Odd Transmission?

[Jim King]

I have recently come accross a '79 f**d Granada with what I believe is a Tremac RUG 4 spd. trans. It's a factory floor-shift 4 spd, 4th gear being OD. Kinda cool; no levers to pull, etc. Anyone familiar with this trans, and any ideas on how easy,[or difficult], it would be to adapt it to my '63 259? It also appears that the shift tower would be in about the right place for my '53 Commander, for which the 259 is going in. Thank you, Jim King, Redding, Ca

[wpsrea]

I would question the strength of the transmission. As I understand it they were only used behind 4 & 6 cylinder engines. Not sure if it would handle the torque of a V8.

[JDP]

I wonder if that's the transmission that was in my 1980 Fairmont Ford ESO (European Sports Option)

JDP/Maryland
"I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."

Thomas Jeffereson

[Jim King]

Good point on how strong this trans is. It's behind a six in the Granada. Pretty good size box, cast-iron case; probably VERY heavy. Just thought it was kinda unique.

[Alan]

That tranny was used behind 5.0 Mustang and Merc. Capris from 82-85. My son had one about 10 years ago. He beat the s**t out of it. The guy he bought it from had changed the clutch just before he bought it. My son put about 10,000 miles on it and it started having trouble shifting. So we pulled the tranny. There was no oil in it and one brass block ring was cracked. The rest of the tranny was like brand new. Those gears are big and beefy. The only thing I didn't like about the trans was the big step between second and third.

[PackardV8]

The good news is many of the late Ford RUG top loaders have both the old Ford bolt pattern, which fits the late Stude bell housings, as well as the newer pattern. This means they would bolt up to a Stude bell housing with only a change in the front bearing retainer. It would have to be changed to the older, smaller diameter, or turned down.

The bad news is most Ford input shafts are too short to reach the Stude pilot bearing. I haven't measured the odd stuff, but the 302" input shaft is too short. Pull the one you are considering and see if it has the dual bolt pattern and also how much shorter is the input shaft than the Stude's 7.5". (Pretty manly, that Stude)

thnx, jack vines

PackardV8

[Jim King]

Lots of great information. .. Thanks to all of you. Jim King

[wolfie]

A friend of mine had one in a granada with a 302 later converted to a HO.He street raced it for several years and broke 3 or 4 rear ends but never had a tranny problem.Dont know anything about putting it in a stude but I am sure it could be done.Steve

[Roscomacaw]

"Dont know anything about putting it in a stude but I am sure it could be done." Steve

I like that one member's sig line: Of course it will fit! I have a torch![]

Reminds me of the tongue-in-cheek line we used to use at Lockheed Aircraft. Regarding the notion of precision-built aircraft, we used to use the phrase "Cut to fit 'n Paint to match!" to describe the "precision" we were supposed to be practicing.[xx(]

Miscreant Studebaker nut in California's central valley.

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President two door

[Alan]

Jack, The Ford top loader has the same size as the Stude Ford bolt pattern trans and also the register size is the same. The input shaft where the pilot is is about 1/4" shorter. Since you are going to have to make a pilot bearing just make one a quarter inch longer. To use the Stude throw out bearing he will have to machine a collar since the Stude is 1 1/2" and the Ford is 1 7/16, like a speedy sleeve.

[PackardV8]

Alan, you are old enough to remember there are two Ford top loader bearing retainer sizes, two bolt patterns, at least two input shaft lengths, two input shaft diameters and three gear ratios. The toploader was used in 133 different models of Fords.

1964 to 1967 transmissions
HEH- A through T all letter designations except F, I, K, Q and O
HEH-AM and AR
HEH-BL, BN, BP, BR, BS, BT, V, BW, BX and BY
HEH-CB, CC, CF, CG, CJ and CL

1968 and later transmissions
RUG-A through V all single letters, double letter, and letter and number combinations up to an including V1 except these four:
Tag ID #s
RUG-CL
RUG-CA
RUG-CD
RUG-BP

The above four-unit designations are actually for the overdrive unit. They were used in 1977 and '78 vehicles and look like the Toploader but they typically have an aluminum case and only use a wide four-bolt mounting flange. The speedometer pickup is on the passenger side of the transmission. They were made by Tremec in Mexico in the late '70s and are found most often in Econolines or Pickups, but also were put into Monarch, Granada and some Fairmonts. You should be able to spot these impostors by the tailshaft housing, marked with a casting number starting with D7, D8, or D9.

The 62-65.5 Ford narrow bolt-pattern top loader(HEH) used the same bolt pattern and front bearing retainer diameter as Studebaker.
However, the small block and the 427"-28" blocks used different input shaft lengths. In mid-65, Ford made the mounting bolt pattern wider, (then usually referred to as RUG) but most cases were drilled for both. The bearing retainer was also changed to a slightly larger diameter.

After this, when they went to the overdrive versions, I lost track of what all versions they were offered in. Bottom line, there are so many possible combinations, it not possible to say what is necessary to fit a Ford top loader in a Stude without stating exactly which top loader one has, what input shaft length, bearing retainer diameter and bolt pattern.

Close 2.32 1.69 1.29 1.1
Wide 2.78 1.93 1.36 1.1

The Ford HEH/RUG can made to fit a Studebaker and with that you'll be getting the best of the factory 4-speeds ever offered. It is bulletproof, shifts well, comes in close-ratio, wide-ratio and overdrive-ratio. They are especially easy to fit into the '56J. The most difficult part of this swap is finding the Packard standard-shift bell housing and flywheel.

thnx, jack vines

PackardV8

[Alan]

What I was saying Jack is it should fit with very little work if it is from what he says. If he has a truck bellhousing, or If he has car bellhousing, If,If,If. Nothing will just bolt in.