This trans was hit pretty hard but the price was right & and the parts are worth what I paid. You can see the snout & the mounting ears are broken off. Hope the poor SOB was belted in It has a torque tube type flange (Thought maybe Hudson?) But the casting date on the case is '62. Any guesses what it is from? Should anyone need parts, let's talk!
Rambler.??? only production US car from the '60s I can think of with a torque tube driveline. HAMBer Farna (AMC guru) may know more about that. Even the accident aside, it doesn't look like a 'virgin'.....orange/red paint and the forward shift lever looks to have been brazed to the shaft. Must have an interesting background.
Rambler, huh? You may be right. Didn't notice the braze job till the gunk was off. What a flippin' gem
T-85's were the Borg-Warner heavy duty 3-speed. They were in all the Ford Hi-Performance cars until the advent of the 4-speed (B-W T-10). Thunderbirds, police cars, ambulances.....in fact the T-85 was modified to become the T-10. I can't imagine it showing up in a Rambler, but maybe so. Anyway, it is a very highly sought after 3-speed today, especially if it is the overdrive unit, which is heavy duty also.
I've got a GM version of a T-85 [no overdrive] I peeled out of a 59 Pontiac ambulance. I'd be interested in the overdrive if it was a conventional slip-yoke style tailshaft/housing but that thing prolly wouldn't do me any good. PM me with a price of just the overdrive portion anyway. Thanks... Rocky
Great find. I have been looking to get a T85 OD unit for my Galaxie. Right now it has a non OD T86 in it with reverse blown out. I have a questions for the T85/T86 gurus out there: How interchangeable are these trannys? I know that these came in a lot of different cars and trucks - could one that came out of, say a Rambler work in a Ford (after some modification of course)? Also, are they the same internally?
Last closed-drive Buick is '60, last closed-drive Rambler is '68, could be it's a combination of parts someone built for their car.
To the best of my knowledge, Buick never offered and O/D, most especially during the torque tube years. And, Buick, Olds and Pontiac used either the 5 bolt top cover or 6 bolt top cover gear boxes during the late '30's thru '60 on Buick, thru '57 on Olds and Pontiac. The Olds and Pontiac were open drive, but otherwise the same internally. The Op's trans is definitely a Warner T-85. Those were used in '49/'51 Lincoln, mid '50's Ford/T-bird/Mercury with some engines, and later in other car and truck applications. Also, as stated above, in some Pontiacs, especially in HD applications. There are other brand applications, as well. The reason I suggested Rambler is that it used a torque tube longer than anyone (I think) and they did offer some significant engine power options over time. The OP's statement that the trans has a casting date of 1962, if correct, brackets the trans to '62 to '68. It is possible the trans has been rebuilt with a later case after a failure of some sort, and was originally in a late '50s Rambler Rebel, but who knows??
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