I just disassembled this 39 ford transmission and found something I never saw before. It is a top loader, late synchro, torque tube style but it have a 16 spline mainshaft like open drive ones, but it is shorter and working with a u-joint.<O</O There are some exceptions or models that had this composition? Or it must be custom made? I thought probably they cut the mainshaft and modified the U-joint, here some pics what do you think???? <O</O
I think that part is from a true 39 trans with 3 in fork top cover,and any parts afther that go into 1940 thur 1948 cars,the truck were longer for the slip uj.
Baffling! Blasted aliens been messing with the transmissions again! No idea, but: Shaft Not from a regular Ford passenger rig: It has not been cut down enough to remove the normal coarser splines, and it looks like it bears a groove for a snap ring in the middle of the splined area. If cut from an overdrive main drive...I don't think those have enough meat there to be splined close to original size either...I think they have grooves in the way, though I am not nearly as familiar with the parts. I am not at all familiar with the commercial 3 speed...have one or two but never even looked at how that is arranged. That snap ring groove seems about right for the open drive speedo gear location and splines seem right, so maybe it is based on one from that application...can't think of any alternative in fact! BUT...U-joint seems to be bushing type as in torque tube, not needle open type, and howinhell could it have been resplined close to normal passenger size??? Call up Modified driver and get hold of a passenger one!
Definitely I think it is a cut down main shaft from an open drive transmission. U-joint probably was machined and 16 spline piece welded to adapt the main shaft…. More questions…. I also found this cluster with two of the gears cut in different style, at first thougth it should be 1950 or up cluster, but it had caged roller bearings and usual 39 teeth angle… It is marked as 191-8G. Any idea of the year??? Is this application of two different gears cut style, usual in 39 to 48 clusters? What do you thing about the wear on first gear, is it still usable or it must be discarded?
Warner 191-8G is the 29-24-18-14 tooth cluster gear used from 1940-50. It seems that the one in your pic takes the 68-7129B single thrust washer on the rear face, but I can't tell for sure. That washer has 4 bumps that fit into 4 radial slots on the rear face of the gear. The first gear teeth are badly worn. This is beyond anything we would let go out of our shop. I would replace it. If your main drive gear is still good, you need to stay with the 29T cluster that was in your gearbox. If you think the main drive gear (15T) is bad, you could switch the two to a 16T main drive with a 28T cluster. It depends on condition and your budget plus any interest you may have in changing out the gear set to the higher ratio. If the cluster gear is worn that badly, be sure to take a look at the first/reverse sliding gear.....it could be equally worn.
Thanks Mac Yes it uses 4 bump whasher... So all regular 39 and 40's clusters had these two gears cut different way on the tooth than the other two? I mean if I buy a regular 40's, 28T/16T combo, is it going to mach the rest of pieces in the tranny, which also have two different cut styles on the tooth?????
This is a '52 gearbox, same way BTW, I think the caged vs loose rollers thing is not a good indicator, this one still has loose rollers. As for your first question about the shaft, take a look at the location of this one's snap ring groove. This is a truck open drive trans.
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