Toploader History

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TOPLOADER HISTORY

The Ford Toploader Transmission was introduced in 1964 to replace the Borg Warner T-10. This is the super-tough transmission built by Ford Engineers to stand up to just about anything demanded from it.

Internal parts of the Toploader are assembled through the top of the case instead of through a side cover, thus the name "Toploader." This design is actually stronger than a 4-speed box with a side cover. The shifter rails are mounted in bosses that are cast into the box itself, leaving the only function for the top cover to keep the lube inside.

The Toploader 4-speed transmission is of the fully synchronized type with all gears except the reverse sliding gear being in constant mesh. All forward-speed changes are accomplished with synchronizer sleeves instead of sliding gears. The synchronizers will enable quicker shifts, greatly reduce gear clash, and permit down-shifting into any forward-speed gear while the car is moving. All forward-speed gears in the transmission are the helical-type; however, the reverse sliding gear and the exterior of the first and second-speed synchronizer sleeve are spur-type gears.

The Toploader was used in production from 1964 to 1973 in almost every model Ford car and a few foreign cars.

A 1-1/16" input shaft was used in motors from the 200 c.i. to the 390 c.i. while the 427, 428 and 429 were available only with close ratio gears. The 1-1/16" input transmissions are available in both close and wide gear ratios.

The gear box was built in 3 case lengths. The 1964-65 Fairlane, T.V.R., Griffith, and Sunbeam Tiger case is 25-1/2" long. The AC Cobra with 427 and 428, all Mustangs, Falcons, Mavericks, Cougars, 1966-67 Fairlanes and Comets use 24 " transmissions, while all full size cars and the 428, 429 Cyclone and Torino use the 27" box. The 1964 Toploader used a small 4 hole maincase with the small O.D. bearing retainer. All 1965-73 cases were wide 8 hole cases with the large O.D. bearing retainer.

In 1964 and early 1965 a few transmissions used a 25 spline output shaft which proved to be defective. These were quickly dropped from production. Normally all motors 200 c.i. to 390 c.i. use the 28 spline output shaft. All 427, 428 and 429 motors use the 31 spline output shaft. There are a few exceptions to the above information. The toploader was produced in 133 different models.