1976 three on the tree question

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Cartomato

Cartomato

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First I hope this is the right section and if not I apologize. Second does anyone know what manual transmission was actually in the 1976 feather duster. From what I have seen from a few ads and Wikipedia most are a automatic and the manual ones are according to Wikipedia a 3 speed with overdrive. The issue is I can seem to find a mention of them giving the feather duster a plain 3 on the tree. My Grampian swears his didn’t have the overdrive and the pictures he has of it show it as defenetly a colum manual so did they make a column shift three speed with an overdrive or am I missing something. Thanks for any help.
 
My understanding that they were available with a 904 auto, 230 3-spd or the 833 4-spd OD. Also it is a 4-spd overdrive transmission, not a 3-spd with overdrive.
 
moparmarks said:
My understanding that they were available with a 904 auto, 230 3-spd or the 833 4-spd OD. Also it is a 4-spd overdrive transmission, not a 3-spd with overdrive.
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Got it thanks. I just couldn’t manage to find anything even saying they came with a three speed column so I was confused. Thanks for clearing it up
 
So far as I know none of the "more modern" Mopars ever came with a 3 speed overdrive. When people say that what they are referring to is a 3 speed stick (often yes, column shift) with a OD unit tagged onto the tail shaft, shifted usually by an electric actuator.

Just to be clear, the A833 OD 4 speed is a 4 speed in which Chrysler re-geared the THIRD gear to be an OD gear. The ld 4th gear is not a gear. All traditional US 4 speeds and 3 speeds in passenger (and light truck use) the "high" gear AKA 3rd in a 3 speed, 4th in a 4 speed, were a shaft coupling, and not really a gear.

Chrysler turned the 3-4 shift lever upside down so that as you shift the shift lever 1-2-3-4, the transmission is actually shifting 1-2-4-3, IE 4th being the "new" 3rd is "straight through" and the old 3rd gear becoming 4th has been re-geard as an OD
 
If it was column shift, it was a three speed. Period. AFAIK, the A230 was the only three speed in cars at that time. Good transmission.
 
67Dart273 said:
So far as I know none of the "more modern" Mopars ever came with a 3 speed overdrive. When people say that what they are referring to is a 3 speed stick (often yes, column shift) with a OD unit tagged onto the tail shaft, shifted usually by an electric actuator.

Just to be clear, the A833 OD 4 speed is a 4 speed in which Chrysler re-geared the THIRD gear to be an OD gear. The ld 4th gear is not a gear. All traditional US 4 speeds and 3 speeds in passenger (and light truck use) the "high" gear AKA 3rd in a 3 speed, 4th in a 4 speed, were a shaft coupling, and not really a gear.

Chrysler turned the 3-4 shift lever upside down so that as you shift the shift lever 1-2-3-4, the transmission is actually shifting 1-2-4-3, IE 4th being the "new" 3rd is "straight through" and the old 3rd gear becoming 4th has been re-geard as an OD
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I've had about five of the aluminum cased A-833 OD units...couldn't give them to people to make room for other parts in the day. I had one in my 80 something /6 flared fender pick up. I loved it. She would boil em in 1st!
 
Ironracer said:
I've had about five of the aluminum cased A-833 OD units...couldn't give them to people to make room for other parts in the day. I had one in my 80 something /6 flared fender pick up. I loved it. She would boil em in 1st!
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I wish I could find one reasonably for an A body. I'll get one one of these days.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I wish I could find one reasonably for an A body. I'll get one one of these days.
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I remember years ago I took that ill-geared OD out of my Duster and put a straight 4-speed in, way better car.
The best thing about an OD is it does everything wrong, but the lower first gear.
 
