wanted info on aluminum case OD trans

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WildCat

WildCat

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I talked to a guy nthat has a Over Drive transmission for sale. He called this week and ask if I was still interested since he was getting stuff ready for the swap meet.

He wants $300 for it and claims it is a good transmission.

Is $300 a reasonable price?

what are the differences in the transmissions?

I have a A 833 that is suppose to be from a 69 Dart.

I'm thinking the bearing retainer is different so I would need another bellhousing. Not sure on the shifter mount and rear trans mount as to if it would even work in an A body

what is the gear ratio for the gears 1-2, 3rd being 1:1 and 4th OD

Thanks for any info you can provide
 
I picked up one at the local bone yard out of a pickup for my 68 Barracuda and I paid $75 and that included the bellhousing, flywheel, clutch and shifter.
 
These usally go for $150.00 at most.You would not want to put more than 300 hp in front of it because it will break. Jim
 
I have a van/truck overdrive in my roadrunner.Makes cruisin great ,I just don't know if I'd throw any horsepower at it.The horror stories I've heard are ,floating countershaft,deflection from a weak aluminum case.and horrible spread in gear ratios.I have a very mild small block and occasionally beat on It.
As far as I know the ratios are
3.09 1st
1.77 2nd
1.00 3rd
.72 O.D.

decals 001.jpg
 
hi, the O.D.trans has same gears as a regular 833 4 spd. how are you going to break it????? the 833 is a very stout trans. the weak link would be the case. that can be fixed by installing steel bushings in counter shaft bores.
it'll take more than 300 hp.!!!!
 
I Have One Behind My 72/440/4 Speed Duster. Runs Great. I Paid Up North Here $200. Had To Rebuild It For Another $600. If Its A Good Running Tranny Then $300 Is Not That Bad. I Run 391,s And Get 14 Miles To A Gallon. It Revs At 2200 RPM At 60 MPH On The Highway. First And Second Are The Same As A Regular One. Third Is Your Fourth And Fourth Is OD. It Will Never Change I Like It This Much. I Run 275/60/15 On The Back. Its Not A Stock 440, Somewhere Around 450HP. If Your Still Not Sure Phone Brewers, These Guys Are Great. Saved Me Alot Of Money.
 
68383GTS said:
These usally go for $150.00 at most.You would not want to put more than 300 hp in front of it because it will break. Jim
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I have a stout ~370 HP 360 infront of my A833OD and have been driving it hard for the past 22k miles with no issues. There is an issue with the counter shaft hole in the aluminum case getting egg shapped resulting in the gears seperating and failure but that takes some real abuse from a high torque motor. Plus its easily fixed bybushing the case.

Everyone talks about how bad the gear spread in these trannies are but for me its a non issue, they may not be ideal for a race car but for a street car I wouldn't worry about it. My car has run a best 1/4 of 13.7 at 102 mph with the OD tranny and its not the tranny that is holding the car back from potentially getting to the 12's. That 13.7 was obtained with a very traction limited and miserable 2.2 sec 60' time, get the chassis and traction issues sorted out and I am right at the 12's.

Plus with 3.55 gears and the 27" diameter tire I am running right at 2000 rpm at 65 on the hiway, this is getting me 21-22 mpg.
 
As for the difference in size of the front bearing retainer the OD can be turned down to the size of the 833 and they work fine.
 
I have a cast iron version, too. The fastest way to tell the difference is the OD trans has one lever (3-4) that points down. I had a 318 truck I put a 383 in. IThe OD trans. worked great with no problems, I did turn the bearing retainer down to fit the BB bellhousing. Years later I realized the 4.8 retainer and the 5.1 have the same bolt pattern.
 
dgc333 said:
I have a stout ~370 HP 360 infront of my A833OD and have been driving it hard for the past 22k miles with no issues. There is an issue with the counter shaft hole in the aluminum case getting egg shapped resulting in the gears seperating and failure but that takes some real abuse from a high torque motor. Plus its easily fixed bybushing the case.

Everyone talks about how bad the gear spread in these trannies are but for me its a non issue, they may not be ideal for a race car but for a street car I wouldn't worry about it. My car has run a best 1/4 of 13.7 at 102 mph with the OD tranny and its not the tranny that is holding the car back from potentially getting to the 12's. That 13.7 was obtained with a very traction limited and miserable 2.2 sec 60' time, get the chassis and traction issues sorted out and I am right at the 12's.

