The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Tranny or rear end??

Have a 41 Chevy truck 3 speed shortbed and only get 42 miles an hour out of it. Would like to get it to 50 or 55. Would I be better off to change the tranny to a 4 speed or change to a 3.55 rear? Thinking the rear end now is a 4.11. Have people tell me both. Thanks

bass - with a 4 speed you get more slow speed pulling power [lower 1st gear], doesn't do anything for top speed, any standard trans has a 1:1 top gear - an overdrive would get it to about 0.7:1 if you can work that out .... not sure you'll find a 3.55 gearset to fit your rear, so you'd need to find a complete rear that could be made to fit the truck that has a better highway ratio .... of course the 216 isn't the strongest engine so you don't want to be pushing it

if you haven't found it yet, the old manual site might help

Bill

Even with the 4.11 you should be able to get to 50MPH ,I ran the 216 with a 4.11 and could do 50 to 55 all day long.Check out you're engine maybe it needs a rebuild .


Pete

The easiest way to gear it up a little is to get a 3.55 ring & pinion from a 50-54 powerglide car. A 5-speed from a S-10 is a good way to go but you still have to change the rear end to get an open drive shaft.

George - will the car rear gears work in the '41 rear?

Bill

Everyone,
So, after reading everything. I think what everyone is saying is If I can get the ring and pinion gear that would be the way to go. Am I correct?? I have found them but they cost about $450.00. BASS7

Yes. The car gears fit the 46 on back truck rear ends.

If the ones you have located are in a parts catalog they are not the right ones. The ones that fit the older trucks are from powerglide cars & would have to be gotten from a salvage.

When I go to the salvage yard what would I ask for (ring & pinion gear)? And I don't understand why the ones in a catalog won't work. Will it have 3.55 stamped on them? Is there a way I will know that they fit and if they fit my 41?
BASS7 (George)

patricks gears are for 37-54 1/2 ton trucks and if you want the 3:55 gears they will cost you $450, not to mention the $350 or so you will need to spend on new bearings, shims etc. to complete the job. It does indeed seem like a lot of money when you can get gears for a modern car for $100 or so. But unless you can get rickmg to tell us where he got his gears made you really have no other option. That is assuming of course you want to keep the torque tube. If you don't mind butchering your truck you can use a variety of open drive lines/rearends, none of which I know any specifics as I have no interest in them. but if you go to the hot rod forum this is a fairly popular topic

Thanks for the replys. I was told that this is the best board on the net and it is.
I really don't have $1200.00 to spend on the gears, bearings and shims and some labor that I need so guess I will drive along at 42 miles for awhile.
Thanks again
George

Before you give up, what size tires are you running? I run tall 16" on my 1 Ton with the 4.10 rearend and 60 mph is not a problem.

This is a no brainer,change out your rearend to a better ratio,maybe a 3;42 or something even higher.A tranny aint gonna do you any good,cause most of them are 1 to 1 ratio going to the rear.The only exception would be an overdriove unit,which would be somewhere around .78 to 1 going to the final drive.

I'd swap rear gears for something more along the lines of a 3:73, this should be a good compromise gear.

If your going to use the original 216 I'd be cautious of a 3:55. The truck could turn into a miserable machine, underpowered. As mentioned a 3:73 or 3:90 may be better.
Good Luck
Don

George, any opinions concerning whether or not your 216 can pull 3.55 gears are pure guesswork unless they are from somebody who has actually made that conversion.

I converted my '36 Chevy pickup from 4.11 to 3.55 gears and I'd by glad to describe how that worked out for me if you're interested. The '36 engine is even more anemic, 207 cubic inches.

The actual conversion is in an article with a lot of pictures of the machining and welding on the 1936 Chevy Owners forum.

my email is [email protected]

the only problem with 3:72 or 3:90 gears would be the only other option is 3:55 gears if you want to keep the torque tube, thats all there is. 3:72, or 3:90 gears don't exist. unless of course you can get rickmg to tell any of us where he got a special set made that is your only choice.

I was wrong on the power glide rear gears. The catalogs show the 355 aftermarket gears fitting 37-54. The power glide gears must fit just the cars.