Does anyone know what tranny I can bolt up to a 1957 International Pickup running the straight 6? The 3 speed is getting really tired and I have late night dreams of lower RPM's at highway speeds. Here is a pic for inspiration. Yes it is going to remain in farm truck mode, with the exception of a little altitude adjustment.
if you're just looking for an extra gear for cruising at a higher speed, you might want to swap the rearend instead. It probably has the same wheel bolt pattern as some type of Ford truck, so if you can find a rear that's narrow enough from maybe a 60s vintage Ford truck, then you can put in whatever gears you want.
measure the bolt pattern and width...I've gotta 8" out of a cougar that was too wide for my car..3:00 ratio..If it helps.. Cody
you ever think about taking the 3 speed out, rebuilding it and swapping in some diffrent gears? then you dont have to get new driveshaft, mess with the crossmember, etc. rearend gears would probally be the cheapest, if you can set up a ring n pinion but rebuilding the tranny with diffrent gears shouldnt be to much more expensive(if you do it yourself)
No matter what you do with a tranny, the final drive (3rd?) is still 1 to 1 unless you get an overdrive. The rear has to be changed (new gears or a new rear) to get out of the high rpm thing.
The tranny does need to be rebuilt regardless. That is why I was hoping to come up with a better alternative if I am going to pull it anyway. 4 speed sounds cool. 5 speed sounds even cooler. This truck runs great, just want to make it a little easier on everything for those highway streches that I do every day.
A 4 speed won't change the final gearing, but a 5 speed probably will, assuming you get a modern 5 speed that has overdrive as 5th gear.