My weird transmission

[Deleted User]

Hi Guys,

As some of you know, on my 46 Commodore 8, the car was built with Drive Master. That was removed at some point in the past, and the car currently has overdrive transmission. At least I think it does. It has the OD controls (the lockout lever, and then a switch that was added under the dash to engage OD, up being "on" and down being "off" according to the notes I saw on the receipt from the previous owner. Ok fine.

So I got this car about 6 weeks ago, put the gas tank in, then got distracted with another project but now I'm back to the Hudson. Having read the owners manual, I understand that from neutral that up and forward is supposed to be reverse, then pulling the shifter back towards me would put it in 1st gear. Pushing the shifter forward and then pulling down would go to neutral, then down and forward would put it in 2nd, and pulling back towards me would put it in 3rd at which point i could use OD.

My transmission doesn't seem to work this way. From neutral, I can go up, but the only gear I seem to be able to find is Reverse, which works fine. But nothing else seems to be "up there" other than reverse, meaning the shifter doesn't move fore and aft, just up. When going back to neutral and then down, I also seem to have only one gear, meaning again I cannot move the shifter forward or backward as I would expect.

What I am wondering (and i know this is hard to figure out without just being in the car) is were there Hudson transmissions that operated with just a neutral, and up for reverse, and a down for drive? I'm thinking perhaps mine has a totally different transmission in it than a '46 transmission.....Or, it's sticking and not allowing me to shift into other gears....Or, I'm just doing something wrong.

nick s

1st is down and towards the driver, second is up and away, high is down and away. reverse is up and towards. i would guess you have a frozen cable

Uncle Josh

OK, lets be more specific I hope. You have the familiar H pattern, viewed from in front of the passenger seat. R-upper Left, 1-lower Left, 2-upper Right and 3-lower Right.
In Neutral, you should be able to move the lever toward and away from the steering wheel.

This pushes and pulls a rod inside the steering column which is attached to a cable, which operates a small lever on the tranny that changes the up/down motion between R and 1, or 2 and 3. From R and 1, you have to go back to N and push the lever away from the steering wheel to get to 2 and 3 A spring should push it away for you unless the cable is 'frozen' ie rusted.

Get another person to check the tranny end of the cable to see if it's moving. If not, nick is right, the cable is rusted so it doesn't move. At best, ya gotta soak it in penetrating oil and flex it to free it, or remove it and free it up on the bench. If you can't free it or the wire is broken, ya gotta replace it.

The overdrive tranny is 8 1/2 inches longer than the 3 speed. The lockout wire will go to a lever on the OD extension and the OD will have about a 3 in dia can about 6 in long on the side at an angle.

[Deleted User]

Hi Guys,

Just finally got around to updating on this keep getting sidetracked on other projects. Ok so I spent some time with this on the weekend......the shifter really just goes up and down. From neutral, you cannot move the level forward (away from you as you sit in the seat) or backward (toward you if you are sitting in the seat). I have contacted the previous owner but because he never really drove the car, he couldn't provide me with any helpful information.
I can tell you this: If i shift up from neutral, car goes into reverse and will drive in reverse (doesn't do me much good as im parked backed in to the garage), but when I shift it down from neutral, i feel that the gear engages (mainly because i hear the idle change slightly) but then as soon as i ease off the cluth pedal and down on the gas pedal it just dies out. I tried this quite a few times this weekend with the same results. Any ideas? This is driving me nuts.

[Deleted User]

You need to unhook your shift rod & cable from the transmission and make sure they are free to move. As Josh said lever moves shift rod back and forth. And moving lever toward and away from wheel moves cable in and out.
Get those moving properly and you will probably fix your problem. While you have them unhooked place transmission lever in the middle position and try operating unit there.
Move small lever and then move large arm back and fourth. If levers still don't move you may have an internal issue,
Roger

[Deleted User]

Thanks Roger I'm going to give that a shot and see what happens *fingers crossed*

[Deleted User]

At least with the rod and cable unhooked you can see if its the cable ,linckage or the transmission itself.
Roger

[Deleted User]

Ok so after doing some research (aka reading the Mechanical Procedure manual) I think what I'm talking about is that I'm not getting any cross shifting action. My shifting goes straight up (into reverse) or straight down (high gear I think...which would obviously cause it to stall if I'm going from neutral to high gear. Though in the owners manual low gear seems to be below reverse if i understand it right). I believe from reading the MPM that I have an idea of how to adjust this and it doesn't seem overly hard....famous last words I know. Sorry to sound like a dope on this but transmissions are one area of a car I know virtually nothing about.

