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PSA: T5 swap guys, driveline vibration fix!!

gsellstr

gsellstr

Vintage anti-ricer
300+ Club
Joined
Oct 21, 2004
Location
BFE Desert east of Cali
Been fighting this for ages, tried the usual engine angle, diff angle, 1pc, 2pc, compound angles, new yoke, new tailshaft bushing, fluid types, the whole lot, NEVER made any progress. Had a little of the same with the Celica box but not like the T5.

Fast forward to this weekend. Yard run yesterday, pulled a yoke from a 92 Grand Marquis with a V8. Same length yoke as the Mustang yoke, same OD, but with a balancer on it, and it still runs a 1310 joint. Installed onto my current 2pc driveshaft, went to install, minor issues. Had to pull the spacers I had shimming the trans up (from playing with angles), got enough clearance to slide the yoke in, not enough clearance to put the shims back, not a big deal in my case.

Took it out for a test drive. Accel is smoother than it's been, light cruise rattle is 80% gone, decel rattle rpm range dropped from anything over 2800 to only 2800-3800rpm, and the severity of the rattle dropped by 60-70%.

Don't get me wrong, this didn't fix ALL of the rattle, but I suspect if I went with a balancer the size of the one on the 4-cylinder Mustang's balancer it would potentially have fixed all of it, but for something about 1/4 the size it really made a huge difference.

One thing to be aware of while looking in the yards though...there are several different OD's on the yoke, also different spline counts. The Ford boxes run a 1.5" OD, 28 spline, but there's a variety of yokes in the yard.

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Which car?

Cut it off the driveshaft we put on the 240 lemons car. I didn't think it fit a 240. Probably still have that other slip yoke around...

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4-cylinder I DID find at the yard was a different OD yoke so no chance of it sealing.

There may be something from a later 3.8 with the big balancer though. That said, I don't think I'd have the clearance for it in the tunnel since the balancer section is much longer and would extend into the tapered section of the tunnel. As it was with this one I had to drop the trans just a little to get the clearance needed, but I had the room to do so since it was already shimmed up when I was playing with angles.
 
gsellstr said:
4-cylinder I DID find at the yard was a different OD yoke so no chance of it sealing.

There may be something from a later 3.8 with the big balancer though. That said, I don't think I'd have the clearance for it in the tunnel since the balancer section is much longer and would extend into the tapered section of the tunnel. As it was with this one I had to drop the trans just a little to get the clearance needed, but I had the room to do so since it was already shimmed up when I was playing with angles.
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I see. I'm thinking that since I have to hack the **** out of my tunnel anyway, I could make room for the biggest damper I can find. Good to know that it makes a difference.
 
Yeah, I haven't decided whether or not I want to convert the T5 I have to a mid-shift yet. If I leave it in mustang format, I'll have to cut up the rear of the tunnel a lot anyway. Might be worth the considerable headache to make room for a nice damper. Also- they want a lot for a slip yoke with an extra donut on it!
 
Funny, he always knows what to get and where to get it as well. Lucky SOB. lol

FWIW, my 140 already has the 240 tunnel stock, so swapping to the big balancer would still require some 'massaging', just a good bit less than the early 140 tunnel I suspect.

Yeah, saw the price on those balancer yokes new...damn. Might be worth calling a driveline shop, see if they're any cheaper there or if they have a crossref to a spicer unit instead of spending coin for something marked Ford. I've found that a few times buying stuff in West Sac.
 
gsellstr said:
Funny, he always knows what to get and where to get it as well. Lucky SOB. lol

FWIW, my 140 already has the 240 tunnel stock, so swapping to the big balancer would still require some 'massaging', just a good bit less than the early 140 tunnel I suspect.

Yeah, saw the price on those balancer yokes new...damn. Might be worth calling a driveline shop, see if they're any cheaper there or if they have a crossref to a spicer unit instead of spending coin for something marked Ford. I've found that a few times buying stuff in West Sac.
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I thought that was the case with your car. Lucky. You didn't have to cut up your tunnel or modify the shifter hole at all, right?
 
Yup. SN95 crossmember, grabbed mine from the same 95 I pulled the trans from. Requires a couple riv nuts into the frame to bolt it in, then you're done. I was able to use 1 existing bolt hole, 1 more rivnut on the driver side, 2 on the pass side since the stock one mounts vertically on that side. On a 240 you can use 2 of the 4 existing bolt holes.

Should be a pic in my build thread for the 140.
 
Oh nice. I just went and looked at those photos. Exhaust clearance looks really tight for my 3", but it might be worth a try.
 
If using the SN95 T5, the stock 240 cross member works fine as well. Just add an angle bracket and drill 4 holes.

Mine is SN95 and a 93 245 fyi
 
I know I have a couple of Fox DS in the garage from all of the various TBirds/Cougars/Faimonts/Capris I've had over the years. Wonder if any still have the dampers on them.
 
gsellstr said:
Entirely possible. Just gotta watch out, the 4-cylinder shafts are a different yoke size than the V8's, at least from what I found at the yard.
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You ever wonder how in the world those USDM Fords needed those dampers for driving 55mph yet the one Euro Ford using the T5 which stock out of the box went 150 mph didn't?

And that Euro Ford didn't have some cut up old semi-truck tire between the yoke and the propshaft either.

How did they do it?
 
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