Ok fellas, like the ***le says, this concerns a 49 ford with a 3 speed with overdrive. How do you use the overdrive? My dad never got the opportunity to show me before he p***ed. The 3 on the tree I'm good with. Just not the OD.
Just drive it. It will shift into OD (if the cable is pushed in, and the system is working right) all by itself when you let off the gas in 2nd gear, or 3rd gear. When you floor it, it will kick out of OD. It's a nice system when it's working as designed. There are a lot of things that can go wrong, however. One thing is that folks don't understand it, and make changes that screw things up.
I don’t recommend pulling the cable when it’s moving if hooked up, and it works correctly, its kinda like an auxiliary auto trans when engaged. it can be byp***ed and shifted with a switch. The foward gears will not hold the car when parked with the OD engaged. Should only be able to use reverse when parked and OD engaged. Probably can’t shift into reverse with the solinoid in. Disengaged, should work like a normal 3 speed. So always use the parking brake just to cover your ****.
Pretty much as Squirrel says. If you want to stay on the road and out of the shop, try to keep a few simple things in mind. Keep an eye on the gear oil level. If your transmission is a dripper, don’t let it get too low…..you can burn up the planetary gears long before anything else is damaged. Just check the level at the main filler plug on the side of the 3 speed case. Check and top off here….don’t mess with the small filler and drain plugs in the overdrive housing. The oil moves through both housings. Make sure the cable lockout control is properly adjusted. Tighten the pinch bolt on the cable at the point where the lockout lever is hard up against the shoulder on the overdrive housing AND the handle on the dash is almost but not quite all the way in to its bracket under the dash. The third tip for you is to make sure your wiring and grounding for the overdrive are in best condition. All wire connections should be tight. Replace any frayed wires or those with broken insulation. The solenoid and the governor (both attached to the transmission) depend on good grounding to work properly. They need clean metal to metal contact. Do yourself a favor and add a flexible ground strap down at the transmission. I recommend using the upper bolt that holds the solenoid to the unit and run the other end of the strap up to the vehicle body close by. Check to make sure that the ground strap from the engine block to the firewall is secured and tight. You can hear all sorts of advice about driving the unit like it’s a six speed (ie forcing it to shift into overdrive at each gear). Also, under certain cir***stances, you can drop it out of overdrive mode while driving at speed by pulling the cable lockout control out…. I don’t recommend learning how to do this as a rookie with your (expensive to repair) overdrive transmission. Let the system do its thing as designed and you’ll enjoy trouble free miles. It’s a good idea to get into the habit of pulling the lockout handle OUT when you park your vehicle. The reason for this is that the system is equipped with a freewheeling mechanism and the car can roll forward if parked on a downhill grade (and the parking brake is not applied). With the control handle pulled OUT, the transmission will behave like a regular three speed unit and the driveline will be coupled up with the engine. It’s still a good idea to set the parking brake anyway…..you can’t trust that someone else might not get in the car and disengage the brake. If that happens, you just know that your runaway vehicle will roll right into some high dollar Corvette…
So generally turn it on/off while parked. and it will free wheel with over drive on, you’ll notice the engine not slowing the car down when coasting.
If you have a working parking brake (which is a very good idea on every car), then you can just leave the cable pushed in all the time. Except.... when you're in a hilly area! If you leave the cable pushed in while driving down a mountain, you'll die.
I've driven overdrives for more than sixty years and I always leave the control pushed in; that is overdrive operational. The only exception would be coming down a slow mountain road. jack vines
I have to admit, that doesn't sound like a fun death. Unless you have a heart attack before the crash!LOL
The freewheel doesn't happen when overdrive is engaged, it's only when you're going slow enough that it won't engage (less than 30ish mph), and the handle is pushed in. Normal driving at speed in OD, you have engine braking. Going down grades, you really want the handle out before you start heading down. Just be familiar with how it works, you'll be OK.
