Replacement driveshaft

[Greg58]

I am getting together everything needed to install my overdrive transmission, I have everything but a shorter driveshaft. I can find a yoke for$65, what have others used as a substitute shaft? I don't really want to cut mine down.

[Drbrown]

Never done it but given an accurate needed dimension a good machinist could do the job.

[Frank Miller]

What is this going in? You have a shoebox in your avatar and the driveshafts were the same for both standard and overdrive.

[alanwoodieman]

use a driveshaft out of a ford pu from 42 to 72, measure length and check with salvage yard, short bed, as a long bed is a two piece driveshaft, also a 55 to 64 powerglide chevy slip yoke will attach to this driveshaft

[Automotive Stud]

I had a driveline place shorten my driveshaft for less than $100, I wouldn't hesitate to do that.

[tubman]

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I've always done my own. In most cases, you don't shorten them much and if you're careful to preserve the balance and phasing, they turn out fine. If you have your own welder, it's free.

But I'm with Frank; are you sure you need to?

[Greg58]

The overdrive transmission is a inch and a half longer than the standard trans, I've had driveshafts cut before but I want to keep the original in case I ever need to go back to the stock set up. The transmission came out of a 53, its a R-10. I'm putting it in my 50.

[Greg58]

Originally Posted by alanwoodieman

use a driveshaft out of a ford pu from 42 to 72, measure length and check with salvage yard, short bed, as a long bed is a two piece driveshaft, also a 55 to 64 powerglide chevy slip yoke will attach to this driveshaft

Thanks, this helps.

[Greg58]

Question, were truck transmissions longer? A friend picked it up in a lot of parts, was marked with a paint pen 53 Ford, didn't say car or truck. Franks post has me wondering,

[Greg58]

Through a little searching I found this is not a truck transmission, this has the slip yoke tail shaft. What I've read the truck tail shaft had a yoke mounted on the output. I'll hit the salvage yards and find a driveshaft that has the correct yokes so I don't need special u-joints and have the local speed shop shorten it if needed. Here's the transmission with the one and a half inch section in between the gear box and tail shaft.

[Greg58]

Here's one last picture of the tail shaft housing with I.d. numbers, I'm searching the web for info. If some knows what I have please post it. I had to save the image then rotate it before posting it.

[alanwoodieman]

only 4 speed truck trans and heavy duty 3 speed had the u-joint/yoke on the trans, all the rest had a slip yoke

[Greg58]

I think what I have is the light duty truck trans, it is a 53. It doesn't have the clutch linkage stand off on the side cover like my transmission does. A friend picked up a couple of flatheads complete with o.d. transmissions, maybe I can do a little horse trading with him.

[Greg58]

No go on the transmissions that my friend has, both are Mercury's. The 50 has the bell housing made to the case, the other is a 53 that's just like the one I have, the search continues.

[alanwoodieman]

I have one of those OD trans with the side fitting for the clutch linkage, if you are still looking for one. I plan on going to the flea market at Commerce on the 3 rd of March and could bring it. will get a picture of it tomorrow if you are interested.

[Greg58]

Thanks Allen, the members here have been a lot of help. Frank said that the transmission was the same length as my non overdrive which is 26" from the face that bolts against the bell housing to the tail shaft housing end.

[rotorwrench]

The 1949 thru 50 and maybe some early 51 Ford transmissions were basically the same length between standard 3-speed and overdrive. In 1951 the internal gears were all changed to the late diamond pattern gears and mounting changed a bit. The late 51 Mercury transmission should be the same basic unit as late 51 Ford even though they had different bell housings & rear axles. In 52 & 53, all the manual transmissions for cars were pretty much the same length with the same or similar mounting. Ford & Mercury had different clutches and bell housings but the transmissions didn't differ much. It was mostly the cars that changed in 1952.

Ford and Mercury cars used the same drive shaft in 1949 and 50 and had the same part numbers. Only the station wagons were different in all years. In 1951 they used both Ford and Mercury drive shafts depending on the two different rear cases that were used during the model year on both Ford and Mercury. In 1952 & 53 They went to a shorter drive shaft for Ford cars at 59" long. The earlier ones were between 61 11/16" and 61 23/32" so there was a length difference and it was likely due to the new bodies. The 52 & 53 Mercury shaft got longer at 62 3/32". You can see by the figures that the lengths didn't differ by much. They all used the same front slip yoke but they did connect to different rear axles depending on Ford or Mercury.

The 1953 F100 used a different part number transmission than the cars so it may have had a different tail shaft or possibly the input or main shaft was different.

[Greg58]

Thanks again for all the info, here's the side cover of the one I have, my stock unit has a stand off below and to the back of the 1/reverse lever for clutch hardware mounting.

[rotorwrench]

That looks like the later 52/53 Ford /Mercury car type. No rail switch on them. They had swing pedals so they didn't need the clutch fitting. There were even later ones on the Y-blocks.

It would be nice if someone put together a listing of all the different designs of the Borg Warner overdrive equipped transmissions. The list would be long though since so many manufacturers used them. Ford later used T85 & T86 versions. One has top loading gears and the other has the side load. Chrysler, GM, and AMC all had versions and they were all different too.

[alanwoodieman]

look at this OD trans, shifts good thru the gears on the box