early f.e.d.pilots that ran a cad lasalle box

If you just need a bearing retainer on the rear, not some kind of tail housing, The front bearing from a Frd toploader with the 1 3/8" input has the same outside dimensions as the Lasalle front and rear. Four drilled and tapped holes, DONE

 

so your saying just that on the back and you have a shorter box set up for open drive ??

 

the packard is better. has synchro's on first. You don't show the front bearing retainer for your throw out bearing to slide on. If the front ball bearing is not locked in right with the front retainer it can move. I ****tered my lasalle cus I used the ford piece without checking to see if it held the front bearing in the right position. Lasalle and packard have higher speeds in first and second than most other cars of the era. they work good on the street with 4.11 or 4.56 gears. less rpm drop when you shift. I still have the packard overdrive in my roadster I built in the early 60's My brother used the rear casting off some flathead era trans and drilled and tapped the back of a buick roadmaster heavy duty box. . real backyard he cut strips of shim stock and glued then to the spline teeth to get a good tight fit.

 

The packard might be a good street option but this thread was about front engine dragsters. A syncro for first really doesn't matter. Not a lot of downshifting going on in the quarter. How does the Packard stand up to ritualistic abuse and HP?

 

No retainer ?? all mine do

The later Packards will take a beating,,bigger gears and shafts

 

The packard has better synchro's 2 -3 If he is going to be able to use reverse to back up to restage, synchro's on first doesn't put any fillings when grinding the gears. another thing to strengthen to box is to use full length roller bearings in the cluster. sometimes you have to ream out the gear if only the ends are finish machined / stack as many rollers as you can then make up a spacer for the difference or sometimes they had a thin tube spacer in the cluster. you can cut to fit.

 

Reverse would be nice but not really needed. That's what your crew is for. ;-) These gearboxes were used in FED's before burnouts.

 

the pict of the lasalle doesn' show the retainer. If I remember right the retainer did not bolt to the trans but was held in place by the bellhousing . and did not always end up with the trans.. some of the adaptor plates were not machined right to position it and hold the front trans bearing