Chevy 3 Speed manual with OD

I just picked up a 3 Speed manual with Overdrive. It was in a 55 Chevy with a 6 cylinder.

I was thinking about running it in a truck I'm trying to scrounge together.

I've never seen one hooked up. It's pretty much like any other 3 speed I've ever had except for the OD parts.

Can you guys tell me if they even make a floor shifter for these still. What's my best bet for setting this up in a 63 C10 with a 6 cylinder.

I figured I'd ask anyways? TIA...

 

If your overdrive is an original 55-57 it doesn't have the mounting pad on the tailshaft housong that will be needed on your truck. 58 on up had the mounting pad. Regarding a floor shifter, Hurst made them for overdrives many years ago and they are different than the standard 3-speed ones. With the extra stuff on the tailhousing there isn't much room to mount the shifter and arms but something could be made to fit with some effort. This overdrive is longer than the standard 3-speed that was used in your truck so the crossmember will have to moved back and a shorter driveshaft will ne required too. Hope this helps. Max

 

Max,
It doesn't have the pad on the tailshaft and the guy said it was out of a 55, so that adds up.
The truck uses a bell-housing mount cross-member so that's no problem.
It has the extra junk on the housing. + one or two electrical inputs as well.
I wonder how and the heck you could get one of those old style HURST shifters these days... other than just stumbling onto one at a swap. Canfield is this weekend.
If somebody was familiar with the set-up, I wonder if you could rig it up to work somehow.

 

I forgot that the stick trucks had the bellhousing mounts as I was thinking of an automatic truck I have which has the rear mount. Anyway, I have a possible source for a shifter for that overdrive and lots of other old applications. Call Eric Davidson at 262-942-8882 nights. He bought up a bunch of shifters from a business that went under long ago so he has a basement full of NOS Hursts and I think that he may be able to help you out. Max

 

Thanks for the lead Max. I'll call him today.
I went and looked at the 6cyl that once sat in front of this trans in a 55 yesterday.
It's all there. Except the air cleaner. Guys says he has it somewhere in the shed.
+ Low miles - 32k I "think" is what he said.
Setting for just under two years in his garage. Price isn't too bad either.
I'm just trying to figure how to set up the 63 C10 I'm scrounging together with this earlier stuff.
Did the bells mount the same? 55 Chevy vs. 63 Chevy?? It was too dark to get a good look at the bell on the back of the motor. The 63 has the two rubber mounts and they have the big bolts going up through into the bell.

I am being pulled by an unknown force to do this set-up...

Thanks again.

 

I would be curious as to why you want to run an antique transmission? The synchronizers are good for about one shift before they puke and they are not syncro to first gear. A 55 thru 57 has an extremely long tail shaft that is floating out in mid-air, so with any kind of horse power your either going to break it or the ears off the transmission where it mounts to the bell housing. Although they are hard to find, the three speed overdrive beginning in 58, had a rear mount which made them a little more durable. I'd opt for a cheap ass Muncy three speed or a Saganaw four speed if yor on a limited budget. I don't mean to sound critical but you'll be building a driveshaft for a one-of-a-king transmission that isn't very durable. I have used these in the past and I can tell you that the old three speed Hurst shifter will work on the three speed and the three speed OD tranny. They bolt to the upper two and left lower bolts on the forward case, which is the same, the side plate and shift levers are the same as well. You will need an electrical hook up and a manual in / out cable. The car had a T handle under the dash that was chrome and said Overdrive. Also; most of the tri fives that had overdrive transmissions, also has 4:11 rear ends. My two cents.

Shoe

 

Thanks for the insight Shoe.
I wound up with a 63 shortbed Chevy truck a few weeks back minus a driveline.
I have most everything to put it together including a good running 305/700R4 combo.
Mostly I'm just interested in doing something different for a change. No real power to be concerned about. Just a cruiser to scoot around in if it works out.

I've had SBC's in everything for a while and I'm very happy with the performance of those set-ups... just getting bored with the concept.
I guess I'm just playing around with the idea of this old 55 driveline at use again in this 63. I've got a 62 rearend laying around with the 4.10:1 gears.

You do make an interesting point about the shifter.
If I understood you correctly I could utilize the OD with a toggle-switch and hot lead to the solenoid and a cable to the lever, while shifting with a standard off the shelf floor shifter vs. the more expensive vintage HURST I am thinking of using.
Can I get by with a "choke" style cable to the lever?
How does the governor factor in?

Thanks for the inputs.

Max - called the guy last night. Nice guy. Mostly 4 speed stuff. Tons of 4 speed stuff on hand. Building tranny's, selling parts, etc. Some racing stuff too.
Thanks anyways.

 

I used that 'zact tranny in my old 68 chevy shortbox. It was a blessing! The truck had a 292 six with pretty low gears and I wanted to actually drive my pickup! I found the 55 o.d. at a swap meet and bolted it in place of the original full synchro 3 speed. Tranny lengths were the same, so no driveshaft cutting was needed but the slip yokes were different spline count. I had to find an old coarse spline yoke and install it.......a nuthin deal. I left the governor wiring unhooked and wired the solenoid directly to a toggle switch powered by a switched source. I used an old red Morse PTO cable to operate the lever and took it out on the road. Now, I had 6 forward speeds but it's suggested you don't use O.D. in first gear. The torque multiplication of first gear puts a pretty good strain on the O.D. sprag. It's not designed to handle too much torque. I drove the shit outa my pickup for years, makimg several trips from Omaha to the Bonneville salt flats. I let my son drive it to school on occasion and he was kinda hard on it... popped the sprag once and then 3rd synchro went to shit. My kid eventually bought the truck from me and he put a 700R-4 in the truck. The tranny went into a guy's 56 "vette.

 

BTW, I reused my old column shifter too...

 

That's good to know stuff.
Thanks Rocky!

 

I also had a 67 Chevy pickup, the chassis for the 67 through 72 are many variations but definitely different then the earlier 63 chassis. There were also a multitude of engine / tranny combinations, so saying that certain driveshafts will interchange is dangerous. The trucks, either chassis, had a bell housing that mounted to the frame, allowing the transmission to not have a crossmember under it. Like the tri 5 chevies but not the same bell housing. Very much like the tri 5s, the trucks had two engine mounting configurations, forward and aft. You can bolt the V-8 into the 6 cylinder position, if the truck was a six, and all the linkage will work as well as the drive shaft! My recommendation would be to not do it that way, I have done it both ways and putting the engine in the V-8 (forward holes), is the best because the fan will be close enough to the radiator to be effective. You'll have to fabricate some of the clutch linkage and have a V-8 driveshaft, but headers will fit like they should and the distributor will have adequate clearance with the firewall. If I remember correctly, I couldn't use an electronic dist until I shifted the engine forward. At some point I also changed to a big block. I'll tell you something else; you could get a number of versions of the various GMC and Chevy 67 thru 72 trucks with rear leaf springs. The bolt holes for the leaf spring perch pads are drilled in all of the frames, even the trucks with trailing arms and coils springs. I took some button head / grade eight fasteners and used them to bolt the leaf spring conversion onto my coil spring truck. It took some time to drill out all if the factory rivets and replace the parts, but by flipping over the rear shackels and putting the rearend on top of the spring after removing all but three leafs, it was trick. You can also add 72 ball joints and use the front disc brakes, make sure you use the master cylinder off of the disc brake vehicle. This will also let you end up with a 5 on 5 wheel bolt pattern. Not ideal but better then 6 lug wheels. My 67 short bed step side, started life as a 292 c.i., granny gear 4 speed, and ended up as a 454, Muncie 4 speed!

Shoe