3 on the floor in place of 3 on the tree

[Reg Evans]

Anybody know off hand if a 40's 1/2 ton 3 speed floor shifter will slide right into place where a 3 speed column shifter is now on my 49 1/2 ton ?

[Edrowesuave]

Did you ever get an answer to your question?

I want to change my column shifter to a floor shift.

I think it will be easier to shift.

[JBNeal]

The short answer is a definitive maybe... 

 

I'm not sure if the W-series 3spd & B-Series 3spd were the same...I would guess they were very close, but since there are precision parts involved, guessing is no guarantee.  W-series 3spds had a straight stick-shift, while the B-series had the formed stick-shift.  The major difference between the B-1 stick shift and the B-2/B-3/B-4 column shift was the top cover & park-brake attachment.  I do not believe a 3 spd stick shift could be had with a firewall-mounted park-brake.  I recall that the 3spd bell housing is different from the 4spd bell housing, so if you opt for the 4spd swap, the bell housings need to be matched.  And then there are the Fluid Drive transmissions with their longer input shafts...

 

The access panel in the floorboard will have to be modified of course...that's secondary to the transmission operation, and it can be covered with a floor mat, so precision, though nice to look at, is not required for proper operation.  I have a '52 parts truck with a late '49 3spd stick shift installed in such a way it looks like the floor panel was modified with a Remington and a hatchet...

 

I have not tinkered with the column shift in the Spring Special yet, but it looks very much like the linkage setup on a Farmall I worked on, and every wear point needed attention on that old beast of a tractor.  The factory instructions were useless for adjustment because there was too much wear in the linkage points.  So I did some finagling and made it work...it wasn't perfect, but only the trained eye would notice that I made any modifications.  Given enough time, these linkage points can be repaired with some careful welding & machining to get the linkages to operate as required.  If the column shift transmission is in good shape, but the linkages are worn, it may be cheaper and less labor intensive to fix what ya have...but then again, if ya have the right 3spd to make a swap, that could be the quickest repair  

 

[MBF]

My B2D has a 3 speed floor shifted transmission with the floor mounted parking brake.  I have a 3 speed from the W series that I keep as a spare.  That also has the floor mounted parking break.   What I do notice is that the shift tower on the W series trans is located further ahead of the one for the B.   Other than that it appears to be the same.  I believe the lever would have to be curved with a heat wrench to be able to get it into reverse and 2nd in a B series.   If someone has an interchange book from the period that should give you a better idea if it's a drop in.  I don't think the shift towers are interchangeable, not sure about the internals.   Mike