the OD 4 speed so calibrating the speedo for the tire diameter was not an issue.
Dave Clement
 
My thanks to 72bluNblu for this 10 year old post. I found this after Brewers informed me that my truck tranny would not work in an A body so I sent them a copy :)
I already knew it existed somewhere and was glad to find it here.
 
Thanks!. The photos and layout are nice. I think I'll add an arm to one of the front mount holes to make it stronger like Dave describes.
 
HOLY overdrive, Batboy!! This old thread came out of the back room!!
 
I found a gem up in the attic. Had to dust it off :)
 
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