I do remember when dad drove the car, he would be in 3rd gear and I would hear like a gear grinding sound, then he would let off the gas and it would go into OD. Is there an adjustment to remedy that?
You might find this useful, or at least parts of it. The original BW manual https://www.oldwillysforum.com/forum/TechData/BWOverdriveManual.pdf
Yes, it all depends what type of area you live in. I always have the cable out when I park, I also try to time the light to push in the cable just before the freeway entrance......but I live in a hilly area and like the engine braking. Also remember to lube the outside of the cable to keep it working freely. Great transmissions, I have 1 in my panel and 2 others waiting to be put to use.
If you want to park on a hill, you can leave the cable pushed in and put it in reverse when you park. Shifting into reverse locks the sun gear in the overdrive into the planet carrier. That locks up the OD gear set the same as if you pulled out the cable.
Great amount of real world feed back here. I’ve got similar overdrive set up behind a Studebaker going into my current project and it’s been a loooooooooong time since I’ve had a working one in a car. what’s the issue with turning the overdrive on/off while in motion? Just out of general curiosity. also Squirrel I laughed way to hard at the mountain death sentence.
If the o/d is disengaged and the transmission is under load, you can pull the cable. If it’s engaged or you’re freewheeling, you’ll lunch it. Best to be shown how that works. One of the first things Dad showed me how to do and cautioned me about when he taught me how to drive one back in 1967. While I always used the full factory wiring, I’d add a switch to interrupt the governor to help with that. That was (IIRC, it’s been a long time) the relay coil load, very low current.
Turning the OD on and off while in motion is no problem. Pulling out the OD cable is. The overdrive unit consists of a planetary gear set. The planet carrier is connected to the trans output shaft. The ring gear is connected to the OD output shaft. With the OD cable in, the sun gear is free to turn and the trans output and the OD output are connected via one way roller clutch. When you reach OD speed, the solenoid on the side of the transmission pushes in a pawl that locks the sun gear to the OD case. By holding the sun gear stationary the plantet gears walk around the stationary sun gear and drive the ring gear at 0.7:1, ie. overdrive. When you pull the cable out, the sun gear is moved into splines in the planet carrier locking it to the carrier. Locking any two components of a planetary gear set together, locks the gear set. That's fine if you are at a stand still. If you are driving in OD the sun gear is locked to the case and you are now trying to lock it into the planet carrier which is being driven by the trans output shaft. The first thing you get is severe gear grinding. If you manage to slide the sun gear into the planet carrier, something breaks. There is a safe way to pull out the cable while you are in OD. With a properly operating unit, flooring the throttle will de-engergize the OD solenoid. This will free up the sun gear and basically shift the unit from OD to direct drive. Once the overrunning clutch locks up (direct drive), the OD ge****t is moving as a solid unit with no gear interaction. Pulling out the cable under these conditions allows the sun gear to slide easily into the planet carrier. However, you can only do this while the engine is driving the rear wheels. If you let up, the planetary gears will start to spin and you get grinding. The procedure is outlined in the driver manual that came with the car.
Has a solenoid. Engage or disengage the t handle on the dash running or not, that basically turns it on. Then letting off the accelerator above (i think) 25 mph you should feel a shift alomg with rpm drop. Always loved having mine on my first car, 54 customline
Ok. So currently the overdrive handle is pushed in. So I still should be able to use reverse to back it off the rack and such correct? As long as I'm not moving g, I can pull the cable out and disengage the unit
Yes, reverse works fine with the handle pushed in. Yes on the second question. Pulling the cable out locks the planetary unit and you have direct drive.
the handle engaged or not doesnt change anything besides creating the ability to engage the overdrive over 25 mph. Its otherwise business as usual
Thank you all so very much. This was stuff he was supposed to teach me before he p***ed away. A close friend of mine came and helped wake the car up from its 2 plus year slumber. Was a very emotional moment when the old girl popped off. Still needs some work, but all will be fine.
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