VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 '32 Transmission

I haven't posted for a while, good to be back. My '32 transmission is getting noisy, especially in 3rd gear. I'm considering a rebuild. I know there are kits out there up to '31, but Filling Station has limited stock for '32. Has anyone done one?

I don't know of anyone that makes an overhaul/bearing kit. I was able to purchase all bearings for my 32 trans from local bearing suppliers but I did not do the rebuild myself.

Thanks, Steve.

I did find a place in Washington state that list some replacement parts: www.hagensautoparts.com.

Third gear should not make noise as it is straight through. If you have noise in third I would suspect the differential. From my experiance a bad transmission would make noise in first and second, then run quiet in third.

In 1932 the early transmissions had straight cut first and second gears and made a lot of noise in both gears. The late was improved and had what Chevrolet called a silent second gear and the teeth were cut at an angle. While it was not completely silent is was much quieter. Third gear shold be silent completely for either..

Thanks for your thoughts on this. It is pretty clear to me that the noise is coming from right under my feet. There is some noise, but less, sitting in neutral with the clutch engaged. It goes away when the clutch is depressed. I should also add that there is normal noise while shifting through the gears and while increasing speed in third. It's when you let off the gas in third that it gets noisy. Mine is an early production (Jan.) car.

Sounds like it might be the u-joint and I would suggest disconnecting and then see if it still is noisy. Also drop the oil to check for metal or color change.

The input shaft and output shaft are both rotating when the vehicle is moving with the clutch out. If the clutch is depressed the input shaft might continue to rotate for a short time. If the vehicle is not moving the output shaft is not rotating but will rotate whenever the vehicle is moving. When the vehicle is accelerating the gears are loaded on one face. Deceleration transfers to load to the opposite gear face. That is also the case for the U-joint and drive shaft, rear end gears. Monitoring the noise during several situations should give a clue to the source of the noise. Just be aware that noises can be transferred along the length of the drive line and appear concentrated at one location but generated at another one.

Based on Chipper's reply, I will consider coasting down a hill both in gear, clutch depressed or in neutral to see if there's any noise. I know this has some risk attached and may not give all the answers, but I don't want to tear into something only to find later that I was in the wrong place. I know this will load the "wrong" side of the gears and I'll take that into account.

My '33 had a noise when coasting, it was a worn out U-joint.

!! AGREE !!

maybe have someone else drive while you listen
sit in the front seat then in the back seat
me i try to get on the floor and listen left, right middle, etc...

friend i work with (he is now retire) worked for Buick back in his college days (in the 70's) he hs told me many stories of hunting down noises in cars. many involved riding in the truck while someone else drove in a smooth fresh paved parking lot or back road. or runing the car on a lift or stand and using a mechanics stethoscope !!

Well, I just got the transmission out and opened it up. I've known that the free wheeling didn't work and suspected a broken drive spring. In fact, that's exactly what I found. The rear 2/3 came out with the driven drum and except for the break, looked in good condition. The front 1/3 had to be picked out and was both twisted and worn very thin. Since I was looking for a high pitched whine, this looks like the cause. I don't want to go further just for the exercise especially since the transmission shifted OK before. It was also clear that if the transmission was ever opened, it was a long time ago so a good internal flush/cleaning would be good. Gears look ok and nothing else obviously wrong. Anyone had a problem like this? What's the best way to clean it out?

The transmission bears serial # CL07837 as nearly as I can make it out. What does this tell us?

The free wheeling units can be problematic. The FW in my Olds refuses to stay disengaged and will “pop” out with a loud bang. I completely went through my unit and everything looked perfect. My buddy Joe who also recently restored his 32’ Olds also has the same issue. Looking at our casting dates, both of our units are early manufactured. I have a mid production FW unit that got flooded so it’s unusable but pulling it completely apart showed one difference between the early and late units. A shorter, steeper ramp for the spring loaded detent ball on the engagement fork shaft was put on the later production units so it seems that vibration and a long gradual ramp allows the shaft to push the detent ball up and the pawl drum to move out of the disengaged position. What’s crazy is the 32’ pontiac uses virtually the same FW unit as the Olds and my buddy’s pontiac doesn’t pop out at all. Turns out the casting number on that shows it too to be a mid to late year production car.
The noise in your trans while sitting in neutral running could be the caged roller bearing that sits at the back of the input shaft/nose of the main shaft. They can get noisy even when new. Packing them with grease then reassembling the trans fixes them if they’re the cause.