I drove a 79 B200 shorty van with a 318/833OD and 355 gears. I got upwards of 25 mpg when empty.
 
moparmarks said:
I drove a 79 B200 shorty van with a 318/833OD and 355 gears. I got upwards of 25 mpg when empty.
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Yes I have also had a lot of pickups with the od.
One I had was with a slant and it was gutless, I even tried putting 4.56 gears in it, still not worth a crap.
Put the 3.55 gears back in, and put a NP435 trans in it, way better truck after the trans change.
 
sireland67 said:
I remember years ago I took that ill-geared OD out of my Duster and put a straight 4-speed in, way better car.
The best thing about an OD is it does everything wrong, but the lower first gear.
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You know why? Because Chrysler crippled those transmissions with pussified rear gears. Even in the hot rod world, people put in 3.55s "thinkin" they're doing something. I wouldn't put anything numerically lower than a 3.90 and if I find one I'll run either a 4.10 or 4.30 depending on what tire I choose. THAT'S what makes the difference.
 
Just depends on what your wanting. Worked good in my van for what I used it for. Wanted good fuel mileage. A performance tranny they are not. With their gear spread I wouldn't want one with a slant six.
Also isn't anything with a slant gutless?:poke:
 
In the early 80's I had a 63 D-100 slant 6 3 in the tree. Well I don't recall why but the 8 3/4 went south. I had a 4.10 Dana 60 SG out of a 76 W-200 with 900 x16 mud tires . So I put it under that truck which was my hunting truck. What Bad *** SOB that truck was. It had tons of pulling power. I loved pulling people out of the mud and one guy that had hung up his Chubby on a culvert , looked at my POS step side rusted out 63 truck and commented when I asked if he wanted me to pull him off, "Well if you think you can" With a 4" snatch strap I snatched the dentures out his head! I friend of mine dropped a 22 mag pistol and it went off and hit him in one of his fingers. So I took him to a hospital in my 63 Dodge D-100 to the emergency room. He had the whole hospital outside looking at my baby **** blue rusted out Dodge. Even the cops that were called because of a gunshot accident out on the ER ramp laughing at my truck. My buddy was fine.
 
Just a tid bit. The 1976 Feather Duster and the Dodge Dart Sport Lite were the first American production cars to achieve 30 mpg on the highway.
 
RustyRatRod said:
You know why? Because Chrysler crippled those transmissions with pussified rear gears. Even in the hot rod world, people put in 3.55s "thinkin" they're doing something. I wouldn't put anything numerically lower than a 3.90 and if I find one I'll run either a 4.10 or 4.30 depending on what tire I choose. THAT'S what makes the difference.
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Yeah, that duster only had 3.23 gears, but I did 4.56 gears in the truck, and it still was not happy.
 
sireland67 said:
Yeah, that duster only had 3.23 gears, but I did 4.56 gears in the truck, and it still was not happy.
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You only had a 3.23 final ratio. If it had tall tires on it, it probably was a slug in high gear unless you had some RPM on the engine. Was the engine stock?
 
RustyRatRod said:
You only had a 3.23 final ratio. If it had tall tires on it, it probably was a slug in high gear unless you had some RPM on the engine. Was the engine stock?
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No it was modified, but it was no problem to downshift on the interstate to third and take off, tires were kinda short 235/60/14.
 
sireland67 said:
No it was modified, but it was no problem to downshift on the interstate to third and take off, tires were kinda short 235/60/14.
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I must have hit on a really good combo with mine.....although it's not an OD, it's very strong. Even with just 2.94 gears it was still stout. Course, I'm draggin around a lot less weight, too.
 
Cartomato said:
heard that they were common for those who could drive a manual and wanted a good looking car for somewhat cheap.
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yeah he had it either new or a couple years old, it was nice at the time. He was married with 3 kids so he liked an economy car...he wasn't buying performance cars LOL! I remember the pop out rear windows.
 
I had a 75 Dart Sport /6 with a 3 on the floor.
I've had several 3 on the tree cars including a 74 Charger, 64 Belvedere and a few A-bodies including a 70 Dart /6 3 on the tree with an 8.75 out back.

DCP_6593.jpg
 
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