Ok. I'm curious now, I'll have to check when my truck was actually made. I guess I was wrong. I had read somewhere, forget now, that the sterlings came in 87. Learn something new everyday. I get quite a bit of noise from mine in 1st, 2nd, and reverse so I suppose that it really wouldn't really bother me. But would probably do the conversion to keep costs of replacing the clutch down.

 

ur truck will have hydro clutch. all the diesels did. my 83 did.


also, find a sterling, and bolt it in. i love mine over the dam d60. stupid inboard drums on the 60 make rear brake jobs suck. sterlings have outboard drums. they bolt right in.

 

I might just watch for a one ton then and swap the D60 solid front end too. That was the plan anyway with all my 3-4 tons. I can't believe Ford put a D44 front end on these trucks though. The plan with this truck was to dive it till I can afford to get probably a 1st gen PSD, and keep this truck and build it up for off roading. With its torque I bet it would be awesome, just heavy.

 

yes, i love mine on the rocks. let her idle and she will climb over anything in from. mine started 2wd, so i put in the parts i wanted to begin with.
hp60/sterling axles from a 90f350 with 3.54 gears
np435 trans from a 78 f250
bw1356 tcase from a 89 f150
custom tranny crossmember that allows front shaft to pass threw it.

i love it. just to long. my next step is to shorten it to shortbed wheelbase.


one thing to keep in mind. if u do plan on playing with it, the zf5 is all aluminum. rocks love to hit aluminum. i was weery about putting the aluminum tcase in since i took out a np205 and put that in. so far no problems. the 205 is stronger but the 1356 has a better low range.

 

Well, its probably going to be awhile till I can get into a newer truck for a DD so maybe I can figure something out to swap the ZF in till I can afford a newer DD then swap the T-19 back in when it can become a play truck. I've got a 205 in mine, aluminum case. This thing in 4 low and 1st just crawls! All my other trucks still hauled ***** in low range.

 

u dont have a 205 then. 205 were cast iron 175lb beasts. u probly have a 208.

 

You're right. IDK why but I keep mixing them up.

 

yea 205 is uber strong. gear driven, cast iron housing but only a 2.0 to 1 stock low range. the bw1356 is a chain driven aluminum housing with a 2.6 to 1 low range. not sure on the 208 but i know the low is close to the 1356.

 

Since we managed to kinda get on the topic of off road stuff here, I have a ? for you. I saw that you have an ATS turbo on your rig, how well does that work off road? I've been tossing around the idea of putting a turbo on mine but wasn't sure if I wanted to if I use it for a play truck.

 

off road i havent had it on the rocks. mus it is great. lots of tire speed now. love it for the mud. i just put it on 2 weeks ago.