1950 Ford Overdrive problem

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Eric T

Junior Member
Hello, this is my first post after lurking here for a while.
I am restoring a 1950 Ford Custom Delux Fordor. While my engine block is in the machine shop, I decided to take the transmission apart and inspect it.

The main gearbox seem fine, but I went to take apart the R10 overdrive and ran into trouble. I got the outer case off without any problems, but the overdrive main shaft is stuck on the planetary gear cage. I don't want to damage anything trying to remove it.

Is there something I'm missing or some magic trick to removing it?
 
I assume you were able to remove the outer housing by itself, with the output shaft and ring gear remaining in place at the back of the transmission. If so, normally you can simply pull it off with your hand. The 12 rollers of the freewheel cam assembly will fall off but the ring gear should pull off the planetary gear (sometimes needing a little twisting).

I just went through this with the same overdrive transmission you have. The planetary and sun gear were damaged and stuck together so the pinion gears would not rotate. I could see the problem and I knew that I would be replacing them, so I used a brass punch (1/2” diameter worked fine) and with a hammer I drove the ring gear off. The customer had stated that the overdrive was not working and that very little gear oil came out when he drained it. Hopefully for you this is not the case.
 
Thanks for the info.

Indeed, very little oil came out when I separated the case.

I have a bad feeling about this...
 
I have tried twisting against it as hard as I dare, back and forth with second and reverse locking the gears up.
I have tried hammering with a brass rod at multiple points around the circumference.
It won't budge.
Is there a different way to get it apart?
 
I had one several years ago like that….. I had to take an abrasive cutoff wheel to it and cut it apart. That old Borg Warner steel is/was damn hard stuff.
 
Just thought I'd post an update on this:

I was able to remove the snap ring that holds the large ring gear to the OD mainshaft, then tap the ring gear back toward the main gear box enough to release the main shaft. After that, the ring gear slipped right off. I'm not yet sure what had everything so jammed up except maybe one small chip of metal in the ring gear.

Edit: It was indeed a small metal chip jamming up the ring gear.
 
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