I just thought I knew alot about GM transmissions......

[JayPat83]

Riding around East Tennessee today and I ran across a 58 Apache 10 pickup. Owner showed me it only had 36000 original miles with the 235 striaght 6 and a Hydramatic 4 speed auto from the factory!?!? He said I know you don't believe me but it's true. I came home tonight and looked it up and sure enough GM had a 4 speed auto starting back in the 1940s until it got a major redesign in 1956!!! Learn something new everyday.

It was in Madisonville and btw he rebuilds transmissions for dirt cheap.

 

[86-blk442]

I thought I heard something like that before. Overdrive transmissions were around way back when too. Makes you wonder why they ever went to the 2 and 3 speed units.

 

[FE3X CLONE]

I thought I heard something like that before. Overdrive transmissions were around way back when too. Makes you wonder why they ever went to the 2 and 3 speed units.

I'm going to guess some of it had to do with size and packaging. That 4 speed in the pickup was probably larger than the more modern 4 speeds. It may not have been up to the task of handling the power of the "muscle" cars, or if it was, was just too big to fit so they stuck with the 2 and 3 speeds.

 

[Evan11]

Yep, I've heard of them. I guy a bought some hurst olds parts off of locally had a '56 chevy long stepside pickup and it had that very transmission. I've got a '65 Chevy pickup and it has a 3 on the tree with overdrive. They have a pull out cable and a solenoid. I've yet to hook the overdrive up, but I did obtain the parts. The previous owner put the trans in the truck without knowing what it really was. Pretty rare optional trans from what I've read.

 

[rustyroger]

GM made several different transmissions up to the late '60s, all with strengths and weaknesses. They also sold them to other makers or licensed their manufacture, Rolls Royce being a good example. Ultimately GM had to bite the bullet and copy Chryslers Wilson system as used in their Torqueflite range. The 727 was arguably the best automatic transmission ever made, at least up to the '80s, sorry all you GM fans but other car makers also did some things very well.

Roger.

 

[ssn696]

A modified version of the 727 (A618) with an electric overdrive went behind the first Cummins diesels used in the Dodge DW250/DW350 pickups in the late 1980s. I never had a problem with mine with over 220,000 miles on it. Only reason I sold the truck was to add another seat and two more doors for the herd...would have built one myself, but at that point, the old Dodge crew cabs were hard to find and generally hammered. Chrysler didn't put four full doors on the pickups until after 2001.

 

[Evan11]

A modified version of the 727 (A618) with an electric overdrive went behind the first Cummins diesels used in the Dodge DW250/DW350 pickups in the late 1980s. I never had a problem with mine with over 220,000 miles on it. Only reason I sold the truck was to add another seat and two more doors for the herd...would have built one myself, but at that point, the old Dodge crew cabs were hard to find and generally hammered. Chrysler didn't put four full doors on the pickups until after 2001.

Too bad they didn't continue using those trans in the later yrs, those trans they used in the 90's dodge pickups were trash.

 

[marcar1993]

A modified version of the 727 (A618) with an electric overdrive went behind the first Cummins diesels used in the Dodge DW250/DW350 pickups in the late 1980s. I never had a problem with mine with over 220,000 miles on it. Only reason I sold the truck was to add another seat and two more doors for the herd...would have built one myself, but at that point, the old Dodge crew cabs were hard to find and generally hammered. Chrysler didn't put four full doors on the pickups until after 2001.

Sorry for the hijack, but thats not true. They didn't make a cummins 4 door until the new milenium, but 4 door pickups existed in the early 80's, whereas the cummins wasn't around until 89.

 

[rustyroger]

A modified version of the 727 (A618) with an electric overdrive went behind the first Cummins diesels used in the Dodge DW250/DW350 pickups in the late 1980s. I never had a problem with mine with over 220,000 miles on it. Only reason I sold the truck was to add another seat and two more doors for the herd...would have built one myself, but at that point, the old Dodge crew cabs were hard to find and generally hammered. Chrysler didn't put four full doors on the pickups until after 2001.

Sorry for the hijack, but thats not true. They didn't make a cummins 4 door until the new milenium, but 4 door pickups existed in the early 80's, whereas the cummins wasn't around until 89.

True. I had a '79 ex USAF crew cab, slant six/727 no frills truck. I never regretted owning it even when it needed fixing.

Roger.

 

[ssn696]

A modified version of the 727 (A618) with an electric overdrive went behind the first Cummins diesels used in the Dodge DW250/DW350 pickups in the late 1980s. I never had a problem with mine with over 220,000 miles on it. Only reason I sold the truck was to add another seat and two more doors for the herd...would have built one myself, but at that point, the old Dodge crew cabs were hard to find and generally hammered. Chrysler didn't put four full doors on the pickups until after 2001.

Sorry for the hijack, but thats not true. They didn't make a cummins 4 door until the new milenium, but 4 door pickups existed in the early 80's, whereas the cummins wasn't around until 89.

Let me clarify. Cummins was only offered in the club and regular cab 88-93, then again in the new body style (half-doors) from 94-20XX until Dodge started making full crew cabs again. I had the idea to find one of these old, square body style crews and swap the whole drivetrain over. Saw it done nicely locally, but lacked the 12K at the time to buy it.