I am a new owner of a 1940 Ford truck; 1 1/2 ton flatbed dually rear end. I just up graded the transmission to a C4. The double clutch just was not drivable for me. I would like to get more than 45 mph out of the truck and be at least highway safe. The rear differential is nothing I or others have seen. Any recomendations?

 

I too have been contemplating my options for my 41. If you stay stock it seems like you have to change the rear end to the higher ratio, add a auxiliary transmission and maybe go to taller tires to achieve any real increase in speed. Cheapest and easiest way may be just to do taller tires if you have not already done that. I had already plunked down the $$ for tires so not going to try the taller option. Also keep in mind the old 95 or 100 horse can only do so much so if you intend on hauling and cruising you will have to figure out the best combination of the above to get what you need.

Post some photos of your truck, always good to see another one on the road. I use mine hard a lot, fun and I always get plenty of lookers.

 

Another option is a rear end out of a late '70's early '80's Dodge M400 chassis motor home. They have the same 5 lug on 8 inch bolt pattern and the frame widths are the same. The Dodge will have an overall wider wheel width than the stock '40 rear end. The one I was thinking about installing in a '40 1 1/2 ton I used to own had 4.56 gears in it. They came with 19.5 tubeless rims which are a great upgrade from the stock 20 inch split rims on the '40.

 

 

Just don't put a lot of weight in the bed.....

 

Stu,

The C4 works very well and provides for a much nicer ride than the old double clutch which was a pure pain to drive. The truck with the double clutch did not see nearly as much road time. OK I have no plans to do any heavy hauling. Mine is purely a fun to drive truck. The C4 is a standard upgrade. I company in Oregon called Flat-O-Products makes a pretty slick conversion kit. Best thing I ever did to the truck.

 

I understand the drivability issue. My '41 ton and a half has the 6.67 rear end! The previous owner installed a 3 speed aux. transmission but the overdrive in it didn't gain it much. But I'm not trying to go fast with it either- but a little faster would be nice. However, I have found myself thinking more and more about converting it with a small, modern V-8 with a standard shift, overdrive equipped transmission. While I don't mind the double clutching most of the time, it would be nice to not have to pedal it as much. Heck, I've owned bicycles that didn't require this much pedaling!

Steve

 

Hmmm, the 3 times I drove my '40 last year I didn't double-clutch, just did it single. Seems to have no problem with that... am I courting breakage? This truck is my first experience with a non-synchro manual.

 

You should be able to upshift without double clutching. Downshifting, maybe not so much. But in all cases, it's matching the engine speed to the road speed, and no amount of clutching will help if you can't get the speeds synchronized smoothly.

 

Mine doesn't like shifting without double clutching. It'll do it but it's a little noisy and far from smooth. And I've found with the 6.67 gears the drive shaft is spinning a lot faster than vehicles with lesser ratio's so it requires revving it up a little more for the second clutching. I need more engine rpm's for smooth and synchronized shifts.

Steve