3 speed manual trans broke

Hi All,
     First off Thank-you for letting me join the community and the help it will provide in the future!

     I have a 1984 F-150, Shortbed with a 4.9 and a 3 speed top loader. The transmission casing is broke where it attaches to the bell housing and the tailpiece for the output shaft is broken at the mount with pieces missing .
     I have been trying for a year or two to locate a replacement transmission or an output shaft tailpiece (E2TR.7A.040.AA) to get it back on the road. The problem is the back mount is 6" from the main casing and a lot of transmissions that are found are 3" behind casing.
     Any suggestions would greatly appreciated and maybe someone has parts or a complete trans they would part with?

Thank you again!

Terry - Welcome!  Glad you joined.  

But we were hoping you'd post an introduction in our New Members Start Here folder before posting here.  We ask that because we have our guidelines posted there and we will hold you to them so want you to have had a chance to read them.

Don't worry, many people miss that step.  But after doing that please come back here and give us a bit more info.  For instance, is "E2TR.7A.040.AA" what you are seeing on the part?  I'm sure that it is, and that means it is actually an ID# not a part number.  Yes, hard to believe but in Fordom a number on a part is not a part number, and you can read about that on our page at Documentation/How To Decode Ford Part Numbers.

If that is what you are seeing then it is probably E2TR 7A040-AA and I should be able to look that up in the cross reference and come up with the part number itself.  And with that you may be able to find one.

terrys44mag wrote

I have a 1984 F-150, Shortbed with a 4.9 and a 3 speed top loader. The transmission casing is broke where it attaches to the bell housing...

Mine did the exact same thing, also a 1984 F150 with a 3-on-the-tree 3spd manual trans.

The good news is that an M5OD-R2 5spd is almost the exact same length as your trans (only 3/8" difference). If you're interested, it's a super easy swap in a Bullnose with a factory hydraulic clutch. You can re-use the flywheel, starter, drive shaft, speedometer cable, and clutch master cylinder.

If you really want to keep it all factory, I'm probably not much help. The 3spd steering column is a real weak point, and the parts have been obsolete for 30 years...they're harder to find than the transmissions.

I'm not sure where you are but I may have one or two.

Hi Rembrant,This does look inviting and worth keeping in my back pocket. Is the tailpiece mount the same or does the cross member need to be moved? If I do go this route could I reach out to you??  

Thank you for the idea!

Hi Mat, It has been a little while since I started this post and I'm hoping that maybe you could help me out with this dilemma I have. We live in southern Michigan and assume your from Tenn.?

Thank you for the response!

currently in NC but yes, I did live in tn. I never saw myself leaving TN otherwise I might have rethought the moniker.

terrys44mag wrote

Hi Rembrant,This does look inviting and worth keeping in my back pocket. Is the tailpiece mount the same or does the cross member need to be moved? If I do go this route could I reach out to you??  

The tailpiece mount is the one thing that does have to change if doing the 5spd swap. Everything else is really simple and/or straight forward...but you will have to deal with the crossmember.

I bought the correct crossmember for the 5spd, and below you can see how much different it was from the original 3spd mount.



I'm not sure what others have done with the transmission crossmembers, but mine had to be moved back a bit obviously, and that meant the frame gussets also. I welded extensions on mine so they could be placed slightly further to the rear, but the cab rear crossmember still bolted through them, if that makes any sense...



Other than the crossmember issues...it's a really easy swap. You can reuse the driveshaft and slip yoke without modifying, and you can still use your existing speedo cable (if you find a 1988-1991 5spd). Same starter, same flywheel, same clutch master cylinder, etc.