440 and 833OD

-
Dartn440

Dartn440

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2013
Messages
3,529
Reaction score
982
Location
Southern Pines, NC
Question for the team. Looking at buying a hauler that has a slant 6 833 4 speed with OD. Can I mate the trans to a 440 drilled for a 4 speed by changing bell housing? What else would I need to address?
 
Make sure it isnt the aluminum 833od there is a steel cased one made in 73 that is stronger. Also the bearing size in the front of the 833od is larger than the standard 833

you need an 833od big block bell housing.

contact brewers for any needed 833 parts or information.
 
bells

bell housing 1.JPG


bell housing 2.JPG


bell housing 3.JPG


bell housing 4.JPG
 
trapster said:
I am not sure they put an overdrive 833 behind any big block. you may need to get a scatter-shield bell for it.
like this.
Lakewood 15335: Blowproof Bellhousing 1959-1978 Chrysler 383/413/426/440 | JEGS
Click to expand...

They didn't, but you can use an original bellhousing. You can buy a bearing retainer that has a 4.805" outer diameter that has the larger bolt pattern, so it can be used on the front of an 833OD

Brewer's Performance - Mopar A833 4-Speed Transmission and Component Specialists

If you swap out for a 4.805" bearing retainer then you can use the later big block bellhousings that had a 4.8" input diameter. If you happen to have a big block bellhousing with the 4.35" input diameter, you can still use it by having it opened up for the larger diameter input. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you can see the process here, they have a section on putting an 833OD behind a big block

Mopar Big-Block A-Body 4-Speed Conversion

As for the strength of the 833OD, I know a gentleman that ran one behind a 500+ hp 440 in a Challenger for a few seasons. He was running 29x11's and was doing 11.7 @118 mph with it, never had any issues with the transmission. He did scatter a few 8 3/4 cone style sure grips. The 833OD's get a bad rap.

There is an article about using steel bushes in an aluminum cased 833, the shafts were bushed during a rebuild to tighten things up. I don't doubt at this point that there are worn out aluminum cases running around. And I don't think that bushing the shafts during a rebuild would be a bad idea, if you're doing a full rebuild on an 833OD with the intent of putting it behind a big block it would be good insurance. But I also don't think that it's completely necessary if you have an 833OD that's in good repair, even if it has an aluminum case.

A-833 Aluminum Case Buildup - Mopar Muscle Magazine
 
Wasn't one of the overdrives weak because there wasn't countershaft bearings or something like that?
 
toolmanmike said:
Wasn't one of the overdrives weak because there wasn't countershaft bearings or something like that?
Click to expand...

None of them use countershaft bearings, not the standard 833’s, not the 833 OD’s, none of them.

In the iron case transmissions the countershaft is a light press fit into the case. In the aluminum case transmissions there is a .005” clearance between the countershaft and the case.

Much is made of it, but unless the transmission has been seriously abused it really shouldn’t be an issue. That’s where the bushed countershaft “fix” comes in that the article covers. Like any magazine article I think they’re a bit overly dramatic about how needed the fix actually was.

But who knows, at this point 40+ years later I’m sure there are 833OD’s that have been abused and worn out and probably should have that fix. But the few that I have look fine there and I wouldn’t hesitate to run them as is. Yes, the 833OD’s are theoretically weaker than the standard 833.

If you look at “strength considerations” in this article it covers the differences between the 833 and 833OD pretty well.

4 Speed Transmissions transmission

I personally think most people m underestimate the 833OD’s. The gear spread I think is the most undesirable part. But behind a mild big block I think they’d work pretty well, you’d have the torque to carry the gear spread. More so than with a small block anyway. I wouldn’t use one for racing, but again, that has more to do with the gear spread than the strength.
 
Along those same lines, I shift my 833 in my 66 Dart from 1-3-4 or 1-2-4 and there isn't a ton of difference. I could see where a 833-od could be a little wide ratio but no different than a 3 speed. A friend had a 340 Duster with a 3 speed and it screamed. No problem with the 3 speed.
 
toolmanmike said:
Along those same lines, I shift my 833 in my 66 Dart from 1-3-4 or 1-2-4 and there isn't a ton of difference. I could see where a 833-od could be a little wide ratio but no different than a 3 speed. A friend had a 340 Duster with a 3 speed and it screamed. No problem with the 3 speed.
Click to expand...

Oh totally, it’s not any worse than your basic 3 speed and you have a nice freeway gear on top of that
 
If you go that route, I just gotta tell ya, buy some spares. I blew three of those up.
On two of them I put a lil too much torque into that tiny od gear and zing it was gone.(One was done with a 318)
On another my 367 tore off all the front teeth ; input and cluster zing I was walking. At least when the od gear went, I could still drive home.
With a BB do not pass in overdrive!

I have come across Mopar od boxes with two different od ratios and no gears interchange except the low. One set has an 18tooth od gear, and the other has a 20tooth. One might think the 20tooth would be stronger, and I suppose it might be; but my 367 sure couldn't tell. Zing, there goes another one.........
 
Last edited:
I agree with the bluNblu one that the OD unit is constantly looked down on when it does not deserve it. Even the aluminum units are not "that bad". I would not hesitate to run an aluminum transmission behind a stock to mild big block and drive it "respectfully".
 
My takeaways from owning a D150 original /6 833OD with a 440 transplant-

trucks got a better OD ratio that cars

you spend a LOT of time in second

the "power shift" is 2 to 3, which is kind of awkward

it's easy to render 1st gear unusable if you put too steep of a rear gear in

many "HP" cars came with 3 speed manual transmissions, 833 OD just adds an OD 4th
 
...and on the "muscle era" cars (RR, Bee, 340 cars, etc) the 3 sped manual was standard equipment. If you wanted a 4 speed or auto, you had to order it and/or pay extra.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top