I've got as the title suggests, a 74 727 shortshaft Torqueflite out of a 4x4 with a 318. Small block 727s are harder to come by and I'm wondering if it's worth my time to swap the tail shaft and tail housing of a big block onto this? I've got a 73 Dart I'm thinking of using this in. Also, parts are much harder to find these days, is anyone making 727 tail shafts? Or are the 4x4 transmissions harder to find and should I keep it intact and find a regular small block 727. I've got a 92 van with 360 and while I can either adapt the F.I. or put a carbureated manifold on it, moving the crossmember and cutting the floor to fit the overdrive sounds like a bunch of unnecessary work and that doesn't include any possible electronics problems. Is this workable or am I trying to make the wrong combination? Thanks in advance for any info!

You can swap tail shaft's and housings.

Be careful when swapping tailshafts, the spline angle for the front planetary changed in '76. As long as the tailshaft is '75 or earlier it'll correctly fit your '74 planetary.

Thanks gentlemen, that's what I wanted to hear! Hello again, John, long time no see!

As John said, the only thing to watch for with the swap is the splines where the shaft meets the planetary. Both styles will go together, but the problem is that the degree of pitch is different.

The '75 and earlier has 45* splines, while the '76 and up has 37.5* splines. The later shaft is marked with a groove to aid ID.

Save the swapped out parts so the guy that can find a bunch of SB transmissions but not the shorty can do the reverse!!!

P.S. I might be interested in them for spares for my A-100....

I was surprised when the 400-727, shorty out of my 78 9500 Club Cab had 3 pin planetaries. I thought it would be 4 pin for sure. I think we still have the shorty parts but will most likely throw them away. My son had to build a BB trans for his 87 Ramcharger.

Sheldon

That's obviously from a truck with a divorced transfer case,is it a slip yoke or is it a fixed/bolted on yoke?

Chrysler built transmissions that matched the torque output of the engine in front of them. By the late '70s the bigblocks were pretty gutless and transmissions were downgraded to match.

R.

Considering that BB 727's stopped in '78 and SB 727's were built up to '00 I'd say there are a lot more SB's around. Of course, this is regional.

Well, you have a point, but.....Most smallblocks that went into cars were in front of 904s and their successors, or else the OD transmissions. While all bigblocks got 727s, at least I think that's safe to say.

So for years and years the majority of smallblocks in front of 727s were in pickup trucks and vans. I actually never saw a smallblock 727 until I found one in my '71 donor truck. And I was surprised to find a slant 6 with a 727 behind it in a smaller van!

R.