I've got to rebuild my tranny -- It's working but there's lots of bearing noise. Its in an '84 D-100. For some reason, a previous owner swapped in a short tailshaft (A/F body) A833OD.

Anyway, the question is: Does anyone manufacture gears for this tranny anymore? While I'm at it, are the countershafts available? Are the gears from earlier (non-OD) transmissions interchangeable? I doubt I'll find a 64-66 A body with a 4spd to swipe the gears out of (you never know); that's why I'm asking about new gears. I expect to find the countershaft all torn up / pitted and worn (the last one I looked at had a notch worn into it by the needle bearings).

I drive the truck around town, and almost never put it into OD. I'd rather have the use the extra gear to give me a better ratio split.

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My truck is a Frankenstein creation
Built from the dead carcasses of others
And brought BACK TO LIFE!

I have an a 833 od from a truck if you need it. complete
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Oregon dispensaries
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DESIGN HOST

Wish you were closer, I have a truck OD that you could plug and play, and I'd take the shortbox in return....

Best of luck to you.

-D.Idiot

It's not a big deal to rebuild the transmission as is. It's the kind of thing I get done in a weekend. I found a place where I can order the bearing & seal kits, etc.

It was a stupid question really. Are the parts available for a transmission that's been out of production for 20 years. (Yeah, right. Must have been drinking something better than coffee )

The one thing I still can't figure out is why he did it -- put in an A/F body transmission. He had to have a longer driveshaft made when he did it. You'll have trouble convincing me it cost more to find a good transmission in a junkyard.

_________________
My truck is a Frankenstein creation
Built from the dead carcasses of others
And brought BACK TO LIFE!

Try these people for trans parts. http://www.fatsco.com/index.htm

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

When I swapped an A833 OD into my 79 D-100 shortbox because the column shift linkage (was a 3 on the tree originally) I found that the old one out of my mom's 84, 5th Ave. fit the short WB truck perfectly. The 5th ave shaft came available when the 7-1/4 grenaded (imagine that!!) and all the JY had available at the time to put in was an 8-1/4 and I had to put a shorter d-shaft to work with the bigger rear end. And YES, the A833 OD that I put into that truck was a short tail, too. Again, I used what was available at athe time.

It would seem working A833's are getting harder to find... Apparently the A833OD, from what I'm hearing, wasn't particularly strong either. Well, I'm gonna throw a kit (bearings, seals, synchro's) in it and hope. If it fails again, I'll be looking for an adapter plate and a modern 5 spd tranny.

_________________
My truck is a Frankenstein creation
Built from the dead carcasses of others
And brought BACK TO LIFE!

The A-833OD is just as strong as it's A-833 counterpart, and holds up great behind any slant. The myth that 'they aren't strong' stems from the fact tht some dodo just dumps it behind a built 440, dumps the clutch on it and fails to realize that the countershaft needs to be bushed to keep from wearing out the case, also most guys 'plug and play' them and fail to inspect the case for warpage and defects, sealing problems, and scoreing on the mainshaft nose due to poor maintenance and use of ATF in some cases.

If you check eveything visually, everything looks good, seal up the case properly (I'd use RTV on the side plate, I've never gotten an OD case to seal properly again with the 'paper' seal in the kit), then it should provide another 200k of use for you.


-D.idiot

You're probably right about the rumors. I hadn't considered that -- one of my sources is my brother-in-law who sold me the truck. Of course, his own truck has a built up 440 in it... Hmmmm... And my opinion continues to go down.

Bushing the countershaft? Excellent. I hadn't considered that either. Since I hate to do things half-assed I'll be looking into that too. I know the input shaft must be pretty sloppy right now (bad bearings) because I'm having clutch problems, that seem to come and go. I also know the countershaft's gotta be sloppy from all the bearing noise in 1st, 2nd and OD.

My Sig. says it all:

_________________
My truck is a Frankenstein creation
Built from the dead carcasses of others
And brought BACK TO LIFE!

The small block guys do the 'sleeving' where the countershaft rides in the front and rear of the case, it should hold up. Another item to look for in junkyards is the 1975 Only A-833OD, this was the only year it came as an all Iron cased unit heavier, but heavier duty.

I have one of these and it's a boat anchor (but the case isn't aluminum!!!)

Another issue that hasn't been brought up is the two gear 'clusters' used in the OD units. Previous to 1-1-76, and in many truck,van,SUV applications the gear sets used a 'coarse' pitch gear set (OD gear teeth are like 22/33...), later model car sets are fine pitch (OD set is much finer).

So if you swap gears/countershafts from one case to another, check the teeth on the 'sets' to make sure you're not scratching your head on 'why doens't this countershaft gear cluster match up to the mainshaft gear cluster' (Been there, tryed to assemble that.... )

-D.Idiot