`39 top loader question

I recently picked up a `39 gear box and plan to rebuild it my self. Can anyone recomend a good manual.

Also I was wondering if `39 was the only year this trans was made, or are `37`s and `38`s the same and everyone just calls them `39`s?

 

Hi,
I would look at Mike Bishop and Vern Tardel's book, How to build a traditional Ford hot rod. The trannys are very simple and straight forward. Good Luck.
David

 

I was over Ed's (EdMurder) place last week and we had an old transmission apart in about 15 minutes. Aside from some specifics to that particular one, it's easy to figure out.

 

The 39 shifts better( gears and syncros). The way you can tell a 39 from the earlier trannys is the neck of the shifter housing comes off at 90 degrees the others tilt to the rear. pogo

 

There's a Ford overhaul manual that's available in repro. If you can't find it, message me. I think I may even have a Canadian edition of it...
The tricks aren't in the manual--you need to eliminate endplay in upper and lower shafts and in the second gear. Endplay is one of the main reasons for sudden transmission death syndrome in early Ford boxes.
The lower shaft may need shims added to the thrust washers. The upper shaft can be tightened either by milling back of case or more easily by adding extra rear bearing slingers. There is a thrust washer at the second gear position. Take play down to zero or so. Endplay allows violent axial movement on sudden engagements with spiral cut gears. Its root cause here is apparently case stretch.
'37, 38, and some 39 boxes are about the same, some '39's and later pickup boxes are much the same. Early and late synchros differ, with variants of each. There are also variant ratio gear sets, minor thrust washer differences, and early and late shift forks. As long as you have a matching set, don't worry about it.
The late synchros first appeared in 1939 on Fords, '38 in LZ. Not all '39's have the late synchro setup.
1939 trans usually means late gearset/synchro/shifter in a floorshift box, without actual correlation to year of origin.
Who was it that posted the Ford engine manual here a couple of weeks ago? Would you like a copy of the trans manual to post, or any of the others in that series? I have Ford literature stacked to the ceiling, but no way to post it.

 

If you want to drop some coin into it, C&G supposedly is re-poping Licoln gears for the 39. There was a thing on it in the latest SRM.

 

Thanks for all the input guys, and Bruce, that`s exactly the type of info I was looking for.