Plus with 3.55 gears and the 27" diameter tire I am running right at 2000 rpm at 65 on the hiway, this is getting me 21-22 mpg.
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Holy crap! That's pretty damn good! Gives me even more inspiration to build a Magnum 360 + OD 4-speed for my Duster.
 
im currently in the process of converting a 74 scamp automatic into a 4speed overdrive and am wondering if anyone knows the dimensions to the center of the shifter hole in the 4speed hump so that i can weld it in
 
I have used the OD 4-speeds with great success and I can tell you first hand that they will take a lot more than people give them credit for. I recently sold my '69 Dart 360 with one of those trannys I beat the hell out of for 6-years! The car had a narrowed 8-3/4, mini-tubbed and used Moser axles. It handled 6,000 rpm dumps many, many times with big tires. My Pro Street Demon uses 18-spline hemi gears in one of those A-body aluminum cases with a Passon Performance aluminum tailhousing and I just love it. There are a lot of those ODs out there for cheap and you know why? Nobody broke them! What you pay should depend on if it is fresh from the junkyard or if it has been gone through. I just rebuilt a spare A/F-body OD 4-speed and I have it for sale for $250. The parts cost about $100 plus the initial cost of the trans and so my labor is FREE! I wouldn't take a penny less or it can sit. Be aware that these were made with different main shafts. The early ones used the big 727 style slip yoke while later models used the small one. Both are good. The ones in trucks and vans use the long tailshaft. Real men drive pedal cars! Good luck!
 
dgc333 said:
I picked up one at the local bone yard out of a pickup for my 68 Barracuda and I paid $75 and that included the bellhousing, flywheel, clutch and shifter.
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how many years ago ???

but to answer the OP's question ... add me to the list of the guy wanting too much for the trans , unless it's been recently rebuilt and he has the paperwork and warranty to back up the claim
 
lil Scamper said:
im currently in the process of converting a 74 scamp automatic into a 4speed overdrive and am wondering if anyone knows the dimensions to the center of the shifter hole in the 4speed hump so that i can weld it in
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drop the hump on the floor , it's pretty much will align itself where it needs to be by the way the weld flange is shaped and the contours on the floor .
 
dgc333 said:
I have a stout ~370 HP 360 infront of my A833OD and have been driving it hard for the past 22k miles with no issues. There is an issue with the counter shaft hole in the aluminum case getting egg shapped resulting in the gears seperating and failure but that takes some real abuse from a high torque motor. Plus its easily fixed bybushing the case.
Click to expand...

Sorry Dave , the floating cluster gear pin is what damages the case and it can happen behind a slant 6 in a pickup truck .

Plus BUSHING THE CASE is not as easy a task as you make it sound .
 
JohnRR said:
Sorry Dave , the floating cluster gear pin is what damages the case and it can happen behind a slant 6 in a pickup truck .

Plus BUSHING THE CASE is not as easy a task as you make it sound .
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John, Yes, it cause the case to become egg shaped allowing the gears to separate and its the improper mesh of the gears that results in the failure. Well considering the number of folks running these trannies behind big blocks it take an awful abusive person to break one with a \6.

Can't imagine a machine shop charging more than $150 to drill out the case and press in a bushing. Certainly not a home repair but noting that even a bsic machine shop can't handle.

BTW, I got my tranny in 98 for $75, the last time (early in the summer) I was at the bone yard where it came from they still had a van with one in it.
 
hey guys interesting thread here...it seems like alot of you guys are using the 4 speed od in performance vehicles even though it is said that the gear ratio spread isnt very ideal....Is there really a noticeable drop in rpms while going through the rpm range? ive talked to some members about this before and got some good info, but would like to hear others opinions as well....For a street driven car it seems great, and my car will be mainly street driven, but i want it to really go when i stomp on it as it is a street/strip car
 
Yes, there is a noticeable drop but as I stated before its just not a big deal in a street car. I have 3.55 gears and 27" tall tires and I drive the car like I would any other 4spd. That is when cruising I shift up through the gears and into 4th by 40 mph and it stays in 4th at anything over 35 mph unless I want to accelerate hard.

The engine has ~370HP and has run a best of 13.7 at 102 mph. Its a lack of traction that keeps it from being a low 13 car not the gears.
 
