Want to buy a DK8 transmission - maybe

[yirgaman]

WHile I was putting my DK8 back together, I checked the inside of the tranmission and saw a missing tooth on one of the gears inside. It;s the big gear on the front of the countershaft at the font of the transmission. The tooth was not in the bottom of the case nor in the oil. I only drove this car about 20 miles before the engine gave up and had to be rebuilt. I don't remember any noise or trouble shifting. Does this gear only come into play in reverse? What do you guys think? I don't know much about transmissions, never had one apart. I don't want it to blow up and tear everything apart and have no idea where to find a new gear. I should have checked this before I spent 2 days putting the trans back in!!!

Larry Yirga

[Guest 1930]

A broken tooth can be re-paired via welding, it will not be as strong technically but having done this myself twice on V-8 cars and never having an issue I can say that it will work.

I am not sure which gear you are talking about but if need be we can look at the internal schematic of your tranny and post some pictures here to get more educated opinions than what I may have to offer. Let me know

[yirgaman]

Jason, there is no tooth to weld back on, none was found inside the case - so my guess is this didn't happen while I owned the car. Since it's not listed as an identifiable gear in the parts list, only as the countershaft gear assembly - it maybe integral with the countershaft. My guess is that only comes into play while the transmission is in reverse. I never heard a clicking noise while I drove the car the few miles that I did. As long as I take it easy and don't do "burnouts" in reverse, this may never be a problem?? I have a spare DL transmission and the schematics look much the same- although the parts have different numbers, I might try taking the DL spare apart to see how this works. I don't have much time to do this, so it'll be while until I know more unless somebody who's "been there-done that" can tell me what I need to know.....

thanks for your input.

Larry Yirga

[Guest 1930]

I have built up missing teeth with the welder but sounds like it may not be worth the hassle at this point. Good luck

[F&J]

It;s the big gear on the front of the countershaft at the front of the transmission.

Since it's not listed as an identifiable gear in the parts list, only as the countershaft gear assembly

The front gear on the cluster is always under load EXCEPT in high gear, meaning 1,2, & Rev. In high gear, the input shaft and output shafts are locked together, and there will be no "load" on the cluster. Every other gear does get it's power through that gear.

If the entire tooth is gone, It needs attention. If just a tip is gone, there may still be enough contact on that one, as the next tooth starts to share the load.

Check the backlash while centered on a good tooth, and then compare backlash with that broken tooth aiming directly at the upper gear which is part of the input shaft. If it does have more slop there, you need to fix it for sure.

If you do run it that way, even if the backlash seems Ok, it honestly should be repaired/replaced, if this will be a serious driver, rather than just 500 miles a year.

[yirgaman]

Thanks for the information F&J. The tooth is completely gone. If I can't find a new gear, I'll have to replace the transmission. If anyone has an idea where I might get a gear or trans. pls let me know.

Larry

[F&J]

If you want to slightly increase the odds of finding that low production part or trans, use the power of google;

I would add a reply here with more info that will show up on page one of a google search, if a picker finds something with a number on it, like a gear with a tag, or an old mystery transmission with a casting number on the case or top cover.

"wanted 1932 Dodge DK-8 8 cylinder transmission casting number 5------ " then leave a space and add the casting number of the top cover also.

and a new sentence "wanted transmission cluster gear 6---- " This would be useful if someone found a NOS gear with a tag or box label, and does a search on google.

Then also see if you can look in the parts books to know if that cluster gear is the same as DeSoto 8, or maybe even a 6 cyl Mopar.

[yirgaman]

Thanks for the good suggestions, i'll try to put it together as you suggest. I'm away from home and all my books and the car - so when I get back there next week maybe I can get the info together.

Larry

[Guest 1930]

Hello Larry, can you tell me if your DK trans matches this DG cutaway

[Guest 1930]

I did not realize that I had these plates, maybe this will help you identify what you are in need of and we can go from there to find a suitable replacement part.

[yirgaman]

Jason, there is no item number for the broken gear, only #56 for the whole countershaft, whiich maybe the primary gear is part of the shaft. According to my parts books, some Desoto, Plymouth, Chrysler CI and and Dodge DL and Fargo trucks use the same countershaft, but I don't know about the gear - whether it's separate or not The gear assemblies have different part numbers for all those other vehicles.

Larry

[Guest 1930]

I did not notice it was a turn over page, let me turn it over and post it than I will see if I can find anything, I figured that was what you were needing but at least its confirmed

[Guest 1930]

Let me see what else I can come up with now as far as interchangeability

[Guest 1930]

Hello Larry, I would like to know what you are referencing for literature, I would like to know this because the way I am reading it within the 1934 Dodge Bros. Master parts book it appears to me that the countershaft and gear is an assy, they word it Transmission countershaft and gear which means it is an assy as my understanding accepts it.

Looks like it is part # 377126 which luckily is the same part that your spare DL tranny carries.

Maybe you were confused ( as I was at first ) with the listing of Countershaft gear assy which is where arrow 110 is pointing? It would appear that this is the only removable/replaceable gear on the entire countershaft pertaining to strictly this transmission. There is a right and a left helical gear oddly enough depending on car no. or serial no.

If it were me/my car I would pull the tranny back out most likely, I would not want to roll the dice and cause more possible internal trans damage, I have experience with assembling disassembling manual trans and while generally they are alot alike and procedures are the same there are some tests/teardown procedure/assy procedures which can vary from trans to trans as the process is moved along and whilst I could help with some of this I would not guarantee that myself alone would not get you screwed up.

If it were my trans I would do the work myself, I could do it is half a day and less once the tranny is out, I know for me it is that easy and if I blow it up I have another spare to screw with but I would hate to get you screwed up so you may want to take it to someone that knows what they are doing and pay them to get it fixed.

Trouble is finding someone that ACTUALLY knows what he is doing with these OLD cars is tough. The only person that will do the job right is yourself so dig in, work with all of us here, lets get the proper figures and replace that shaft.

That is my advice, good luck either way and let us know how you make out.

EDIT: looks like I screwed up within this post and showed the breakdown of the DL tranny instead of the DK, anyway it is the same picture I posted above of the DK internals just from a different book and the 110 number is the same number.

Edited February 25, 2013 by 1930 (see edit history)

[yirgaman]

It looks like I have the same information you have. I also have some other stuff too like parts list books for dodge, chrysler, desoto, plymouth and dodge trucks and some interchange books. I have a spare DL transmission and will try to open it up to see what this involves. It might just work out. I wonder where the gear tooth went and how it happened, there were no metal pieces in the oil when I got the car - come to think of it, there was very little oil in the transmission because a mounting bolt was loose, leaking oil. I might see cracks in the main drive pinion making it an even bigger problem. When the car was delivered, the brakes had been poorly rebuilt and didn't work. Someone may have use the transmission for an emergency brake, or the car was banged into while it was parked in gear (that happened to my son's Jeep when he was in college, damage to trans was similar).

thanks for your help...I'll probably have a question or two

Larry