speaking of transmissions .... the floor shift was omnipresent until when; around 1941 or so? but what happens if a rodder has a three speed transmission, and not the means or desire to put the lever on the floor? for him, the journey may be the destination with no hurried anticipation of getting there. or maybe his gal likes doing the "slide-over" and sitting next to him on those long drives. kinda hard to feel romantic with a steel shaft between your knees. i've yet to find the interconnection between the transmission linkage and the two perpendicular stalks which emerge from the steering column mounted shaft connected to the shift lever. any link to a diagram or help piecing this puzzle together will be greatly appreciated. thanks, sid
I have 3 on the tree in my 53 Ford and adapted the shift linkage to use a later model top loader 3 speed. It would help if you provided more specifics as to the model and year. Around 41 sounds about right, GM and Mopar maybe earlier, Ford later. The basic idea, regardless of model, is to find a manual shift column that will work in the car. Install the desired transmission with side levers. Put both in neutral and make rods that will connect the two. Adjust the throw of the shifter by changing the length of the transmission levers. There are plenty of diagrams on the net.
As far as Fords go, 1939 had a floor shift and 1940 had a column shift. I'm not sure about other manufacturers but I****ume they all switched over about the same time. I found this post on the topic from a couple years ago over on the Ford Barn: As a possible clarification to the question. The majority of the auto manufactures offered the column shift option on the Delux models only in 1939. With very few exceptions, the column shift option was done using a conventional top loader trans with a top plate that had provisions to convert the trans to a side shift. There were two reasons for the column shift: 1. To minimize noise telegraphed into the passenger compartment via the stick shift. 2. The bigger reason, to make automobiles more attractive, easier to use for female drivers. Chrysler really pushed this feature in their ads for '39. There's a diagram of the 1940 Ford column linkage in this post: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1940-ford-shift-linkage.1323132/
The more expensive the car, the earlier it got a column shifter. Chevy got it in 39, Cadillac around 37? There were a few different ways to build a column shift. Perhaps the easiest way to figure out how they work is to find parts book illustrations? and they also had fun features on some of them, such as "vacuum****ist" like this.
the picture is as close to what i'm looking for as it could be. unfortunately, even at 200% zoom i cannot quite figure out how the 4.019, 4.020, & 4.041 parts connect to their respective transmission points. i may have to print and trace with colored pencils. done that before and it gives me the "AHA! moment" thanks all. knowledge is****ulative and i'll digest this for a bit and keep coming back to it until it sinks in. sid
here is where to find a lot of old Chevy manuals and parts books. https://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/
here are a couple high resolution scans of the 1946 parts book (I have a paper version). click or save the images to see full resolution?
this is the Chevy truck from late 40s-mid 50s. From the****embly Instruction Manual. I think the 49-54 cars used something similar.
The romantic musings of an almost hot rodder. Clearly you never tried to row through the gears with your gal nuzzled up next to you. Being uncomfortable is the least of her problems if you get the urge for spirited driving. While the floor shifter isn’t comfortable with her being that close, the 3 on the tree will have her shoved all over the place as you shove and pull the long throw lever and hunt for the gears. It was much more romantic with the floor shifter as you could rest your hand casually on the knee that was covenantly beside the shifter. And if you truly want her to be more comfortable get an automatic on the column. As for the diagram, you almost need the parts in hand to fully visualize the linkages in the diagram Jim posted. But there are a lot of moving piecess to a column shifter.
i learned to drive with mom's Chrysler 300 with push*****on dashboard gear changes. the back seat was like a couch , so any stretching out only required parking in an unlit place. my second car was a 1968 Peugeot with a 4 speed column shift. i could drive and reach a heretofore unimaginable height with Julie's help.
This three on the tree Suburban with a Muncie 330 transmission represents a rare finale-run configuration produced in 1974. GM employed a symmetrical bearing setup-- front and rear--resulting in reverse gear sharing the same ratio as first. This anomaly, paired with a high-output ignition system and three on the tree shift linkage, reflects a factory-engineered solution for towing, torque symmetry, and mechanical resilience. It stands as testament to GM's quiet ingenuity in the waning days of manual transmission development with Corvette level precision.
ford switched to column shift in 1940. i was a teen in the '60s, and all us guys put floor shifts in our cars. my dad didn't get it; he just said, "you don't know how long we waited for cars to get column shifts!
I had a 3 on the tree shifter once. Mopar used two very long shift rods between the column and the transmissions. On the one I had, the shift mechanism on the column was a bit worn out. To shift into 2nd gear, you had to lift the shift handle almost until it ground against the reverse gear in the trans, then do sort of a U hook from there into second. If you didn't do that, the shifter would lock in between the two positions and you had to shut the car off, climb under the car and force the two levers back into place. You had to do that on a level surface, because when the got the levers freed up, the trans was in neutral and the car would roll down any incline. Once free, you would climb back in the car, restart it, and start out in 1st again. My wife rode with me one time while I had that car, wasn't any need to feel romantic with that one. That car didn't hang around very long, it was a great car to part out though.
It was fairly common to put column shift in earlier cars I’ve put it in a 36 ford and a 39 ford and getting ready to put it in another 36 Imho Customs should have column shift
If you need pics I have some of Ford and Chevy. All of my manual cars/trucks are column shift and have modified some in the past to work with other transmissions. I would say it's not too hard to make a column shift with the shift tube on top of the column, with it inside the column might be more difficult.
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