I've seen several references to wide ratio gears in later auto trannies so I've been wondering. Is it possible to install the later gears into an early pushbutton case? If it's possible, is it desireable? My thinking is that a lower first gear might let me use a taller final drive in the rear axle.

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

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

I am not 100% certain, but I think the cutoff year for retrofitment of the wide-ratio gears is '68. Whether or not that's so, you would need the geartrain and the matching governor, which has different weights for proper shifting with the different ratios.

The wide-ratio gears were a cheap way of getting heavy cars with pathetically weak engines and ridiculously tall rear axles to go from 0 to 55 in under an hour. The wide-ratio gears are noisier in first gear and their build quality (zap-welded steel cage) is considerably poorer than the earlier gears (machined aluminum cage). I went through the mix-and-match monkey motion to retrofit a wide-ratio Torqueflite into my '65. It worked, but I didn't like the results and after a great deal of tweaking and tuning, I swapped back to a regular-ratio Torqueflite. Others' opinions will doubtless differ, but I don't think the wide-ratio Torqueflite works well with other than the super-tall rear gearsets they were designed to compensate for.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

It is not possible to install the wide ratio gear sets into the cable shifted 904 case, easily. There is a problem with the spline count on the end of the output shaft, inside the trans. It is possible to install them into the 66-67 trans, by swapping everything including the tailshaft.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Thanks, CS, that sounds like what I was failing to remember. For my '65 project, I went from a cable-shift '65 trans to a '66-'67 rod-shift trans with wide-ratio guts swapped in. This required all kinds of parts swapping and nonstock combinations. Everything from the steering column clear on back to the driveshaft, plus the floor pan, needed special attention. It was a collossal waste of effort, time, and money that would've been much better spent elsewhere.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Let it never be said that I don't learn form other's mistakes.

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

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.