VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1946-1948 TRANNY

Anyone here rebuilt there 3spd tranny there self, any tips.My brother gave a an original G.M. booklet that shows step by step how to,looks like if you have the proper pullers.Doesn't look like there's alot to it.

There are MANY speciality tools required to rebuild the tranny.
as long as you have those tools, the labor side is not that difficult. Its finding the tools thats darn near impossible!!!

going to pull a top loader 3spd out of a 39-40 chevy truck that might be rebuildable to put in my car.Any thoughts.

I think the 37/38 car and truck trany. are not the same lenght. All the gears will interchange but the main shaft is longer. Also the case.

I looked at it today and did notice that the brake and clutch pedals were bolted to the side of tranny,quess when I pull it then do some measuring,thought I read in my manual that they were the same 1/2 ton 3/4 ton and 3/4 special except truck was top loader and car was on the side.

got my tranny rebuild kit from FILLING STATION today,hopefully gonna rebuild july 4th week.wish me luck as Iv'e never rebuilt a tranny before.

GOOD LUCK!!!! Let us know how it goes?

Update,I decided to look at the tranny I took out of my car years ago,It was grinding going into second and third gear,First of all I noticed the front bearing wasn't pressed on as far as it should have been and second the lock ring on the front sincronizer was not locked on the sincro,So that could have been why it was grinding,the bearings seem to be nice and tight,and MADE IN THE U.S.A.The new bearings I got with rebuild kit are MADE IN JAPAN.Anywho I thought I would rebuild this one and when I pull the one from my car look at it to see if it's just a bearing and have it ready if needed,doesen't hurt to have a spare.So far so good.

Man it's been hot.got up early this morning and finished up the tranny to go in.When out this evening about 7 p.m.and started taking things loose to come out,when pulling the the torque tube back I noticed that 2 bolts were out of the universal joint and a third was loose,So that's 1 problem that that I know of it was getting dark so I couldn't tell if the bolt locks were on it.not sure where the bolts went unless there traveling through the torque tube,I'll look at things tomorrow afternoon after church,when I can see.That might be the problem instead of the tranny.

Ok there were 2 bolts out and 1 loose,I found the 2 with a magnet what was left,not sure what happened,I did find an extra bolt lock inside of the rear tranny,so yada,yada,yada,thought sure that was the problem so I put some more bolts and locks on and tightened everything up really good,and went for a test drive and still heard a chirping noise,so I came home and took everything loose,and just about had it ready to come out but it was getting dark so I stopped for the day.I go back to work tomorrow so I'll have to work on it in the evenings,

Got the tranny out.got the other one in and I have a question about those stupid bolt locks,after you bend the tabs a couple of times the tabs break,can I use regular lock washers on the bolts on the universal joint.

Either that or loctite or both. If you use lock washers and blue loctite you will be okay. If you want to make sure it does not come apart the red will do the trick. Takes heat to take bolts apart where red is used. Blue can be taken apart with wrenches.

ok,thanks Chipper gonna go with the lock washers,hopefully that'll fix it.

Ok,went for test drive with rebuilt tranny,the lock washers did the trick.tranny seems to be doing fine,Thanks for the help and Listening.

Personally, I would buy a set or two of the U-Joint Lock Plates from Chevs of the 40s. Lock washers are not going to be as dependable as the original plates nor is a Loctite product. Too much vibration potential, that is why you found missing bolts, etc. in the first place. Good luck, Mike

P.S. I have good sized hands so always feel that the U-Joint area is hard to work in. I like the reassurance that if I have not got each of the bolts good and tight I have the locking plates to provide insurance??? Do you have a Chevs of the 40s catalog? Have you checked out their web site www.chevsofthe40s ? The catalog is priceless for their assembly diagrams. Be careful with the bolts you get from these kits, I have had them break. I think the original bolts may be better to reuse???

yes I do have chevs of the forties catalog,the problem I was having with the lock-plates the bolt heads were going in so far that couldn't wrench on them no more,so they weren't tight to start with,but with the lock washers I got'm tight,I just know that if I hear the noise again,I'll know whats wrong,you must admit that's pretty good engineering to be able to drive a car with basically 1 bolt in the drive shaft,If not for every now and then when the bolt heads would roll down near the yoke and make a noise,I wouldn't have known,there was no vibration.Yea the kit I got from the filling station,the bearings were made in JAPAN.The ones that came out were made in the USA.DETROIT,Detroit.