I am installing an sm420 into my '76 FJ40. I will be using an F bellhousing on my 2F engine. The stock F bellhousing has the clutch fork and slave on the driver's side, while the 2F has the fork and slave on the passenger side. Which arrangement do you use in this swap? The F bellhousing has cutouts for the fork and mounts for the fork pivot on both sides. I would prefer to keep my 2F fork and slave in its present position, but I don't know if this is possible.

Thanks.

<A HREF="http://members.home.net/cglabe1/sm420/sm420.html"> SM420 site in progress </A>

You will love it!


And yeah it is possible. That is the way mine is right now.

The mount for the slave cylinder is on the motor mounts anyway.
Just switch the sides...

Did you alter the front bearing retainer? It really should be indexed to the LC bellhousing

Originally posted by Jason M

Did you alter the front bearing retainer? It really should be indexed to the LC bellhousing

Just from bolting the tranny up to the bellhousing, you can tell that you really need the indexing ring to make sure that the input shaft is concentric with the crankshaft pilot bearing. With all that weight in the tranny, the thing hangs down without having the front retainer indexed to the bellhousing.

Is it possible to use the clutch fork and pivot from the 2F bellhousing? The F bellhousing I got didn't come with these. I know that this is picky stuff, but I don't want to run around hunting parts when I have the tranny out.

Originally posted by Pin Head


Just from bolting the tranny up to the bellhousing, you can tell that you really need the indexing ring to make sure that the input shaft is concentric with the crankshaft pilot bearing. With all that weight in the tranny, the thing hangs down without having the front retainer indexed to the bellhousing.

Is it possible to use the clutch fork and pivot from the 2F bellhousing? The F bellhousing I got didn't come with these. I know that this is picky stuff, but I don't want to run around hunting parts when I have the tranny out.

I originally trusted Wardens on the bearing retainer front kit. After almost having my tranny come apart on the Rubicon I decided to get AA's bearing retainer. All it is, is a three speed bearing retainer redrilled for the SM bolt pattern. But it still is a hell of a lot better then the wardens front kit... Plus the older SM420's did not have an oil seal on it. So if you do a steep downhill it is possible to soak the clutch in 90 wt. AA's has the seal.... also If you are using Wardens kit check the fit of the throwout bearing over the provided sleeve. Mine was a beautiful interference fit... Wanna talk about a headache trying to stab an engine with the TO bearing lodged on the bearing retainer...:rolleyes:

Use your stuff from the 2F bellhousing. That is exactly what I have. The only problem that I found is that it appears that I have to over adjust (too tight) the clutch to get it to disengage properly. I don't know why but that is what I had to do. And I know of a couple of others that have had the same problem.

For the bearing retainer the easiest thing I have found is to modify the three speed retainer to fit the 420. It has to be bored out inside and redrilled to fit but it usually only takes me about 20 minutes to do the whole thing. Any machine shop should be able to do this for you for pretty cheap. This way you gat a factory fit for the index as well as the throw out bearing, so you know it'll fit right.

I'd second the AA kit. You just cannot go wrong with the craftsmanship they put into there stuff.

And as for the slave cylinder, peice of cake, just make a bracket for the other side, or buy one from AA.

Jeff