Technical Transmission rebuild

I have a 1950 ford 3 speed with overdrive transmission that needs to be rebuilt. I am in Pompano beach Florida , someone local if possible. Thanks in advance 19fift@gmail.com joe smith

 

Try Paul Cangialosi from 5speeds.com in Tequesta, Fl. He is mainly a later transmission guy but knows manual transmissions better than anyone I have ever encountered. Nice guy too and he has a great YouTube channel.

 

Those are fairly simple. If you can find a source for parts you can do that yourself. I rebuilt one when I was 17 years old.

 

“Fairly simple” is a relative term. The OD adds a level of complexity.

 

Perhaps, but I still don't recall it being that difficult at the time. It was my first trans rebuild. As I recall, the needle bearings were the worst part of any transmission ***embly.

 

Discovering the hidden circlip under the "frost plug" was the hardest for me.

 

Getting one to last 'till the end of the night was toughest for me. Bang! Clank, clank etc.

 

There are several sources for good books on rebuilding both the transmission and the overdrive. Don't be afraid of either one. Ford service manuals of the fifties are advertised on many sites including Ebay. The overdrive is either a Borg Warner R10 or 11 unit and was used by everybody on American cars through the fifties and into the sixties. There is nothing magic or tricky about building one yourself. I started out as a kid of 14 rebuilding Ford boxes the older guys would ****ter behind the overheads of the day. When I first started, I had trouble keping the needle bearing from falling out as I installed the counter shaft. I kept a 2x4 and a hammer handy and when I became completely frustrated, would pound the snot out of the 2x4 with the hammer. Sure calmed the savage beast!! I soon found out that I could make a dummy shaft to hold the bearings as I installed the counter shaft and my mother suddenly found her broom and mop handles about a foot shorter than she remembered! Go for it. The only special tool you will need is an expanding snap ring pliers to release the retainer ring on the overdrive rear bearing.

 

Oh boy!.......sounds so incredibly easy. I’ve been rebuilding the Ford overdrive transmissions for a number of years now in our shop. The loose needle bearings inside the cluster gear are just one aspect of the difficulties involved. Getting the front and rear thrust washers aligned can be a pain. Plus, there are many individual parts to remember to install correctly. I can’t tell you how many of these have come in our shop with parts missing or damaged by rough installation techniques.

You CAN rebuild one yourself if you have the right manual, the right tools, and a diligent effort to get the re***emble done correctly. You need a hydraulic press for the bearings, a bearing splitter, lock ring pliers, and you should make up a proper dummy shaft for the needle bearings. Regular shop tools suffice for the rest of the job.

If you decide to have someone else do the job, I highly recommend that you ask them if they have done the Ford- Borg Warner overdrives before. It’s not one for somebody to try to learn on.

 

Ask around on The Ford Barn or Shoebox Central, they would know who is good and maybe you'll find a good used one to get you by for a while.