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The data indicates a 3 speed gearbox (transmission A) but as it is a military vehicle, it had to be replaced by a specific gearbox which was used a lot by the military and which would be the GM SM420 with 4 speeds!
If anyone knows and can confirm me with the photos, in all the photos on this site correspond completely to mine SM420
Yes, that looks like an SM420 to me as well. The date code on it reads September 28, 1962 so I'd suspect that replaced the original 3 speed at some point after it reached Germany. If Ford had done it at the factory, I'd expect a blank transmission code rather than the A. Do you have the original steering column for this truck?
Yes, your steering column is set up for 3 speed with those two shift arms sticking out and the nub on the steering bowl - so I'm sure that's how it left the Ford factory. The SM420 is an interesting swap but makes sense given its military history.
There are plenty of survivor 3 on the tree trucks on this site. The military/US Government, bought the cheapest thing they could find for trucks like this that were used to haul gardening supplies around the base, run minor errands, etc. This isn't a tactical vehicle and is, other than the placard saying it's government property, is no different than any other base model of the same period.
No one can say who changed this box but it was also common on military vehicles so it may or may not be military but either way it is not the original box.
Yes, never know who changed out the gearbox. The A1 rear axle is a 3.73 locking rear - good that it's locking, bad that ratio is fairly tall. In Germany - after a couple of good long winters and getting stuck everywhere they go - comparing a 3.03 first gear ratio of 2.99 to an SM420 of 7.05 it might have been an easy decision to change that out and make the truck gearing much lower. The motor pool guys wouldn't have had internet, computers, cell phones, probably no televisions to speak of and radio stations that broadcast in English were probably not super common. They would have likely jumped at the chance to swap it out and may have ordered it. If they got the drum parking brake on the rear of it working, it may have proven handy to use in conjunction with the standard parking brake when they were loaded and stopping on snowy/icy ramps. Cool that it bolts up to the back of a 223 bellhousing or they've done something special there.
I doubt the 420 bolted right up to the Ford bellhousing but also something that can probably be done with some mods. I always liked the 420 trans, ran well in the trucks I had them in but they were connected to Chevy engines. I've also swapped a Ford T18 up to a GM engine, just a few simple mods that any machine shop can do.
And so what's the particularity of this box, the first gears are very short, right? And what is the purpose of the box tail strapping around the fluted tube?
I looked a little more at the subject and everything had to be modified because the gearbox fixings are not used, nor those of the original bell housing and we find, inside the bell housing, these screws added for fixing
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