The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre Question 's for Ed Pruss

I saw in an old post you said you swapped an np540 into an early bronco, and I was searching doing just that when I found this site. I tried to PM you but I don't have those privlages yet. If Ed Pruss or any one else has done this swap I would love some info on how to accomplish this. Sorry it's off topic for this forum, but I'm desperately trying to do this any info would be helpful, thanks

Nevadasmith, welcome to the Stovebolt web page. I started to move your post to the driveline but will leave it here and send a note to Ed to come take a look. I could move it but he still may not see it.

...after you have made 4 moderated post you will be able to send Pm's.

I did this a while ago while I was sitting a well near Wells, NV, somewhere I have some px.

Since the 540 is longer than the stock 3 speed, I got a stock 6 cyl Bronco adapter(shorter). The rear 540 brg. was either the same size as the Ford one or I bored out the Ford transfer case adapter to match, that way, no transfer case/driveshaft movement required.

Removed the rear 540 brg retainer, sat the Ford adapter on it, transferred Ford bolt pattern to the 540 case and drilled and tapped to suit. That was the easy part. Had a proper shaft made up from the two halves and had Liberty gear weld it up, they do it all the time.

Since the rear bearing is held by the U joint nut(now gone) some means had to be made to hold the shaft in the bearing. I had threads ground on the output shaft just behind the bearing. Made a split nut with two Allen bolts holding the halves together tight against the the threads. A set screw tightened the threads bearing on a J shaped portion of the nut. Worked well for years, never any problems.

I have done a 540/241 transfer case matchup recently. Mark Williams(
Louisville, CO) makes a diff. drive coupler to power glide that has room for the nut, so no thread grinding, nut making, shaft welding exercise. Mark's coupler has different splines available, 540 output is 1.5x35 splines, 90 degree angle, somewhat unusual, so verify, he has that broach. Find a splined shaft that matched the input of whatever transfer case you are using, and get the coupler broached same. I welded two small paddles to the outside of shaft to lube splines. Broaching must be done before heat treat, so plan accordingly.

I used a stock Ford transfer case adapter that comes behind a 435, about 8.375 long. There are shorter Al adapters, but I couldn't get everything in there. I had to drill some oil holes in the adapters to allow oil to circulate.

Ed

Thank you so much!, that is exactly the info I needed!

Ed, thank you for your time, may I ask what you did on the front end?, the small block bell housing is straight forward, but did you change input shafts?, or cut down a MD 13" clutch to work, or something else? Thanks, and thanks to the moderators for helping me get the information needed!

Let me know if you need more info.

Ed