Flatty 3 speed toughen up. What's available.

Wondering what's out there to make the old three speed better. Almost every other gearbox needs major surgery to fit in the chassis of my 40

 

Talk to these guys , they have books on beefing them up and sell the parts also, Really good to talk with, http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/flathead_home.htm Tim jones

 

make a 39 floor shift ford stronger or maybe even bullet proof. That would be interesting!

 

That's why I have a banket around mine Tim Jones

 

Tardell has a book out....the truck trans 1942 to about 1950 3 speed floor shift has a thicker body - around the lower cluster - then the idea is to slide in the 1946 to 1948 car gears out of the slide shift trannie...the truck is an open drive starting in 1942....

 

your a smart man!

 

50 years ago I used Lincoln Zephyr cluster w/ matching gears. Probably pretty expensive now. $500 for just a cluster from these guys (if still around)
http://www.vapinc.com/fordv832-53speed/main.html

 

78 series cases are not significantly stronger (if at all) than the 48 series cases. In fact, we weighed them once to compare the amount of iron.....virtually the same. Primary difference is the depth inside (where the big end of the cluster gear sets).

If you stay with the closed drive (torque tube driveshaft) you are pretty much stuck with the 39-48 gears. If you go with the open drive version, you have more options. The '51-52 pickup truck gears are a bit stronger, and can handle more HP. With a special mainshaft, you could use the 51-52 gears in a 39-48 closed drive gearbox.

The LZ gears are not any stronger....just a different gear ratio.

 

I thought i had read that the long ribs were supose to be alittle stronger, any truth to this?

 

Most of the cases crack at the shaft holes. The only time you'll need the extra strength the bottom rib will provide is when the crunched cluster is trying to find a way out.

Most guys will have a hard enough time finding a case with no cracks at the shaft holes, OR worn out bushing surfaces.

 

i took a 27 tooth gear set for a 51 to 54 trans and converted the output shaft to closed drive. Its the the last gear set for this trans and the the way the gears are cut they wont interchange with any of the other years..the gears are for a better word beefier than any of the other years. and i think that gear set is much more plentiful and reasonably priced to boot.