WD21 to R50 Transmission swap

[Kensai]

A couple weeks ago I bought a '96 to replace the '92 I've had for a few years now. I decided to upgrade because my 92 has started having a few engine problems and on top of all the other work it needed it didn't seem like it was worth my time to hunt down all the issues. I may have made a dumb mistake there as I have now started down a new rabbit hole with this R50.

I looked at this car a couple times and drove it several times as well before I bought it but didn't really notice until I'd gotten it home and put a few miles on it that it has quite a bit of gear whine coming from the transmission. Give the high mileage I didn't think too much about it until I noticed the sound is most noticeable when you are idling in neutral with the clutch out. Given that the transmission gears should not be moving in this situation, I'm leaning more towards a worn input shaft bushing. I also think this may have been caused by the PO using the wrong type of gear lube in the transmission so all the bearings are going to be shot.

As I mentioned before I also have a 92 WD21 pathy sitting around that I need to get rid of anyway. Both cars are 4WD 5 speeds. I replaced the clutch on the WD21 about a year ago as a "might as well" because I was swapping in a new engine and the tranny has always worked great as long as I've had the car. My question for you guys is can I swap the tranny from the WD21 into the R50? I've poked around the forums a bit to see if this has already come up but the only thing I've figured out for sure is that the front differentials are different between the models but everything else leads me to believe the actual transmissions and transfer cases are the same. Can anyone confirm that I can put the WD21 5 speed into the R50?

[Cuong Nguyen]

Yeah you can.

 

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[Kensai]

Awesome! Thanks for the quick reply.