I've been spending the past few days sorting out how to marry an overdrive from a car and the original LD 3 speed from my truck. A Frankentranny, if you will. I've been taking pics along the way (something I rarely remember to do) in order to help future peeps that attempt the same. Utilizing an extended pilot bearing to accommodate the shorter and smaller input shaft didn't exactly appeal to me.

Yesterday I spent a couple hours with Mac and Will at VanPelt Sales and finally came up with a combination that will work however I/we forget to address the front bearing retainer. Of course it came to me when I was half-way home... ;-) Mac called me back this morning and has one on the way but I've since run aground on another concern. While the front driveshaft yoke has the same spline measurements, according to the truck parts book the O/D and non-O/D trans' (at least for the trucks) have slightly different yokes. The non-O/D yokes are about 1 1/8" shorter. The outer diameters are also a tad different but I can machine it to spec. So, while I can make the OD thinner I can't make it longer. (and surprising myself that I can contain the obvious remarks)

My searching hasn't come up with much as the O/D wasn't exactly a popular option that many indulged in, making the supply fairly thin. I'm curious what yoke have those that have been down this road used? As near as we can tell the original O/D trans was from a '51-'54 car but I have no access to a parts catalog from that period to see if/what differences there may be.

 

Question from the peanut gallery: Do you think that the spline on the yoke piece really needs to be continuous? Would a well made sleeve/spacer suffice?

 

Here's what the parts CD shows. I would "guess" that cars used the same output shaft/yoke as the LD trucks, even though they used different input shafts.

 

I also have the parts book. The TAAA 4841-A directly above that is the yoke I have now. I'm curious what yoke the cars used and if it would be a viable part/more available.