History ...

Thats interesting, I have never heard that before.
Why all the hate for freewheeling transmissions?
Are they really that dangerous to drive, or just ignorant sensationalism?
I know there were some transmissions in the '30s that freewheeled, and that supposedly some states outlawed them. But the BW ODs freewheeled, and were OK?

 

I thought they freewheeled at any speed, but I only had one for a short while many years ago, and it wasn't wired in properly.

I've heard the legislative outlawing story before, but have never seen do***entation.

 

my bad, i read that from somewhere else, serves me right for not double checking...

 

I will double check when home, but I believe 28mph is cut on/off for the OD being able to engage. It doesnt survive high torque well, so the governor prevents it from being engaged at low speeds. When the OD is activated, but not engaged, freewheeling takes place, when it is engaged, it does not freewheel. So if you are in 3rd gear, 55mph, it will freewheel, but when you lift and it shifts into OD, it will not freewheel.

I am mid rebuild of my r10, so unfortunately, my info is purely academic.

 

Thank you Mr. sgtlethargic! What a great and informative article!

I can't speak to these overdrives being 'banned' until I see proof and not hearsay. I have driven these Borg-Warner's in two General Motor forms, the Muncie 319 and the later model Saginaw - Borg/Warner 3sp+od. The Saginaw 1969 model I have has an adjustable governor so that the 'kick-in' point can be adjusted up or down. Others have added the Borg-Warner to a Saginaw 4 speed and achieve 8 forward gears. I have charted the gear ratios and there are close overlapping ratios, think shifting a ten speed bicycle. These transmissions are the best invention since the root beer truck and the ice truck crashed at an intersection and they discovered Ice Cold Root Beer as the bottles mixed into the ice!

 

Under most driving conditions if they are working properly they don't freewheel. If you lock out the overdrive they drive like a regular 3 speed. If the overdrive lock out isn't engaged, and the solenoid is not engaged either, then they freewheel. In overdrive with the solenoid engaged they have normal engine braking. I've got one in my roadster and one in my 40.

 

When I describe the transmission to interested parties I describe it as two transmissions in one. The first, (OD cable pulled OUT) is a normal 3 speed with engine braking in all gears, the second, cable pushed IN, is the transmission in the OD capable mode with engine braking only when the solenoid is engaged 2nd overdrive and 3rd overdrive.

 

Here's my hillbilly engineered setup.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...my-40-ford-coupe.1038038/page-3#post-13096971

 

Not sure how much help it’s is, used to have a Mitsubishi L300 van with a 5 speed column change with cables. They still sell them in parts of Asia.

 

Oneball, how can you select 5 positions (4>, 1<) or a 5 speed (5>, 1<) with 2 cables?
I would ***ume a forward/back and left/right, but that's going to require an intricate mechanical deal at the box, unless it's designed or built for that.

 

Not got the foggiest. Never looked at it.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/4-on-the-tree.1176477/

 

I did some figuring on how to do that, but it was not cost effective.

Way too much work.

 

Gimpy, there was a display at SEMA in the mid to late oughts that had a shifter and cables made to work different rear transaxles. Neat stuff, but $$$$.