S10 T-5 Install In a 50 Chevy Truck... part one

Recently, I had a customer complain to me that he never wanted to drive his 50 Chevy truck on account that he couldn't go over 45mph because of the gearing.  Not to mention, the transmission wouldn't stay in gear.  So, I suggested that he needed a 5 speed.

The truck is a mostly bone stock 1950 Chevy 3600 series 3/4 ton long bed.  Someone over the years had replaced the original engine with a 1960 vintage 235.  They also did some custom wiring too...

Btw, he is a big Ohio State Fan...

The first step was to get it up in the air and remove the old transmission.  It was a 3 speed with creeper gear and was extremely worn out.  The 3600 series trucks had a 2 piece drive shaft with a carrier bearing located at the back of the cab.  The front part was similar to a torque tube set up in that an outer housing was bolted to the rear of the trans via a large ball and socket joint.  

Once the trans was out of the way, The throw out bearing, pressure plate, clutch disc and finally the flywheel were removed.  Since the flywheel had some abuse in it's life, it was sent out to the local NAPA to get resurface.  The way I look at it, if you have it apart this far, why not just go ahead and do it right?

What is really nice about these old Chevy trucks is that the rear cross member is mounted on the bell housing.  There is no need to jack the back of the motor up or even to take the factory truck bell housing off.  It can all stay in place.  I didn't even disconnect the clutch linkage.

The next step was to remove the pilot bearing.  The easier way to do this, is to fill the bearing ID full of grease then place either a socket, piece of rod or an old input shaft in the bearing and tap on the end of it with a hammer.  What this does is compress the grease and hydraulically forces the bearing out.  You might have to do this a couple of times, but it'll come out.

Once everything is apart, it's time to gather all of the necessary components.  You will need the following:

S-10 T5 transmission (83-88 for mechanical speedometer, 89-93 have the electronic speedo)

Clutch disc for the S-10 T-5 (Napa part # ND4201, it's 9 11/16" diameter)

Stock 235 Chevy truck pressure plate

Vintage Metalworks T-5 Adapter

Resurfaced stock 235 Chevy Flywheel

Flywheel Bolts (ARP100-2801)

Pressure Plate Bolts (ARP 130-2201)

Pilot bushing (Advanced Auto or Napa)

Throwout Bearing (American Classic Truck, GM Long)
1/2" bolts, (2) 3" long and (2) 2" long with lock washers and (2) nuts

Shiny new parts, ooohhhh....