59 chevy truck with stock everything (235 & 3spd) I wanna drive at highway speeds. I've read the posts about swaping out the rearend... and I've read the posts about swapping transmission options.

My question. Do you I have to swap out both tranny and rearend in order to achieve what I want? I'm short on funds... so can I get by with finding a donor rearend from a later truck withOUT changing the stock 3speed? OR can I get by with just swaping out the tranny for a powerglide or 350 or something withOUT changing the stock rearend?

If I can do just one, will the tranny or the rearend make the most difference?
THANKS.

A powerglide or 350 will not help, both final drive ratios are 1:1. The powerglide will hurt accerlation from a standing start. Changing the rear end ratio to lower numerical number will allow you to cruise at a lower rpm, but will effect acceleration and will lower your towing capacity. I would look at changing the transmission to a 5 or 6 speed OD.

Dear Mr. Memo;

A Cheverolet passenger car OD transmission of that era will bolt right in and in some cases won't require the driveshaft lenght being changed.

This will give you exactly what you have now + a 28% reduction (engine speed)in the overdrive mode. These units sell for under $200 plus the cost of a little wiring/relays/switchs etc.

It's a "weekend job" if you have all the parts first.

Good luck, John M......

Thank guys.

Would the OD tranny have come from a passanger vehicle? Where should I start looking for one: Ebay? I'm planning on go to a few swap meets in the area. How can I identify one of these trans?

Thanks again

Try looking for a 60-66 truck rearend first. They did come with 3:36 and I believe 3:08 gears and should be the right width, double check before spending any money, though.

The 3spd OD has a solinoid and a govenor sticking out the side of the tailshaft housing. Take a look at a factory shop manual from about 56-62 car or truck for details on the tranny.

PS: You could check with Chuck evil235. He is our 'resident old parts finder'.

JM...

i've got a bunch of those old unsycronized 1st gear overdrive tranny's. pop me an email maybe i can help. tom

Tom,
Do you know off the top of your head if the shifting solenoids are interchangeable between the earlier Borg-Warner non-synchro first gear overdrives, and the later Saginaw overdrives with the synchronized first gear?

eric, sorry i don't know. why are you having problems with the one i sold you? i do know where there is another fully sycro'ed 3 sp OD. i also have a few saginaw 4 sps to make another 4 sd OD. if any one is interested. tom

Hi Tom,
No, I haven't done anything with the one I bought from you yet. I just know that the solenoids are a critical part that have to work, and often don't. I have one of the older Borg-Warner units that I thought maybe I could scavange the solenoid from if I need to. I'm looking around my area to see if I can find a good reputable transmission repair guy. Seems that most of the shops just do automatics. I've also heard that the shops can be more than a little "shady". Before I go to the trouble to engineer your tranny into my '37 truck, I would like to have it gone through thoroughly to make sure it is in good shape, that is unless you know for sure that it's in good operating order. I had the impression that it was one you had laying around and didn't really know what sort of condition it was in. I don't feel that I'm a good enough mechanic that I want to overhaul it myself. I've never been inside a tranny before and this probably is not the place to start. I think that I will want to get those mounting bolt flanges welded up better as well. Either that or find a new case and transfer the "innards" to it. There is a guy on ebay who seems to rebuild and sell a lot of manual trannies and he is less than 100 miles from me. I've been thinking of emailing him and seeing if he is interested in the job. Spose I should get cracking on this. It would be nice to get the tranny installed this coming summer. It's going be just the ticket for that old truck!

eric, i've rebuilt alot of manual tranny's this winter. i would transfer the parts to another case and make sure everything is in good shape for you if you want. i could pick it up at the jefferson swap if needed. let's quit hijacking this thread, give me a personal email.tom