I have been in a ongoing debate about 833 tranny cases. The question that keeps coming up is whether the aluminum case automatically signifies
that the tranny would be a 3 speed with the overdrive, rather than a true 4
speed. It has also been sugested that the aluminum case is not strong enough to take the pounding that a 4 speed is expected to take. I pulled a cast case 833 out of a 76 Feather Duster a couple of years ago, but I don't
know what it is because the shifter and linkage were gone when I got to it.
I understand that if it was a 3 speed overdrive, the 3rd to 4th shift lever would be upside down. I also got a 76 Dart lite to part out, that dose have a 3 speed overdrive but I haven't had the chance to get under it to check it out yet. With the onset of winter, I won't get the chance to check it out
until Spring. I think I'd stand the chance to learn alot more in this forum.

Dick,

The aluminum case is plenty tough. Get the large input bearings (308's) and good synchros and make sure your needle bearings and the inside of the input shaft are like new. I made sure I put in large U-joints with mine, even though it meant buying a yoke. If you think you are going to lay the torque to it, get a d100 driveshaft and have it cut to length. Its greater diameter will give you even more margin for abuse.
rock
'64d100

If you have one sitting on the bench, things in the last years of the manual tranny are nice because they stamped part of the VIN on a pad on the passenger side of the tranny (so far I have yet to see a blank one)... it usually is only the engine code, year, build plant letter, and the last six digits of the VIN (so for a '76 Feather Duster it'd be C6G111000...)


If the units were OEM to the '76's then there are only 2 manual trannies available the A-230 3 speed, and the A-833OD (3 spd+OD)...

You can read the "4speed" article in the Articles section of the board for some pics and ID.




To a certain extent, I have seen a few that were warped, I have seen guys over torque the shift cover bolts and crack the bottom of the bolt holes leaving aluminum scabs in the case. I've seen one crack under the demanding torque of a 383 (of course driving your Challenger like 'Bullitt' on the street didn't help either). Those that use it for 'overdone' V-8's and need the OD for "mileage" , usually seek out one of the 1975 Iron cased units, or have the Aluminum case units rebored and rebushed where the countershaft sits in the case (this part takes all the pressure except during 3rd gear/direct)...FYI...


-D.Idiot

I take it that from what you guys are saying, that in the mid 70's pretty much any 833 tranny that was installed was actually a 3 speed overdrive.
I know the first one is out of a Feather Duster, so it is probably a 3/over. The second one thats still in the car is definitely a 3/over because it's even on the shifter ball. I'm still toying with the idea of pulling the slush box out of my 73 Swinger and putting in one of those stick setups, since I've got everything I need to do it. Two questions that remain, is what are the performance Pro's and con's of the 3/over tranny, and how does the power curve balance out bewteen gears?

1974 was the last regular non-overdrive A833. None of the regular 4 speeds got an aluminum case from the factory. The Feather Duster would have the A833OD.

Personally I do not like the A833OD for performance. The gear spread is way too wide so the RPM drop between gears is huge. For a stocker they are fine, but for performance use they stink. They were made for economy and that's about what they are good for.

_________________
Joshua

Anybody Have Objections To Using The 1st And 4th Gears From An OD Unit For That Super Deep Launch And Good Top End/Highway Characteristics Then Incorporating The 2nd And 3rd From A Close Ratio Box For Having Plenty Of Fun Through The Twists?

I Realize That It Would Mean Some Pretty Large Splits Between 1/2 And 3/4, But I Want Some Other Thoughts As Well...

Thanks,
Seth

The tranny uses a countershaft gearing cluster machined as one unit, to match the changed gears off the mainshaft, you'd have to have a custom countershaft cluster made (not really worth the $$$)....Also the OD trannies have two sets of gearing to them a coarse set (so far I have a couple of trannies with this set), and a finer set ( it's especially hard when you try to make one 'good' tranny from a couple of beaters from different years...I learned the hard way that the Jan.76 tranny I had out of one Feather Duster had a different gear pitch than the stock one out of my current Feather Duster....)

