Hardbody AUTOMATICS on tree vs in floor?

[jmsmilin]

Hello, new here. Trying to understand the differences between these transmissions? I saw an 88 and a 95 with an auto on the tree. But then say a 93 and a 96 with it in the floor. Seems random?

So wondering what the differences and why the switching between the years?

Thanks.

[Rev_D21]

The 'work' trucks (ie. Base/E/HD) models were more likely to have the column shift while the more dressed up XE's and the SE's were more common to have floor shift. The theory is work trucks needed to carry more people while the fancier trucks were 'personal trucks' and didn't need to carry a work team out to a job. This is not written in stone though as there are examples that didn't follow that formula out there too.

[jmsmilin]

Thanks, yeah its weird, I like em on the tree. Never seen the randomness like Hardbodys. Isuzu all in the floor, toyotas on the tree, S10s on the tree, not real sure about B2000, Ranger or Mighty Max, but Im sure I can guess the Ford is on the tree and the others in the floor I bet, but to see a maker do a mixture of both seemed strange.

Whats your 91 - tree or floor? And are the trans the same in them with diff shift mechanism or are they completely diff trans too?

[Rev_D21]

My 91 was column shift. The internals of the transmission are the same but all the exterior linkage is different. They won't easy swap to a floor shift unless you had a donor truck. I ended up junking the auto transmission once it crapped the bed. Currently have a stick-shift swap underway.

[jmsmilin]

Hmm so it is even swap-able? Exterior linkage all bolt on then? Yeah donor truck for sure, probably entire steering column is different.

How many miles before your trans went? I assume the manual swap is much easier with auto in the floor - on the tree prob doesnt have the hole? I swapped auto to manual in a honda, added AC, PS, very familiar with the process, its not that bad really.

Are the wheels in your pic stock XE alloys with no center cap and low pro tires? Looks good.

I imagine the autos - on the tree most likely, are pretty uncommon?

[Rev_D21]

The truck managed to get to 178,000miles before it stopped moving forward completely. The autos do have a floor plate that can be changed with a stick model which will give you the hole in the floor you need. You would need to swap steering columns naturally. I took my column out and removed all the shifting guts. You'd never know there had been a shifter there.

Here's the build thread for the swap. Still in progress.
updates-to-my-1991-t574357.html

Those wheels on my 95 are Frontier XE 15" wheels with 205/60R15 tires. Found them on CL for a song and I think they look good.