Transmission Question

On Sun, 20 Jan 2008 18:07:38 -0500, Ted rearranged some electrons to say:

That was back in the days when trucks weren't considered cars.

Exactly. Anyone with any sense would rather have one of those (I'm guessing NP) transmissions rather than the Mazda M5ODHD Ranger transmissions that the F-150's currently get.

CJB

That manual transmission is the NP435, where NP is New Process -- the manufacturer.

It is perhaps the most bullet proof transmission to ever come off the production line. The T5 is very similar, except it has five gears.

I have the NP435 in my '81 Jeep CJ5, and I only use 1st gear when I need to go very slow over rocks, or to pull stuff -- such as drag my house off of its foundation. 1st is geared at 6.69:1, 4th is 1:1, 2nd and 3rd pretty much divide the range equally.

To answer your question, yes it is normal, and no trucks of that era are not geared like cars.

As I recall, the 80s F series trucks had 3, 4-sp trannys. The Warner T-18/the NP435 and the SROD. The SROD (single-rail overdrive) had all forward speeds syncronized, while the T-18 and the NP435 had a spur-gear as 1st gear (granny gear). The SROD was more 'car like', but still very strong and capable of truck work.

Dave S (Texas)

Seems to me there was a four speed over drive as well, top loader that was about bullet proof as well, also used in a few of the vans.

Whitelightning

This is true, Now most people who drive them never put anything in the back or tow anything. I think it might be a macho thing or they are trying to make up for some shortcoming. Especially those that drive 3/4 and 1 ton trucks.

Is there an easy way to identify the different transmissions?

Thanks for asking this question -- it's been years since I heard anyone say "granny gear" but thanks to your question and a touch of Wild Turkey, the memories are coming back to me.

Back in the day -- back when men were MEN and trucks were TRUCKS -- my friend Bob had a 48 GMC, ugly green with the curved windows on the rear corners of the cab.

Bob's "little green truck" had a granny gear -- we called it "bulldog gear." When we would trek back into the Smoky Mountains and surrounding areas, we often ran out of road. Many a time Bob would shove the little green truck into bulldog, pull out the hand throttle (yes, it had a hand choke and hand throttle), we would get out of the truck, he'd reach through the window to hold the steering wheel, and we'd walk alongside the truck, watching for stumps, rocks , holes, and the like while the truck pulled itself along with Bob steering through the window.

The little green truck also had a spotlight mounted on the driver's side windshield pillar with the control handle that aimed the spotlight inside the truck. We had somewhat limited funds at the time

-- being young lads who were employed delivering newspapers, cutting grass, sacking groceries, and the like -- but we kept two $10 bills rolled up and stashed inside the spotlight handle, just in case we needed money.

One time something broke on the carb linkage and we fixed it -- no kidding -- with a piece of wire cut from a coat hanger that we found lying alongside the road. Try that with today's truck.

Then there are all the old VW Beetles I owned . . .

The Certificate label on the driver-side door frame has the trans code. A=4-sp New Process/B=4-sp SROD/F=4-sp Warner

Dave S (Texas)

Go here. Just about any info you will ever need.