Drove to York, Pa. to pick up Overdrive tranny.

250 miles out and the same back home to pick up the tranny for my 39 Studebaker. Now to get it in but lots of work before I can do that. I got a Back Yard Buddy sitting in my car trailer to put together first. Plus I have rental's to take care of. They come first. I still need to come up with a cable to operate the overdrive unit. Plus make up the wire harness. Then the wipers and headlights also need to be fixed. So I won't be driving the 39 much until I get it road ready. This is a great site for help and information about my car. Hope to see you all down the road some day.

You will also need to replace or shorten the drive shaft and change the speedometer cable and gear. You will also need to rig a bracket for the kick down switch on your accelerator. And the "factory" overdrive installation may have included a different gear ratio in your differential. You don't have to change that but it will affect which speedometer gear you need to find.

I have collected all these parts for my Champion but I have a hard time convincing myself it is worth the hassle for the kinds of driving I do.

I am just getting started rounding up the parts I need. This overdrive is bolted on the back of the transmission. Maybe I can get these fellows to help me install the tranny.

Ken

Please send me an email regarding the headlights ,I spend a lot of time on finding these.

Robert Kapteyn

studebaker@mac.com

Put Studebaker in the subject line.

Fitting an overdrive transmission to a 39 commander is not trivial. There is barely half an inch of clearance at the rear, from memory. I made up a wee lifting frame inside the vehicle.

One thing not mentioned yet is that you may need to make a hole in the firewall and the cardboard lining on the inside. The hole location is easy on RHC: there is a hole just below the RH bonnet spring that is covered by a plate welded to the inside. That hole is for the o/d cable when fitted. Maybe there is something similar on the LHC vehicles.

Do you know the condition of the gearbox? I ask because I was sold one in "good condition" based on a quick look in the top; it was shot. The pinion gear was from goodness knows where (certainly not 39 Commander) and the o/d planetary gear bearings were barrel shaped and sort of square. It cost 1.5 times the purchase price to get it right. I rebuilt the pins and bearings, but full length needles are not available loose here. I had to use full complement caged needle bearings, which reduces the length of the needles from 3/4" to 5/8", a significant reduction in bearing length. You can probably buy a complete planetary gear set-up from a Studebaker vendor.

You may also have fun with the parts books and shop manual. There are four gearbox options listed for 1939 and sorting out which bits you need is a proper pain. There is a thrust washer on the front of the main shaft that is mentioned in one place only but not where it goes. It is not clear in the diagrams either. No doubt you have a knowledgeable person to do this work and it will be easy for them.