Trans. Question.

[KustumCranbrook]

I have a 1952 Plymouth cranbrook with the three on the tree and OD. The tranny works very well but the overdrive is not working. Are there any older trans. that will bolt up to the motor. I'm looking for one that has the swans neck shifter. I'm trying to stay away from the T5 route. I'm trying to keep her the same as far as things bolting right up. I may go the T5 way as a last resort. Someone had mentioned that a 37-39 Dodge or Plymouth trans. might be what I'm looking for. Will I lose anything, will I gain anything. Also, I'm looking for a complete clutch kit for the car. I've got her torn down for the re-build and might as well do the clutch too. I was told by the friend that is helping me that I can get a bigger clutch. Any input, directions and help is greatly appreciated. If I decide to keep the column shift set up, I won't lose any sleep over it. She always did shift very smooth.

[Normspeed]

There was a big clutch option, a 10" disk, for police and taxi use. Most of the flywheels are pre drilled for both pressure plate sizes. I put a 10" in my 53. It came off a 241 Red Ram hemi that I bought. Also, a good clutch shop can rebuild your pressure plate and install heavier springs.

I don't know much about the top shifters.

There's a chance that your OD is in working condition but needs electrical work, which is pretty easy. If you have the 1946-54 repair manual there's a good troubleshooting section that doesn't require a lot of special tools.

[Jerry Roberts]

Have you checked out repairing the existing O.D. transmission ? I think that would be the choice of most folks . And as stated earlier , the electrical gizmos that connect to it would be suspect .

[KustumCranbrook]

I do have the shop manual. Picked it up at a swap meet in Springfield. Great buy. What I have found out as to the trouble thus far with the overdrive, there were three wires that are connected to the trans. itself and the covering wore off. Those wires crossed and something had to have shorted out. Not sure if it was a solenoid or a relay, let alone which one. The OD worked just fine for the first couple of months after I bought her about 9 yrs ago. One of those things where she woke up and it didn't feel like working anymore. Stopped just like turning off a light.

[Don Coatney]

This might help.

[Normspeed]

There's a fuse on the OD relay.

[blueskies]

I'd bet that you could have your OD working in a couple of hours...

First thing to check is the fuse on the side of the relay.

Download the Borg-Warner manual that is in the downloads section of this site. It has the best trouble-shooting guide for both the electrics and mechanicals of your overdrive. There are several test methods described to determine which part of the system isn't working correctly.

All of the electric parts are available from various suppliers.

Here's the factory wiring diagram-

Hit reload if the image doesn't show up...

More about overdrives on my site, www.50plymouth.com

Pete