There are a couple of options for the standard 833 box, that have the 3.09 1st gear but the stock 2/3/direct ratios (mostly early 60's, and some versions supposedly made it into a few 318 cars in the 1971-1974 range).


Josh has kind of nailed it on the head the wide ratio spread isn't nice to 'shift by'...in fact that last G-tech run I took to test out the last 'tune up', I never made it into OD in the 1/4 mile...my launch was at 6200 rpm, the 2nd gear shift occurred at 6000 rpm, then while the car was recovering(from 4000 rpm and flying down the road) I quickly jambed it into 3rd at 5200 rpm only to be about 100 ft from the 1/4 mile end of run....(things I surmised would be marginally better with a set of 3.91's/4.11's over the 3.55's)

On the flip side, I decided to see the top side of things and my car was able to get upto 127mph @4000 in OD with lots of power to still run up the clock (but I didn't have enough road to see if 5000 in OD would equal 150+)....



FYI,

-D.Idiot

I noticed this morning that there is a complete A833 with clutch and /6 bell housing on Ebay. As of this morning it had a "buy it now" button at $250.00.

_________________
David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

Was the extension housing on the Feather Duster A833 aluminum like the case? Or was it cast iron?

Just curious. Seemed like it was on the one I had, but it went with my Duster when I sold it to a buddy. Said friend and I pulled an aluminum case OD unit out of a truck this weekend, but the extension housing was cast iron. Seems like they all were, but at the same time it seemed like the one I put in the Duster was all aluminum.

Sure makes a difference in weight. He also has a cast iron 4 speed and it is a pig compared to the truck one.

Thanks for the info on the gear pitch change. Didn't know that.

_________________
'15 Chrysler 200S V6
'74 Duster 360, factory 4 speed car

You can tell if it is over drive by turning the imput shaft and switching the gear lever and counting how many times the tail shaft rotates compaired to the imput shaft. If it is OD the tail shaft will outrun the imput shaft, if not it will turn the same speed 1:1.


I dont know about all OD units but the one I have does have a Cast Iron tail shaft housing. I have never seen a AL one. Doesnt mean there wasnt a special one for like a feather dustor or something.


The wide spread of the OD unit may be good for a turbo car, they like to have to push a gear and be loaded.


Jess

Due to "mix and match" night at the assembly plant, or even during tranny reconditioning at the dealer or other tranny place anything goes...I have one all stock A-833OD unit from 1975 and the case and extension is iron...I have 3 A-833OD units, 2 from 76, and one from 1978 and they have all aluminum outer parts...I also have a 1981 truck A-833OD I keep handy since it was cheap and can use the parts as spares for the A/F body trannies, it's has an all aluminum out casing/extension set also.

FYI,

-D.Idiot

That is good new really. This mean a OD unit could be used in a performance app with a cast case. Or a light weight unit could be used for just a mild performer/cruiser. The gearing of these trannies could really play good for a turbo /6, it would make good use of the torque. Cant remember how good these trannies shifted though, its been 15 years sense I have run mine in anything.


Jess

Kick the engine over, warm up cycle completed....*chunk* reverse gear....WRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR....Stop...first gear (temp under 50 degrees fahrenheit, 90wt oil), *clack-chunk*....VRRRRMRMRMMM....(2000 rpm)...shift to 2nd *clack*, 1200 rpm....VRMMMMMRMMM.....(2200 rpm)...shift to 3rd *cauchk*, 1200 rpm...VRMMMMMMMM (1800 rpm)...merge with highway time for OD *clack* (1400 rpm)....VRRMRMRMM....



OR...you let your 16 year old drive the car:

Kick engine over....he stands on the gas...VRRRRRRMMMMRRRRRRMMMM....Reverse at 15 mph....*SKRAWWWNK*....WHHHHHIIIIIIINEEEERAAAAR....SCREEECH....1st gear *SCCCRAAAANK* (note to self, rebuild next box and need new synchros and gears).....*SSSSCCCCRREEEEECH*.....2nd gear....SCRRRRAAAAKACHAK*.....VRRRRRRRMMMM....






LOL,

-D.Idiot