3 speed manual with overdrive ? info ?

[19673ontree]

I saw another post where someone was talking about a 3 speed manual tran with overdrive ? I am 38 year's old have fooled with chevy's all my life and had never heard of this ? what did they come in ? and where can I find one ? my 67 need's a little more gear for highway driving any info let's have it

[19673ontree]

here is a pic it's just a saginaw 3 spd with an overdrive unit ? cool looking thing , how did it work ? cable ? shifter rod ??

[northerngmc]

Not sure when they started but they were available inthe 50's.

My uncle has a 68 that he purchased new with the 3 speed OD and he swears by it.

I would love to find one for my 59 GMC.

From the factory they came with a kick down so when you stepped on the gas pedal it would shift out of OD. Some guys have retrofit them in with a simple toggle switch to activate the electric selinoid that activates the OD. I guess the dangerous part of this is forgetting to take it out of OD, as they do not like to be lugged.

[Huck]

the only drawback I see is that you kind of have to use the column shift rather then a nice floor shift. Other then that---they made them for fords, chrysler, gm, ---for many years. I had a 55 ford with one, got one in the barn from a tri-five chevy. It's almost as difficult to find as a good 3 speed steering column!!

[19673ontree]

Originally Posted by Huck

the only drawback I see is that you kind of have to use the column shift rather then a nice floor shift.

? the 3 spd column shifter is MY FAVORITE THING about these truck's !
I used to sit on dad's knee and shift his ole chevy 3 spd on the column when the day come's when I have to have a 67 to 72 truck with a floor shifter I'll just sell the truck (LOL) but anyway I drove my 67 200 mile's over the weekend and with the 3.73 gear on the highway at 60 mph it's to low if I just had a little more gear it would be fine and this overdrive may be just the thing because I like the way it's geared around town ,,,

[ChevLoRay]

When I was a Boy Scout, our Scoutmaster was the chief photographer for the Arkansas State Police. His police vehicle was a '57 Buick Special 2-dr, that had a 3-speed stick with overdrive. He showed us how well it ran by shifting into overdrive before he ever got out of first gear. He shifted to second at 60MPH, while in OD.

The only problem I remember having with a '50 Ford with OD would happen if you had left it in OD, and you needed to back it up to get out of where ever you were parked. If I remember right, leaving it in OD made it impossible to get into reverse if you couldn't go forward to get it out of OD. I could be wrong, but this seems to be locked in my memory.

[Botietruck]

19673ontree, GM stopped putting them in trucks in 1969. Most were Saginaws with a Borg Warner OD unit. I just rebuilt one for my '71 stepside. This one is a direct bolt in with no mods to the driveshaft. If you check out the Stovebolt site and search "overdrive", you'll find all the information you will need. Parts are hard to come by, but they are available. While bench testing the unit after rebuilding it, with the trans. in 3rd gear and the overdrive lever in the engaged position, the output shaft turns approximately
1 1/2 times to every one turn of the input shaft compared to 1 to 1 turn with the o/d disengaged. The gaskets and seals for the Saginaw are still available from GM or you can order a gasket kit from Advance Auto. But, the o/d gasket is not available from GM or Advance. I used an anarobic sealant on the rear housing and it worked fine. There are a few places in the western part of the US that you can still purchase some of the parts. Ananheim Gear is one and there's a couple of others that I can't recall. If you plan to purchase one of these units, make sure it has the governor and the solenoid. These are a must.

[davidh]

I know the levers look like a T like a smaller brake release pull but say overdrive on them. It would be neat to have one.

[wibilly]

i have a 59 studabaker truck out in the field of broken dreams with a 3 speed od tranny any body know if it is the same and will fit a chevy bellhousing?

[retselgerg]

I'm in the process of locating a late model NV tranny for the OD reason...but this is making more wonder.........

[CST*TEN in Katy]

Dad had one in the 1968 Suburban. He ordered it for "economy" with the 307 and 3 sp overdrive. It still never saw better than 13 mpg.
I was driving it when I was 15 or so. The OD would not engage until 28 mph, then all you do is let off the throttle, (it's freewheelin now!) wait half a second, and the 20% overdrive clunks in. Floor the throttle to disengage the OD to kick it down for passing. So us kids could wrap out first til the valves started to float (no tach) let off for first gear OD, shift to second, floor it to disengage, hit second gear OD, same thing in third. We had a six speed!