It is really nice to see the interest in these overlooked OD 4-speeds. It was just great in my '69 Dart as I said earlier. The 360 I had in it had fully ported and polished X heads with big stainless valves, a hot Hughes solid lifter cam and kit, Crane roller rockers (1.6 intakes), ported RPM Airgap intake, 650 double pumper, Mopar super gold ECU and a custom curved stock distributor. It had Hedman headers, 10.5 Hayes B&B clutch, Hurst Super Shifter II with reverse lockout, narrowed 8-3/4 rear with 3.55 power lock and 28" tall tires 10" of width. The motor revved like it thought it was a 340! I shifted at 6,000 and it wasn't out of beans either. Here is where I found that OD trans a real blessing: On the street, the fun is usually from stop light to stoplight, right? That deep 3.07 first gear ratio lets you jump out of the hole like crazy. I had no trouble leaving 5.0 mustangs and 350 Camaros behind. The drop to second gear is not so noticeable under a power shift. Nobody ever beat me and that's the truth. When you hit third (1-to-1), you really get the rpm drop but by then yo gotta be on the breaks anyway! The next thing is hitting the highway...it is so Interstate friendly! Smoothe and quiet and saving gas. I wouldn't recommend one of these ODs for drag strip use because of the ratio spread only. If they were so easy to bust, the one in that Dart would have been busted long ago! It never leaked gear lube-ever. You can tell when you have a cluster shaft problem because the case will leak. To anybody interested, the 833 ODs in pickups and vans use a long cast iron tail shaft with a shifter mount in the B-body position. I saw one that had an E-body position as well but the holes were not drilled. The A and F-body cases are the nice short ones and bolt right into any stick Duster, Valiant, Barracuda, Dart or Demon. You appreciate that aluminum case if you are on your back in the driveway changing them out! All of the gears are the same and interchangeable. The front shift ear goes on upside down so that the shift patern remains a standard H. If at all possible, get the ears and shift linkage with the trans you buy. The later model Aspen/Volare shifters were neat too. They clear a bench seat and have a built in reverse lockout feature; you push down on the handle to engage reverse. Rock on with the ODs! Remember: real men drive pedal cars! LOL!
Pat
 
PFogel said:
It is really nice to see the interest in these overlooked OD 4-speeds. It was just great in my '69 Dart as I said earlier. The 360 I had in it had fully ported and polished X heads with big stainless valves, a hot Hughes solid lifter cam and kit, Crane roller rockers (1.6 intakes), ported RPM Airgap intake, 650 double pumper, Mopar super gold ECU and a custom curved stock distributor. It had Hedman headers, 10.5 Hayes B&B clutch, Hurst Super Shifter II with reverse lockout, narrowed 8-3/4 rear with 3.55 power lock and 28" tall tires 10" of width. The motor revved like it thought it was a 340! I shifted at 6,000 and it wasn't out of beans either. Here is where I found that OD trans a real blessing: On the street, the fun is usually from stop light to stoplight, right? That deep 3.07 first gear ratio lets you jump out of the hole like crazy. I had no trouble leaving 5.0 mustangs and 350 Camaros behind. The drop to second gear is not so noticeable under a power shift. Nobody ever beat me and that's the truth. When you hit third (1-to-1), you really get the rpm drop but by then yo gotta be on the breaks anyway! The next thing is hitting the highway...it is so Interstate friendly! Smoothe and quiet and saving gas. I wouldn't recommend one of these ODs for drag strip use because of the ratio spread only. If they were so easy to bust, the one in that Dart would have been busted long ago! It never leaked gear lube-ever. You can tell when you have a cluster shaft problem because the case will leak. To anybody interested, the 833 ODs in pickups and vans use a long cast iron tail shaft with a shifter mount in the B-body position. I saw one that had an E-body position as well but the holes were not drilled. The A and F-body cases are the nice short ones and bolt right into any stick Duster, Valiant, Barracuda, Dart or Demon. You appreciate that aluminum case if you are on your back in the driveway changing them out! All of the gears are the same and interchangeable. The front shift ear goes on upside down so that the shift patern remains a standard H. If at all possible, get the ears and shift linkage with the trans you buy. The later model Aspen/Volare shifters were neat too. They clear a bench seat and have a built in reverse lockout feature; you push down on the handle to engage reverse. Rock on with the ODs! Remember: real men drive pedal cars! LOL!
Pat
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Hey Pat, sounds like a hot combo you got going on there and your reasoning for the use of the OD seems to make sense. However, is there a possible way to change the gears in the transmission so as not to have that bad gear spread? like 1,2,3 as regular 4 speed gears and then 4th as the overdrive? Only reason i ask is because my car will be a street strip car and although it will see mainly street duty, i dont want to lose any drop in rpms while floorin it regardless of how good the mileage may be in overdrive. Just wondering if anybody has done something like this to the OD and what it costed/ involved....by the way i like your stories of eatin camaros and rustangs:toothy10:
 
mshred said:
Hey Pat, sounds like a hot combo you got going on there and your reasoning for the use of the OD seems to make sense. However, is there a possible way to change the gears in the transmission so as not to have that bad gear spread? like 1,2,3 as regular 4 speed gears and then 4th as the overdrive? Only reason i ask is because my car will be a street strip car and although it will see mainly street duty, i dont want to lose any drop in rpms while floorin it regardless of how good the mileage may be in overdrive. Just wondering if anybody has done something like this to the OD and what it costed/ involved....by the way i like your stories of eatin camaros and rustangs:toothy10:
Click to expand...

No you can't swap the gears , the only other choice for an A833 would be to buy the Passon gear set , about 2k
 
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