Are these interchangeable?

So my son and I have finally finished putting his a833od back together to the point of putting the side cover back on and I have two side covers I could use the one with the third lever hanging down is from a later model truck a833od and the other one is from a 76 a833od from a f body, what is the purpose of the lever on the truck trans?, I know there is a difference in the way the reverse detent is in the trans, the one with the third lever uses a spring inserted in the lower cover and trans case and the two lever one uses a detent screwed into the case at the rear of the case, I would just omit the spring in the cover and use the original style detent ( back of trans ) the reason I would want to switch is the threads on the newer ones shift levers where the tab goes are in better shape, also which way do the shift forks go?, they seem to fit either way but I believe the offset one goes to the rear, when I got the trans it did not come with a cover or forks they came from a donor trans, thanks for the help.

Looks like you have one four speed cover and one 3 speed cover, so if you have a 4 speed trans only the top cover is possible for it.

Think about it, one lever for 1st and 2nd, one for 3rd and 4th so where is the reverse stuff on the bottom cover if it's supposed to be for a four speed?

The reverse lever is in the case not the cover..... ;)

mguner said:

The reverse lever is in the case not the cover..... ;)

Click to expand...

I was wondering about that when I posted, and if I would have looked it up first I would have seen that.

That's correct they are both four speed covers, may manual shows two styles, the one with out the third lever and another style I don't have, it dosnt show the newer style, hence the confusion?

Use the second one pictured, the one w/o that hangy-down thingy, which I have long ago forgoten what it does.
Only one of those forks will fit on the 1-2 slider, and the other one fits the 3-4 front slider;any way up.
The 1-2 internal lever has to be matched to the reverse internal lever.
If that cover did not come on that box,then occasionally it will be difficult to engage reverse, on account of the clearance between those two in not sufficient. If you have no problems with shifting with the cover properly located by the one long-shank shoulder bolt and at least one other shoulderbolt snugged down, then this is a non issue.If you have troubles I can walk you through it.

As to the first cover pictured, I have seen a few of those, but it's function escapes me.Or rather the execution of it's function. Perhaps a picture of the box without the cover showing the internal reverse idler-gear, and it's associated shift mech. It's starting to come back to me...............

OK thanks, that's what I was thinking except the first one pictured is in better condition on the threads on the shifter tabs but I will have to chase the threads I guess I will try to load a picture of the trans with cover off, thanks for your reply

so here is the trans that the cover with the third arm hanging down came from, it was from a early eighties truck I beleive

Yeah, thats what I thought; The reverse inner lever was changed to accommodate a different cheapazz interlock. Thx for the pic. So My mistake;your box will not take any cover,lol, cuz it sure won't work with the 80's style interlock.
The threads on the studs have to be pretty nice to hold their torque. If/when the nuts work loose, the shifter loses it's neutral gate and then shifting becomes difficult. The nuts work loose cuz the external levers have "wallered-out"(thx RRR) slots. This has to be addressed,now. And if the levers are wallered out then the studs have rounded corners. There is no easy fix for this cuz both of those items are hardened. What I do is with the cover on the bench drop the levers on correctly oriented, and load up the gaps with red loc-tite, I install the special fine-thread nuts,torque them up (IIRC 15 ftlbs), And flip the cover over, nut-side down.The trick now is to not let the loc-tite find its way into the space between the levers and the cover. That stuff wicks so, my solution is to come back every 10 to 15 minutes and shift them a bunch of times, to make sure it still shifts. Finding out it doesn't,after the tranny is up, is very frustrating.
Don't forget O/D boxes get the 3-4 lever installed upside down! All levers have an in-side and an out-side.If you don't recall what goes where, mock it up before the loc-tite goes in......lol

Thank you that is awesome info and thanks for the tip I will make sure to do that after I chase the threads and get new lock nuts

Try to get the same nuts as was on those studs originally. They have a wide base and serrated teeth on the underside. When you torque them, the teeth bite into the levers and spread the clamp load, to better hang onto them. If you cannot get them, use the originals with lock-tite,and maybe ease off the torque spec.. Once the locking agent fills the gaps, the nut just has to keep the lever on the stud. A bit of thread-locker on the stud and in the nut, and it will be fine,so long as there is some threads to work with.
If you try any other type of self locking nut or a spring washer, they will all fail.
Through the shift stick, you are able to generate a tremendous amount of force on those levers,and if they move around on the studs,the nuts will work loose. I mean figure it out; the stick has a ratio of around 6 or 7 to one.And you can easily push with a force of say 80pounds;180 with a bit of shoulder. So average it out,say 130. That times 7 say is nearly 1000 pounds of force, going into the end of the lever.And you are not yet up to the stud.
Any other type of nut,without a locking agent in the gaps, will fail. When this happens on cruise night, with you dressed in your best, there is just no good excuse,lol.

yes, another good point, I have a really good fastener place I deal with through my marine shop, I should be able to get those nuts through, and no I wont get stainless, lol, thanks again