GL275 is a completely differnt thing form the iron box 5-speeds.  GL275 has its own integrally cast bell housing in one piece with the trans body.  Buy one of those and it mates straight up to the M110 or OM617 or OM617A.

711.11x trans is a different story.  It needs a separate bell houssing that bolts to the front of the trans and then bolts to the motor.  The bell housing for a 300GD or for a 230G works perfectly to mate a 711.11x box to an M110, OM617, or OM617A.  The bell housing for a 230GE does not work in this application because the motor in the 230GE is canted to the right and has the starter on the left.  Bell housing for the 230GE will mate the 711.11x box to that 4 cul petrol motor, but not to the other motors mentioned above.

The question left in my mind is if the bell housing from a 4-speed 280GE can work with the 711.11x trans.  The 4-speed trans that comes with the M110 (at least with mine and in the pictures in my workshop manual) doesn't have the sort of raised up portion where the other iron 4-speeds bolt to the bell housing (pix in Harald's trans table not strictly accurate).  The 280GE trans doesn't ramp up at the front, it's a flat top all the way to the bell housing.  So I'm not sure if the bellhousing in a 4-speed 280GE will mate to a 711.11x or not.

A good start would be to check EPC and find out:

1- if 230G and 300GD with 4 speed manual trans use the same bell housing part number and then

2- if 280GE with 4 speed manual also uses the same bell housing as above.

If I can remember, I'll try to take a look at the parts in my garage tonight and give better feedback.

If one gets the 711.11x out of a van, it sometimes comes with a bell housing that will mate fine to 110, 617, 617A.  Look for the two engine mounting holes horizontal and level straight above the input shaft.

-Dave G.

The shifter and linkage from your 4-speed will work fine for the iron box 5-speed.  The only difference is that the lever on the trans for R on the 4 speed goes only one direction from neutral, and the same lever on the 5-speed goes 2 directions and gets you R and 1.  I drove mine a long time using that old shifter.  As long as I'm the only one driving it, no problem.  The only trouble comes when someone not familiar puts the shift knob into the position marked "1" and is actually trying to start out in 2nd gear...some potential for clutch abuse.  You also have to lift the lever to get to 1st, just like reverse and some people might consider that annoying.  I got used to it.

I finally shelled out the cash for the correct shifter and the correct knob just to "finish" the job.  But the car drove just fine on the 4-speed shifter.

The linkage is the same too as regards length and shape of the rods.  You might have to turn one of the actuator arms on the trans around by 180 degrees (rotate about the pivot shaft axis from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock for example).

You definitely don't want the shifter from the van.  It's mounted to the top of the tail housing of the gearbox and won't work at all in the G, at least not without a LOT more modification than the 4-speed shifter needs.

One thing to consider if using a van box is that they have a speedometer drive output.  You need to get rid of that speedo output entirely or your shifter linkage won't clear it.  I chose to just cap the speedometer output and had to lengthen the shifter arms for greater offset.  When I change to the 5-speed shifter I'll fix the speedometer output properly so the linkage will clear without modification.

Or do what I did....just get the transmisison, put it on the floor in front of you and stare at it until you figure it out.  :^)

-Dave G.

Yes.  You have the correct bell housing there to mate to the upright motors.  OM617, 617A, and M110 are no problem with that bell housing.  Like mentioned elsewhere you might have to fiddle with the length of the rod on the front of the clutch slave cylinder to make it de-clutch properly.  Not a big deal.

Should be an easy change to put that one behind your 617 and wait for the turbo motor.  I did the same in reverse as it was taking so long to find the right trans, I put the 617A in with a 300GD 4-speed and waited for teh 5-speed trans.  :^) 

Good luck!

-Dave G.

PS - I'm not sure about the prop shaft.  Best way to check is to measure from front edge of bell housing (where it touches the engine) to the transfer case input flange in your truck, and then do the same on the transmission with drive shaft attached sitting on the garage floor. 

When I went after trannys for my swap my thoughts were based around durability.  At that time I'd heard of more than one Getrag coming apart.  I'd never heard of an iron box G trans coming apart and the one in my truck had 300,000 miles on it by then. 

For me, at that time, it was as simple as that.  My perception was that the Getrag was not as durable as the iron boxes.  Maybe not reality, but my perception.

Since that time Dai has re-engineered a portion of the Getrag, but it'll take a while for his mod to be proven out to the 300,000 mile point, or with a significant "n".  It may very well prove out.  But I couldn't wait.  :)  

I can't say it was part of my decision (the above was all I really considered), but for some, the fact that the Getrag has the reverse in a different place might be a contributor.  If one already has a 4-speed iron box, going to the 5 speed G/18 lets you keep the same shifter (not perfectly right, but works fine) where going to a Getrag would require a different one.  Granted, it's the same issue of gear selections not being as marked, but at least if you stay in the G/18 family all the gears marked as forward gears are forward gears, and R is where reverse is.  If you go to a Getrag I think R is off where, what is it low right? - where there's a "4" on the 4-speed's shifter.  I'm probably misremembering the getrag pattern, but I do remember it as having R off to the right side of the pattern, not high left like the G/18s.

-Dave G.

In all my trials and tribulations with gearboxes, bell housings, clutches, etc etc I have never seen the correct shift pattern illustrated on the EPC - don't trust it IMO