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Technical 700R4 speedometer drive help

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Southtowns27, Mar 22, 2022.

  1. Southtowns27
    Joined: Feb 23, 2004
    Posts: 45

    Southtowns27
    Member
    from Western NY

    My car has a 700R4 in it and the speedometer drive was all buggered up. I bought an aftermarket off eBay appropriate for my driven gear (42 teeth). When the new drive housing is installed correctly and the hold down fork is engaged in the grooves, the gear doesn't turn. I have to rotate the housing nearly 180* for the gears to mesh. What's going on here???
     
  2. gimpyshotrods
    Joined: May 20, 2009
    Posts: 24,403

    gimpyshotrods
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Last edited: Mar 22, 2022
  3. gimpyshotrods
    Joined: May 20, 2009
    Posts: 24,403

    gimpyshotrods
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    If you look, the cable threads are not in the center. It is an eccentric.
    [​IMG]
     
    David Gersic likes this.
  4. squirrel
    Joined: Sep 23, 2004
    Posts: 59,239

    squirrel
    Member

    Do Mopar parts really apply to a 700? I seem to recall that the GM adapter has it's gear tooth range shown on it, and it only fits one way.

    Anyways...it would really help to see what parts you have, including the gear on the output shaft (color/tooth count), and how the thing looks when it's installed.
     
    e1956v and rockable like this.
  5. gimpyshotrods
    Joined: May 20, 2009
    Posts: 24,403

    gimpyshotrods
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    It is the image that matters. There are clocking 700R4 housings.

    I had this one in my Chevelle. Take a good look at it at see how closely it resembles the other picture that I posted.
    [​IMG]
    It started out destined for an AMC product.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 35,605

    Mr48chev
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  7. gimpyshotrods
    Joined: May 20, 2009
    Posts: 24,403

    gimpyshotrods
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    My brother says that the clockable ones came from transfer cases, and that is what he used in mine.

    He says:
    NP208 fits TH400.
    NP231/242 fits TH350/700R4.

    When Chrysler acquired Jeep (then AMC), that became a Mopar product.
     
    David Gersic likes this.
  8. rockable
    Joined: Dec 21, 2009
    Posts: 4,939

    rockable
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I've always used the ones with the proper gear number cast into it. No problems if you do it that way.
     
    e1956v likes this.
  9. hepme
    Joined: Feb 1, 2021
    Posts: 628

    hepme
    Member

    that's the way i remember it also. I bought a "package" of plastic gears that all had different tooth counts for an R4 that i had and the gear only went in one way.
     
  10. squirrel
    Joined: Sep 23, 2004
    Posts: 59,239

    squirrel
    Member

    still no pics of what the OP has....we can guess all we want, but it won't help much.

    All the GM stuff I've ever had was from old transmissions, so I was unaware that you could use Mopar stuff in the 700. I've only used Mopar stuff in Mopars.
     
  11. Southtowns27
    Joined: Feb 23, 2004
    Posts: 45

    Southtowns27
    Member
    from Western NY

    Ok guys, here's what I've got. You can see the grooves where the fork is supposed to index into. I have it rotated nearly 180*. The numbers cast in the housing correspond to the driven gear. I have a red drive gear and green driven gear fwiw.
     

    Attached Files:

  12. gimpyshotrods
    Joined: May 20, 2009
    Posts: 24,403

    gimpyshotrods
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    Does it work ok that way out on the road?

    If so, run it!
     
    theHIGHLANDER likes this.
  13. The green 42 tooth driven gear must have the correct housing. It only goes on one way with the fork. The housing is unique for the 40 to 45 tooth driven gear selection. Get a new gear and housing because your old gear may have a crack at the base of the gear. Ask me why I know.
     
    Just Gary likes this.
  14. Southtowns27
    Joined: Feb 23, 2004
    Posts: 45

    Southtowns27
    Member
    from Western NY

    The housing has 42 cast right in it, along with a bunch of other numbers in the 40's. Yeah it works, but the speedo is inaccurate. I wanted to get this sorted out before I try swapping gears
     
  15. saltflats
    Joined: Aug 14, 2007
    Posts: 13,256

    saltflats
    Member
    from Missouri

    Sounds like the drive gear on the output shaft is incorrect.
     
    gimpyshotrods likes this.
  16. Ok, we didn't know that your speedometer was inaccurate. Here is how you do it.
    With "known accurate" speed (get an app "speedometer"), go out for a drive and hold at a steady speed, record the indicated speed of your speedometer. Example: real speed via GPS = 65 mph, indicated = 59 mph. That means that your green gear is spinning about 9% too SLOW (6/65=0.092) . On the other hand, the driven gear needs to speed up by a factor of 10.7% (6/59=0.107). So the gear needs to spin 10.7% faster, which means fewer teeth. Since we don't know what gear will give you the desired tooth count, we fudge a little bit and use the equation for the reduction of the 42 tooth gear to get where we want to be, so you then do the math again. So we then use 6/65 = 0.092, or 9.2%. That tells us we are about 10% fewer teeth.... The 42 tooth gear should be replaced with a gear that has (42 x .10=4.2) fewer teeth. That ain't gonna happen, so you have to round off the 4.2 to 4, so that would indicate a 38 tooth driven gear. That would be a BLUE gear, but you can't use the BLUE gear with the housing made for a GREEN gear. You shouldn't have to disturb your RED drive gear. Since the gears are fairly inexpensive, you might get a RED, BLUE and BROWN gears. one of them with work just fine. This is just an example, your numbers will be different. Of course you could use one of the "online calculators" that inputs tire size, rear end ratio, etc. to come up with the same answer, but use the actual distance from the center of the tire/wheel to the ground, not the published diameter of the given tire size. And be sure to get the correct housing for whatever gear you select. Two 2.078" diameter housings, each made from either aluminum or plastic, are available for driven gears with 34 or more teeth. One fits gears from 34 - 39 teeth and the second one fits gears from 40 - 45 teeth.

    More here:
    https://www.tciauto.com/speedometer-gear-calculator#700R4

    Keep us posted.....
     
  17. bobkatrods
    Joined: Sep 22, 2008
    Posts: 779

    bobkatrods
    Member
    from aledo tx

    I have always used the calculation of one tooth for 2 mph always seemed to be pretty close
     
    '49 Ford Coupe likes this.

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