If you pulled out the overdrive handle, then it would lock out the OD and you have a straight 4.11 rearend. Little brother was able to bounce a front wheel off the ground in first gear using the throttle. Gee, I wonder why there aren't many of these trannnys left.

[frankslagoon]

Originally Posted by 19673ontree

I saw another post where someone was talking about a 3 speed manual tran with overdrive ? I am 38 year's old have fooled with chevy's all my life and had never heard of this ? what did they come in ? and where can I find one ? my 67 need's a little more gear for highway driving any info let's have it

So check out this trany we built this winter

[leftybass209]

Cool OD 3 speed. You do realize you resurrected an over 7 year old thread, right?

[Andy4639]

The first truck I bought was a 67. It had the orignal 283 with 3 speed over drive and AC in it. It took me awhile to figure out the over drive. it wasn't all that great of a unit to be honest.

The park brake lever you would pull it out to keep it out of over drive around town are out on the farm. When you got out on the road you would push it in and once in 3 gear you would let off the gas and it would go into over drive.
The truck I had was short lived because it caught on fire and burnt up.
i sold the motor and trans mission to my father in law for his wrecker. My brother in law burnt the trans mission up the first couple of times he drove it.

[frankslagoon]

Originally Posted by leftybass209

Cool OD 3 speed. You do realize you resurrected an over 7 year old thread, right?

I see that now. ya know I found the thread when I goggled 3 sp. o/d on the web. Andy. if there wired correctly the tranny will take itself in and out without messin with the cable, but your right, they are old school. if you look at this one you'll notice it's a little different.

[StingRay]

My understanding has always been that the OD unit will bolt onto a 4 speed Saginaw as well. Not the strongest tranny but lots of gear choices with the OD.

[70STOVEBOLT]

Originally Posted by frankslagoon

I see that now. ya know I found the thread when I goggled 3 sp. o/d on the web. Andy. if there wired correctly the tranny will take itself in and out without messin with the cable, but your right, they are old school. if you look at this one you'll notice it's a little different.

Looks like it's got an extra lever on the shift cover?

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by frankslagoon

I see that now. ya know I found the thread when I goggled 3 sp. o/d on the web. Andy. if there wired correctly the tranny will take itself in and out without messin with the cable, but your right, they are old school. if you look at this one you'll notice it's a little different.

Not from the factory. For a truck anyway. Mine was a stock truck one owner with the paper work. The cable with t handle put the trans in the over drive mode. If you had it pulled out it would drive just like a standard 3 speed. No overdrive at all. It was a manual on/off switch.
To be totally honest I can't remember if in was in overdrive and out was out of overdrive which makes since but that was a long time ago. It was one of the other anyway!

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by retselgerg

I'm in the process of locating a late model NV tranny for the OD reason...but this is making more wonder.........

I went through 3 of the 80's 3 speeds with overdrive before I figured that they aren't very strong.
First one I figured to many miles 1st gear ripped out 6 weeks of driving it.
2nd one lasted about the same. Got to wondering though
3rd one lasted less than a week, guess what, 1st gear came out of it leaving work. I put a 700 r4 in it that last 15 years.

These where never abused while I had them I can't say before they where all junkyard transmissions. They are cheaper to buy than to have fixed back then anyway.

[frankslagoon]

Originally Posted by StingRay

My understanding has always been that the OD unit will bolt onto a 4 speed Saginaw as well. Not the strongest tranny but lots of gear choices with the OD.

that is a 4 sp. with the o/d on it

[Livrat]

Originally Posted by StingRay

My understanding has always been that the OD unit will bolt onto a 4 speed Saginaw as well. Not the strongest tranny but lots of gear choices with the OD.

Your understanding is sorta correct, you use the 3 spd main shaft and od unit, remove all the gears from the mainshaft and set aside, then remove all 4 spd sliders,sycros and gears from their main shaft and install onto the 3 spd main shaft, (all a direct swap) mark and drill a hole in the 4 spd main case for the overdrive shift rail movement.. then bolt it together.