Both Jack Halton and myself went thru this with the
Saginaw 4 speed with the 3 speed overdrive adapted to it. I looked for a
long time for the proper shifter but never found one. I even talked to
an elderly gentleman who used to work for Hurst before they were bought
out. He told me that the Saginaw 3 speed was a very popular item back in
the 60s and Hurst made a shifter just for that application. But they
discontinued it in the early 70s. Anyway I, and I think Jack, bought a 4
speed shifter from Patrick's and did the modification to make it work in
our trucks. Jack has an early 50s GMC and I have a 62 Chevy pickup. I
used mine until I put the 700R4 behind my 261 engine. So Good luck in
finding a shifter that will work with the Saginaw OD.
Ralph Linnell
Inliners WebSite
http://www.inliners.org
Ralph's Web Site
http://home.attbi.com/~chevysix/
Chevysix@attbi.com
All email, both in comming and outgoing should be virus free being
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-----Original Message-----
From: owner-oletrucks@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-oletrucks@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of GremlinGTs@aol.com
Sent: Sunday, August 04, 2002 8:16 PM
To: Wdonohoe1@aol.com; oletrucks@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [oletrucks] overdrive - how they work...
Depends on the trans, Bill, but most OD tranmissions have a
distinctly
separate part that houses several plantary gears and a reducer to lower
the
ratio. The Tranmission is usually longer than standard to house this
extra
gearing. I have several of the 57-58 Chevy 3-speed OD trannys, and they
have
a different rear housing that is longer, to house the extra reduction
gearing. I think the front part is the same, though. At one point in
time,
there was an after-market company that produced an add-on OD unit that
fit
between the tail shaft of the trans and a cut-down driveshaft. I doubt
it's
still available, though. A more modern solution was one written up in
Car
Craft mag a few years ago, it used a Mopar A-833 tranmission with OD, it
has
the same GM bellhousing bolt housing so it is a virtual bolt-in to a
Chevy,
albeit it need a slight machining of the front bearing housing to slip
in the
bell housing. I think the early '70s aluminum trans was specified, NOT
the
older one which is cast iron.
Anyway, that's all my knowledge I can transfer. Mind meld
complete....
Jerry Casper
'55 Chevy Suburban, languising project truck
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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