Max Wedge 3 speed tranny?

[Cornpatch MO]

Today, a friend told me he had a very heavy duty mopar 3 speed tranny. He said that it had a trunion flange on it that he had changed to slip yoke. I looked at it and my eyes probably got moon sized!! I think this is a Max Wedge three speed, which would be a major piece of a 50 year old puzzle.!! It has what looks to be a Hurst three speed shifter on it.
Cast numbers on the main case is T85 J 1(might be 7)
WG DIV ( Warner Gear Division?)
4 11 63 (stamped) April 11 1963 ?

Cast number on the tailshaft housing -- J 28 62

Can anyone tell me for sure what this tranny is? It could be part of a very good story......................MO

 

[lewtot184]

the trannys were borg warner t85's. 63's had hurst shifters. they had very close gear ratios. i think they were 2.04 in first and 1.41 in second,...?

 

[coloradodave]

Had time to look: 2.10 to 1 first- 1.44 to 1 second and 1 to 1 third. And yes, Hurst shifters. Pretty good memory, Lew...lol

 

[lewtot184]

i've got the old back in '62 hot rod magazine that has an article on the 413's. i didn't dig it out to check my numbers,....getting lazy.

 

[super-bee_ski]

I do know many 426 Maxies in 1963 were the Borg Warner 3-speeds for the manual trans.
At the time the 4-speed was NOT robust enough to handle the Max Wedge engines...
(Per MOPAR)

 

[lewtot184]

i don't remember the t85's being very strong either. the t85 was a truck transmission and the t10 was designed for the corvette road racing, i think. the t10 is basically a t85 with reverse in the tail housing. i had a friend who used to beat on a 340hp 413 in a '63 b-body and broke the t85 and t10. anyhow, i do remember some info on the t10's capacity was something like 350 hp/torque/ cubic inches and 3500lbs max car weight, not big car/big engine friendly, but ford and gm did put them in big s/s cars. they're sweet shifting gear boxes. amc used an upgraded version in the late 60's.

 

[cryplydog]

my first car was a 63 ford galaxie with a 406 and tri power with a t-10 and Detroit locker, anyhow I trashed 3 t-10's in that car being young and rough but they were light duty and I still don't think they were strong enough for BB use.

 

[Cornpatch MO]

Thanks for the info so far folks. your info supports the theory that what we found here is stock Max Wedge tranny. I need to talk to a Max Wedge Guru........................MO

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Today, a friend told me he had a very heavy duty mopar 3 speed tranny. He said that it had a trunion flange on it that he had changed to slip yoke. I looked at it and my eyes probably got moon sized!! I think this is a Max Wedge three speed, which would be a major piece of a 50 year old puzzle.!! It has what looks to be a Hurst three speed shifter on it.
Cast numbers on the main case is T85 J 1(might be 7)
WG DIV ( Warner Gear Division?)
4 11 63 (stamped) April 11 1963 ?

Cast number on the tailshaft housing -- J 28 62

Can anyone tell me for sure what this tranny is? It could be part of a very good story......................MO

What's the story???? Can't leave us stranded like this lol

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Today, a friend told me he had a very heavy duty mopar 3 speed tranny. He said that it had a trunion flange on it that he had changed to slip yoke. I looked at it and my eyes probably got moon sized!! I think this is a Max Wedge three speed, which would be a major piece of a 50 year old puzzle.!! It has what looks to be a Hurst three speed shifter on it.
Cast numbers on the main case is T85 J 1(might be 7)
WG DIV ( Warner Gear Division?)
4 11 63 (stamped) April 11 1963 ?

Cast number on the tailshaft housing -- J 28 62

Can anyone tell me for sure what this tranny is? It could be part of a very good story......................MO

What's the story???? Can't leave us stranded like this lol

 

[Cornpatch MO]

OK, get a fresh drink, cuase this is a long story. When I was In high school (60-64) There was a Plymouth and John Deere dealer in our small town -less than 2000 pop. He had a son who was probably in his late twentys They ordered a new 63 Plymouth Max Wedge which was immediatly turned into a late modle stock car. They raced on smaller dirt tracks, about 1/2 mile. I think the circuit was I.M.C.A. and he traveled from Minnesota to Louisiana and places in between. His car hauler was a 50's single axle flatbed truck - so junk looking I wouldn't want to ride in it 100 miles. I think it was a six cylinder engine. He raced that car off and on for ,I think, two years - and then it was to old to race in late modle. So he put a 64 front clip on it and raced another year or two. It was getting pretty beat up and so he quit racing and put the stock car away. It sat for several years, forgotten. Several years later I found that a friend of mine had bought the Max Wedge engine for cheap and sold it for a couple $ profit. Who knew??
So here just a few days ago, we went to a Mopar nut shop who tractor pulled a 360 Mopar and did very well with it. Also to see his mid 60's AMC Rambler with a 392 Hemi in it. During our Bench race session , he mentioned that he had been to a guys place that bought old cars and junk. This guy had a late 40's Hudson and said it had a heavy duty 3 speed and racing papers, etc. in the trunk. He bought that tranny and was telling me that he thought it was for a MOPAR. The rusty gears in my head started turning and I recalled that the racers sister had an old Hudsen in a barn. ( she also at one time had a 57 Plymouth Fury that sat in the barnyard and the dogs slept in it. But that is another story that has some real twists to it.) I found out that The guy that had the Hudson had bought it from her. Bingo! that had to be the Max Wedge tranny that was lost for nearly 50 years.
I got so many true car story's that I could write a book!.........................MO

 

[Cornpatch MO]

I learned today that this tranny is indeed a Max Wedge. It will probably be for sale..............................MO