Aloha!!
I got this out of a '49 Carryall suburban, the guy removed it only because he didn't know what it was and thought it was inappropriate for his restoration, and man he did a great one too. it was going to go in my '51 Burb, thats a 1/2 ton torque tube and 3rd member on it BTW. A buddy that owned the '49 Burb prior to the guy I bought it from is the guy that told me about these, he loved it, I didn't even know it was available for our cars/trucks!!
I finally talked to a retired fire dept mech. that informed me it was made by "Truckstell", he knew that from truck experience.
And thats how I found all the literature on it, installation, owners and maintenance manuals too, after a long and hard hunt BTW. The guy i got the lit from has one in his '38, drives from the west coast to Indiana in it, frequently.
It is for Chevrolet and it is a dealer installed option. Called a "tip toe matic", which gets confused a lot with a chrysler product, most mechanics, no, I cant say everyone i have ever met, gets them confused.
Anyway I sold my Burb and included it, and the lit., got a '50 wagon, bought it back, (no lit though!) and I am going to put it in my wagon, my daily driver.
My local "transmission pro's" don't know beans about it, and frankly I am in Classic car mecca of Southern california, LA county. Cirello, chevy guy and still doing trannies, great american race ride along mechanic? never even seen one. Elmer, mechanic in Pattons army and had a shop since WWII, never even HEARD of one, Stu's trans, famous, raced at Ascot,,, nope, never,,,,Tony at Memory lane, heard of but never seen one, (sure)(Cirello is his dad) Gene, in Paramount, still doing powerglides and cadillac's? Cooks machine? nope, you get the picture I'm sure. the list goes on man,,,so to have found a few that say to stay away amazes me, all due respect, out of who knows how many people and 3 post it boards, i have only met 3 people who knew what they were, because they had one, most confuse it with a chrysler product, anyway those 3 swear by them and couldn't imagine life without one. I'd ask those you know if they really had experience with one, i kinda doubt it. All due respect though
Now there is some thoughts on it probably having Borg-Warner gears, a small company like truckstell couldn't have had their own gears made up, thats an expensive process, so they probably are interchangable with something? so far i have heard Ramblers use the same gears in theirs, this from a guy who has one of these in his car, loves it, and works on them, when needed, and it isn't often, so he says, and another guy into them that also has a Stude with OD says they 'look' similar to it, but hasn't checked side by side.
Truckstells only difference was it was all mechanical, no solenoids to engage it, BTW.
I have enough positive feedback that I am gong to install it, and again this will be in my daily driver, 1950 wagon, 261 powered, stock 4:11's.
I posted this because on another board most were happy to see the pictures and learn about them, shoot I'm still learning about them, and was hoping to actually find more that HAS them, to learn more. they are too rare for me to listen to a few that think they aren't any good and take it to heart. And the stories out of the few that I have met that have them, i think they sound bitchen. and if it sucks after all is said and done? oh well, i got a cool and unique, vintage, period knob under my dash!!! and nothing modern
I will keep ya posted, it's still a learning curve, and I'm meeting cool people almost everyday, oh yeah I forgot, 4 people who have em, a 1948 woody in San Pedro has one in it. In fact my first post i mention needing parts, never mind, found em, a cable, not a gear, the previous owner still had it in his garage, and a guy back east is sending me a linkage part to copy and return. The linkage part isn't necessary to operate, but is a "nice to have", anyway, got it, done
oh yeah, it doesn't replace the torque tube, you have to cut yours and modify the prop shaft, as per the instructions, that i no longer have but are on the way, thats why i called "Cooks machine" to see if they had any memory of one, once I get the install manual they'll do the cutting/modifying.
CHEERS and many mahalo's, Aloha Nui Loa
Last edited by kimo90808; 11/29/2007 8:05 AM.
