The Ford Barn

RuleHard · 03-23-2025, 10:00 PM

Trying to keep this simple so bear with me please.

I have a 53 custom line short roof coupe with overdrive. I few years ago it took a spectacular failure and totally destroyed the planatary gear. I’ve been trying to gather up parts over the past few years and now I’ve got whole gaggle of parts. I know one is a complete mercury transmission based on the bell housing and it’s in horrible shape and rusted way too bad. The other is a transmission and overdrive with output shaft and the other is just an overdrive and output shaft. My plan was to just slap the transmission and overdrive in and then use the other for parts to rebuild the original. Here is where the issue begins.
The original transmission output shaft measured about 18” from on the output shaft case but all these other measure 13-14 ish inches. Also the mounts under the output shaft case is different one which I believe is because it’s a pre 50 unit. I have the vanpelt books but based on the photos I cannot positively identify the transmissions or find anything online.

If anyone has a good resource to find this info I’d appreciate it.

rotorwrench · 03-24-2025, 10:54 PM

Mac's book stops with the last of the light duty 3-speeds used in the F1 pickups. The 259 series started with the 1949 Ford cars. It evolved for 1951 with the new diamond gear tooth design. The late 1951 Mercury (after February 1951) and the Ford cars used the updated 259 series either with or without the R10 overdrive. They all had cast iron bell housings in 1952 and 53. The rear mount also changed in 1951 so the 52/53 units are the best bet. With the change to the Y-block in 1954, the bell housing changed but I haven't researched the tail housing.

You could give Mac a call. He knows a lot about the Ford and Borg Warner gear boxes. Ford wasn't the only motor company to use them and the T86 units.

RuleHard · 03-25-2025, 06:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rotorwrench

Mac's book stops with the last of the light duty 3-speeds used in the F1 pickups. The 259 series started with the 1949 Ford cars. It evolved for 1951 with the new diamond gear tooth design. The late 1951 Mercury (after February 1951) and the Ford cars used the updated 259 series either with or without the R10 overdrive. They all had cast iron bell housings in 1952 and 53. The rear mount also changed in 1951 so the 52/53 units are the best bet. With the change to the Y-block in 1954, the bell housing changed but I haven't researched the tail housing.

You could give Mac a call. He knows a lot about the Ford and Borg Warner gear boxes. Ford wasn't the only motor company to use them and the T86 units.

Is Mac the guy at Vanpelt? If so that’s who I planned to call today.
Yeah I was happy when I found out how many R10 ODs there were in the world when mine went kaput but there is also many changes that are hard to track down. So this makes me think that I have 2 pre 52 tail sections and one 52-53 plus the one that came in my car.
I just need to figure out what tail shaft section I have so I can order parts for it so I can keep the drive shaft length the same.

rotorwrench · 03-25-2025, 03:43 PM

Yes, I was referring to Mac VanPelt. The later ones are longer and the rail switch is deleted on them. With larger engines coming on line for T-Birds and Mercury's, they started gravitating toward the heavy duty T85 with the R11 overdrive. The 259 series and T86 were the light duty units for a few more years in the mid to late 50s. The T85 was patterned for the T10 4-speed and the top loading T86 evolved a lot to form the Ford top loader 4-speed in the 60s.

RuleHard · 04-01-2025, 06:07 AM

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Talked to Mac and got it all sorted. As mentioned above the short ones are early. Pre 52 the extension was shorter and 51 earlier had a different foot mount and casting for the reverse lockout. The 51 has the reverse lockout switch casting but no switch.
Either way I ordered up gaskets and seals plus bushing to mate my extension to the used trans I got and hope I can get her in the road soon. Then I can plan to rebuild the other one I have.

03-24-2025, 10:54 PM	#2
rotorwrench Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 17,410	Re: R10 overdrive tail shaft ID Mac's book stops with the last of the light duty 3-speeds used in the F1 pickups. The 259 series started with the 1949 Ford cars. It evolved for 1951 with the new diamond gear tooth design. The late 1951 Mercury (after February 1951) and the Ford cars used the updated 259 series either with or without the R10 overdrive. They all had cast iron bell housings in 1952 and 53. The rear mount also changed in 1951 so the 52/53 units are the best bet. With the change to the Y-block in 1954, the bell housing changed but I haven't researched the tail housing. You could give Mac a call. He knows a lot about the Ford and Borg Warner gear boxes. Ford wasn't the only motor company to use them and the T86 units.

03-25-2025, 03:43 PM	#4
rotorwrench Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 17,410	Re: R10 overdrive tail shaft ID Yes, I was referring to Mac VanPelt. The later ones are longer and the rail switch is deleted on them. With larger engines coming on line for T-Birds and Mercury's, they started gravitating toward the heavy duty T85 with the R11 overdrive. The 259 series and T86 were the light duty units for a few more years in the mid to late 50s. The T85 was patterned for the T10 4-speed and the top loading T86 evolved a lot to form the Ford top loader 4-speed in the 60s. Last edited by rotorwrench; 03-25-2025 at 03:52 PM.

04-01-2025, 06:07 AM	#5
RuleHard Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2022 Posts: 26	Re: R10 overdrive tail shaft ID Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) Talked to Mac and got it all sorted. As mentioned above the short ones are early. Pre 52 the extension was shorter and 51 earlier had a different foot mount and casting for the reverse lockout. The 51 has the reverse lockout switch casting but no switch. Either way I ordered up gaskets and seals plus bushing to mate my extension to the used trans I got and hope I can get her in the road soon. Then I can plan to rebuild the other one I have.