a833 tailshaft interchange

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mopar56

mopar56

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I am building a 50's Dodge truck hot rod and using a a833 trans from an early abody, ( 69 Cuda) but the shifter sits too far back on the tail shaft, I have a a833od from a mid eighty's Dodge van that has it's shifter mount location in a more ideal spot so if I could swap the tail shafts it would solve my problem, I am guessing these wont interchange, any thoughts?
 
You're guessing wrong. Swap away. You may need to also swap the output shaft, but hey, you have one of those too...
 
833 mainshafts and 833 OD mainshafts do not interchange. The OD mainshaft has a different diameter where "3rd gear" normally goes on a standard 4 speed mainshaft. That's just one of the issues.

Russ.
 
thanks Guy's, so your saying it WONT swap, right?, and yes I could swap the whole trans except I would need a different bell due to the different bearing carrier diameters and lets face it the cast iron a833 is a way stronger trans, and I know its history, so I would rather use it
 
mopar56 said:
thanks Guy's, so your saying it WONT swap, right?, and yes I could swap the whole trans except I would need a different bell due to the different bearing carrier diameters and lets face it the cast iron a833 is a way stronger trans, and I know its history, so I would rather use it
Click to expand...

It will NOT swap. You can't interchange the mainshafts on OD and regular 833 transmissions, and you would have to do that to swap the tail housing. Also, the '69 833 tailhousing you have uses a 307 bearing, while the OD tail housing you have more than likely uses a 308 bearing. So not only can you not swap the mainshafts, you probably can't even swap the tail housing.

But the iron 833 is not a "way stronger trans". The differences in strength compared to the aluminum case 833's are minor at best, and possibly even just theoretical. I have seen more than one 833 OD live for years behind moderate 440's, even with track use. You can even eliminate the majority of the strength concerns by having the countershaft opening in the aluminum case bushed with a steel bushing and removing the additional clearance there.

The bearing retainer issue can be solved pretty easily too. You can have the bearing retainer turned down to 4.8", and your current bellhousing machined to 4.8. Or you can just buy a new bearing retainer, they sell bearing retainers with the 4.16" bolt pattern and a 4.8" outer diameter.
 
mopar56 said:
I am building a 50's Dodge truck hot rod and using a a833 trans from an early abody, ( 69 Cuda) but the shifter sits too far back on the tail shaft, I have a a833od from a mid eighty's Dodge van that has it's shifter mount location in a more ideal spot so if I could swap the tail shafts it would solve my problem, I am guessing these wont interchange, any thoughts?
Click to expand...

What bellhousing are you using, one to fit the 69 "A" body? You can swap the tailhousing and Mainshaft from any "B" or "E" body to your 4 speed. Your truck tailhousing will also work but you will need a "B" or "E" mainshaft. Just use the bearing for your tailhousing.
 
"It will NOT swap. You can't interchange the mainshafts on OD and regular 833 transmissions, and you would have to do that to swap the tail housing. Also, the '69 833 tailhousing you have uses a 307 bearing, while the OD tail housing you have more than likely uses a 308 bearing. So not only can you not swap the mainshafts, you probably can't even swap the tail housing."

The mainshafts won't swap like I said, but not because of the different output bearings. The 308 bearing is a 308 SG8 or SG10, which has the same ID and width of the 307 bearing. It's just taller (OD). You can change the extension housing as long as the output splines are the same large output.

Russ.
 
It will swap if you use the 308 bearing on the B or E mainshaft with the OD tailshaft. Or as I said, swap the Mainshaft and tailhousing from a B or E trans.
 
or just turn the ovd bearing retainer down in a lathe and use cap screws instead of bolts. then ovd will bolt right up to small bearing bellhousing. :finga:
 
well I could turn down the bearing carrier but I also have a Duster I was thing of using the od trans in and it needs the big carrier to go with the slant bell housing I will need for the 225 in the Duster, lots of good ideas here but I am leaning towards just leaving the shift in its original location and changeing the shifter style, I just need one that dosnt go so far back, the one in the van was kinda staright up and down, I may just use that as I already have everything mounted in the truck
 
I just converted a couple from long to short. Its really easy. Housing and output (mainshaft). TADA
 
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