[Deleted User]

OK guys I'm still really stuck on this. Wsa under the hudson yesterday, and this just doesn't look normal to me (pictures attached). Seems like there should be a plate or something covering that up, right? Also noted the "abundance of transmission fluid" looking fluid all over the place under there (though there are no drip spots on the floor under the car. Had the wife shift through the two gears that it will shift into (again, straight up, back to neutral, and straight down) and those seemed to move fine but again no ability from neutral to move the handy-shift towards the driver or away from the driver.
Anyone with any type of insight on this would be greatly appreciated!

[Deleted User]

Yes, there is a cover that goes on the underside that would protect the flywheel (with the gear teeth) from road "stuff." Check your Parts Manual for number to match your transmission/engine/car. Some member here will have one available for purchase.

As you have figure out, your shift pattern is an H. Reverse is the top left, Low or 1st is bottom left, 2nd is top right and 3rd is bottom right. Does your shift lever on the steering column even move into the 2nd and 3rd gear position (engine on or off, clutch pedal pushed down)? If it will, then I think the problem is the shift linkage that is used when the shift lever is pushed forward.

Have someone move the shift lever while you look at the steering column in the engine bay. Does the linkage move?

What moved when you were under the car and your wife was shifting the lever?

It sounds like the cable is broken, disconnected or somehow out of sorts.

[Deleted User]

Another view of the trans looking down on the shift column, etc. The red wire was done by previous owner and allegedly is the control switch (mounted under the dash) used to lock out the OD. This view doesn't look quite the same to me as in the Mechanical Procedures books, but keep in mind my car used to have Drive Master so it might just look different because of that.

Ric West IN

I've seen some of these where the little "ball" end of the shift lever has broken off. This results in no motion to the shift cable. This happens if the cable is jammed or rusted in place and the frustrated operator tries too hard to shift.

You need two sets of eyes to check the movement,or lack of.

"Ric"

[Deleted User]

Maybe this drawing will help. The view is as if you look at the knob from the passenger seat.
The "A" range of motion is the cable going to the transmission. The "B" range is the rod going to the transmission.
Have a helper move the lever in these ranges ("A" is only going to move in neutral). And go under hood and or car and see if each it moving .
You may need to unhook them from transmission to make sure whats wrong if there is lack of movement.
Roger

[Deleted User]

Thanks guys. Here is where it seems hung up, from Roger's drawing, A = Neutral, there is no movement forward (away from the driver) or back (towards the driver). You can only go up and down from the "A" position. Since I know that going up puts it in reverse (it does drive in reverse), I'm guessing its stuck in the "towards the driver" position. I did a helper move the shifter up and down while holding down the clutch pedal, and things moved freely underneath, though I didn't have them try to move it towards or away from the drive while in neutral so I'll have to try that and see if I notice anything sticking.

Clutchguy

OK, look at the bottom of the steering column. You see the cable coming from the transmission?.Loosen the 1/2 in.headed bolt-[5/16-18]- on the side of the column. Move/slide the cable downward. This should make it only go into 2-3 gearsThen find where it needs to be in the middle. This info is provided you have not removed the cable on tiop of the transmission. I should ask did or has it worked in the recent past?.

[Deleted User]

Hi Clutch guy. Thanks for the info I will definitely try that when I get back out to my shop. I've touched nothing on the transmission (only had the car 2 months). I can't say if it worked in the recent past. I contacted the guy I bought it from who had it 4 years and said he had driven it around, but now he says he can't remember anything in regards to the transmission. I know that it was worked on by a repair shop because I have a receipt for some work done, plus there was a switch added under the dash to govern turning on/off the OD. That's about all I know on the trans.

[Deleted User]

I didn't see a picture of this on the forum so I'm assuming this is the "Overdrive Box" people are referring to. The red wire is the hot wire someone ran from the OD to a switch mounted under the dash to turn on or off the OD.
BTW car still not driving right, haven't had time to mess with it. Since ihave a very short driveway before rolling onto a busy street, not a lot of room to test with.

Ric West IN

Keith, You've drawn a circle around the steering gear box. Has nothing to do with overdrive.

The wire coming out of the bottom is for the Horn.
"Ric"