Dave here, a picture of my truck is attached. It's a 1949 1/2 ton stock except a 1954 235 engine. I try to use it as a daily driver, which means right now I spend a lot of time repairing the latest "breakdown", so it's gradually getting rebuilt. I have several questions. First, what's the name of the three speed transmission and what years/models was it used in? Is it supposed to be syncronized or not? On an earlier thread there was much discussion about rebuilding them, but I don't recall ever seeing any rebuild kits at Classic Chevy, etc., where would one find the parts for a rebuild (I live in Wyoming). Finally, the other day while driving it home it became stuck in third gear. Nothing I do gets it "unstuck." It never had any particular problems before. In an earlier life I drove trucks for awhile and usually "slip" it into gear, I know better than to try and force it. Any suggestions on what to do? Thanks
This tranny was used for many , _MANY_ years and had some simple gradual changes over the years . should fi from '47 all the way up to the end of Torque Tube but some years have a rear support and others don't ~ I've used car trannies in old fram trucks . I -think- Saginaw made it , not sure . 1st. gear isn't synchronized , 2nd. & top (direct) gears are , after a fashion , this tranny does _NOT_ like to be hurried nor speed shifted . The usual cause of jaming in gear is the linkage at the bottom of the steering column , jack up one rear wheel and slide under the truck , try shoving the 2/3 shift arm into neutral and then practice " square shifting " or " posative shifting " (look on the web) I wrote some tech on the years back and it's here & there on various web pages . If you take the shift box off the steering column and scrape out all the old rock hard grease them adjust & shim it up , re-pack with white lithium grease , it'll help , then replace the rubber bushings on the shifter arms sticking out of the box , pay big $ for N.O.S. or repop bushings (several different sizes so beware) or , make your own out of hard plastic , PVC etc. ' On The Cheap ' as long as they hold the shift rods firmly but not prevent from effortless rotation . then you can take the far ends of the rods off the tranny shift arms and have the worn thin part welded up round again and then use thin flat washers to shim them into the tranny's shift arms so they're no longer ' floppy ' . now , loosen the shift rod adjusters and position the shift lever in the cab @ 3:00 , hold it there by hook or crook and go under the truck , manually shift the tranny into neutral and then adjust the two shift rods so they slip into the shift arms dead centered and the truck will now shift well again , still loosey-goosey but do-able once you learn ' Square Shifting ' . I hope this helps , used trannies abound , rebuilts are kinds pricy , parts here and there on E-pay and from various vendors , bearings from Federal Mogul or Bower BCA -if- you can find an older catalog & feel like tearing into it . Look for folks replacing the engine with V-ates and buy thier old three speed tranny for cheap , shipping will be the hard part as they're heavy .
Hey Dave, I don't know much about the 3spd trannies but they are syncronized (except 1st). They were made in the Saginaw, Muncie, or Toledo plant. The one that was in my truck I was told was a Saginaw 3spd. So as far as I know they derive their name from the plant they were built in.(?) When I bought my '49 1/2ton it also would stick in 3rd gear because the column linkage was out of adjustment & just plain worn out. The farmers fix was a piece of wire tied to the 2nd/3rd gear shift linkage at base of steering column. This was threaded throught the firewall so you were able to pull shift arm back up outta 3rd. I swapped in a four speed. I would check linkage. I do remember that the lever on the bottom of column box is one for 2nd & 3rd. The top one is 1st & reverse. Good Luck, Dave
Thanks guys, I'll try to work on it tonight. Its helps to narrow the problem down to the linkage. I also looked at "Billy Bobs Chronicals" as he discusses (with pictures) working on the shift linkage. Nate, I tried "googling" square shifting and posative shifting but didn't see any relative information, and I'm not sure what they refer to. Thanks again.
' Square Shifting ' Hm , it should be in the archives but anyway ; This is where an owner's manual comes in handy : Sit in the passenger's seat and look at the gearshift lever as it sticks out of the column , imagine a large " H " pattern overlying the gear quadrants , reverse is in the left top and 2nd. in the right top , lower left is 1st. gear and third gear is in the lower right . neutral is in the crossbar of the ' H ' . So : to engauge fist gear , clutch in and from neutral , pull the gear lever up towards the steering wheel as far as it'll go then lower it down onto first gear When you want to shift to 2nd. , pull it back up towards the steering wheel and -then- raise it to neutral , then push it away from the steering wheel to the far right hand side of the ' H ' , now , whilst applying ever so slight pressure on it , move it up into 2nd. gear . To engauge 3rd. gear , lay your hand on -top- of the shift lever to lightly hold it in the lower quadrant and then move the lever down through neutral and into 3rd. gear . So far , so good , you're rolling along @ 45 MPH , here comes a corner and you want to downshift , this is where 90 % of the troubles begin . Again , lightly lay your hand on -top- of the shift knob and gently push it away from you as you raise it out of 3rd. gear , though neutral again and into 2nd. , maybe a little crunch if the 2nd. gear synchro is weak or you're going and/or shifting too fast . To shift from 2nd. into first gear , push down on the lever and lower it into neutral , _THEN_ lift it up towards the steering wheel and lower it again into 1st. gear . The little pin that selects between the two halves of the quadrant tends to slip out if you're not ' posatively ' holding in the upper quadrant for reverse or 1st, gear and the lower quadrant for 2nd. & 3rd, gears . when you pull up to a red light and want to select 1st. gear again , remember to lift the handle up towards the steering wheel again before you begin moving it out of neutral . If the shift lever bangs into the back of the steering wheel , the shift box on the lower steering column has elongated slots so you can adjust it down , this moves the shift lever away from the steering wheel . You can also loosen the two pinch bolts on the sleeve where the shift rod connects to the shifter box on most years , this is genrally used to align the shift lever @ 3:00 when the two shifter arms are sticking out of the shift box paralell in neutral.... don't be surprised to find the DPO mis-adjusted the linkages -so- badly that you cannot get all the way into reverse or third gear before the shift lever binds against the steering column . This all sounds complicated but print this out and take it out to the truck with you and try it , engine off , you'll soon get the hang of it , I learned it by age 7 . If you goof and the truck winds up locked in gear , handle stuck ~ don't panic ! open the hood and look at the two levers where the stick out of the column mounted shift box , usually one lever will be down from t'other , reach in and grab it , give a good tug and it should pop right up and allow you to drive off , filthy greasy hands now to carry some clean rags . Be aware you should _NEVER_ need to force shifts or push / pull hard ! . I find that cleaning the shift box and taking all the flop out of the shift rods followed by carefull adjustment will make the _wosrt_ worn out ex-taxi Chevy shift nicely if loosely . I hope this helped....
