My 60' Lark 259 has OD as I know many do have. Not having much experience with manual OD's.. I'm not even sure If mine works properly. Does that large chrome pull handle need to be pulled out to engage? I really don't notice any difference in or out. There is that switch under the hood thats tied in with the throttle linkage, has some wires connected to it.. not sure if this works. how does someone check this system out? thanks in advance.
the chrome handle should be pushed In for OD to work. When the cable is in, you should notice when driving in gear when you let off the throttle, it freewheels, it shouldn't engine brake. With the cable pulled out, it should engine brake. One good rule of thumb, DON'T EVER PULL THE CABLE OUT WHILE IN MOTION- it will cause fairly major damage to the inside of your transmission. So, to engage the OD, you should be driving in Second or third gear at 30-35 mph. Let off the accelerator completely, and you should feel the trans shift. If you're not sure, try completely hammering the accelerator pedal to the floor, that should kick it out of overdrive and back into 2nd or 3rd, depending on what gear you're in. There's a great troubleshooting list in the Shop Manual that will walk you through the diagnostic steps to checking what's wrong if your overdrive isn't working. If you need that, i can photocopy it out of my copy of the shop manual and mail it to ya. Good luck, i use the OD in my 61 Lark all the time, sure is helpful with gas prices the way they are. Hope this helps, Evan
Also - if your battery ever runs down with the overdrive engaged, it will NOT start even if push starting is attempted. (learned this one the hard way)
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