I was pretty bummed out about the transmission I bought from Turner’s Auto Wrecking having a bad bearing. I parked it out back and just ignored it. The property we bought in Port Orford consumed a lot of time in the subsequent couple of months, but things are slowing down along with the onset of a wet winter season and short days.
One day I decided I had to do something as I was really missing it for various jobs, so I started calling transmission shops to see if anyone still worked on these. The first place I called, the guy said: You want to talk to my father. That turned out to be a godsend.
Instead of retiring from the busy shop his son now runs, Gary Grimes moved to the outskirts of the hamlet of Coburg and built a big shop and a mini-museum for his collection of cars including nine(!) Sunbeam Tigers behind it (we’ll tour that and the cars sitting outside in another post). He has a couple of guys working for him, and they specialize in older cars, especially transmissions.
I knew my T-85 was in good hands from the time I first talked to him, and that was confirmed when I dropped the truck off.
Gary—here on the phone in front of one of his Tigers— showed me around, and then drove the truck a bit to confirm my diagnosis. Yup; a bad bearing, or two; not gears.
Gary called me to see if I wanted to see the insides before it got put back together again. Sure!
He spun the bearings to see if he could feel which one was bad. This one seemed reasonably ok.
This one felt pretty good.
But not this one. You could immediately feel the roughness and the sound it made was not a happy one.
The rebuild kit included all three, but ho ordered one without the synchronizers, as they and the gears all looked great.
Gary had quoted $500 labor to rebuild it if I bring it to him, or $700 if they did the remove and install. Being that it’s been wet almost constantly, the answer was easy. I was pleasantly surprised at how reasonable the cost was. They also replaced the slightly wonky speedometer cable, and cleaned everything up very nicely.
It’s so nice and quiet, and it shifts as good or better than it ever has. I’m so happy to have it working properly again. In fact I drove it down the street from his place to a large nursery and bought four trees. Time to get back to work again! I’ve got a number of projects stacked up that call for a truck.
Thank you all for the suggestions, advice and support in my previous post(s). I really wanted the T-85/OD back instead of some other options. It just feels so familiar and right to me after all these years, and I do like splitting the gears and shifting without the clutch, thanks to its freewheeling. I just couldn’t let it go, and it was almost certainly the cheapest solution.
I remember driving my father’s 49 Hudson & made use of having technology having 5 speeds ! as the OD don’t kick in till your going over 27 mph ( I think ) so no OD in first the Hudson with the old 8 was very under powered ! so on hilly roads would down shift to 2nd in OD Rather than flooring it to kick it out of 3 third in OD ! but you better have good brakes !, because of the free wheeling ! or you can just go with a modern 5 sp.
Mine is set up manually, which I prefer. I’m a control freak. 🙂
There is nothing so wonderful in this world than a piece of well used, well cared for, and comfortable, machinery. I can easily relate in terms of bicycles (a 1968 Magneet touring bike with 6500 miles on it and no long distance multi-day tours, plus my 1969 Raleigh Sprite), and a few beloved power tools, but not a motor vehicle since I sold my 1969 Triumph Bonneville eight years ago.
Then again, my Kia Sedona is starting to verge on that status . . . . .
Good deal!
The OD section can require a separate lube fill/check, depending on the rear gasket and bearing. Make sure it’s juiced up.
Gary has been working on these all his adult life. I really don’t think he’d forget to put lube in it.
But thanks for the thought.
Sometimes the rudimentary details of a wrap-up, such as pumping lube, are left to the school boy; he may not know.
Sometimes the old guy can get busy and overlook stuff that he knew darn well.
There’s a good reason why the underfill mistake was frequently made.
You’re confident that it’s fine. Good enough, please excuse my meddling. Run it!
Glad to hear that your F-100 is back on the job again – CC just wasn’t the same without it.
I’ve been wondering about this–especially when coming across photos of 1960s Ford trucks online–and am delighted with the good news. Hooray!
Excellent news! And great to hear that (at least some) quality services are still available at reasonable prices resulting in long term and continuing success for those providing them.
Agreed on all counts!
Finding those services at reasonable prices is difficult to do but they indeed exist.
$700? You can’t beat that for getting that thing up and running…an obvious choice. I’m glad you found a good transmission guy; they aren’t that easy to find.
It’s really cool that Gary Grimes is still taking some work instead of completely focusing on his own projects.
Hey this is great timing for me. I am just in the process of doing the bearings and seals on a friends t85. I was wondering about appropriate hours for the job and here I find an actual rate. Thanks so much for sharing, Paul. It’s a great transmission, wonderfully designed and put together.
I understand the sentiment on getting the old girl back in the road… even my old early 70s Ford tiller tractor. The Koehler engine threw the rod, which is Common on those old engines. I parked it’s couple years but decided it was too handy so a few bucks and a about 10 hours later it was back in business. Oh what a feeling!! Could it be a Toyota?? Lol
Another blow in the eternal war against entrophy!
Paul would not be Paul without his trusty F-100!!
Congratulations!
I’m looking at the retainer bolted under the top bolt of OD solenoid…
I’ve just about convinced myself that it’s a Chrysler speedometer gear restaining bail.
How does that get there?
Leftover on a rebuilder’s bench years ago so he sent it along? lol
Paul, what’s that cylinder at the bottom of the trans? Is it dented, or just has a “slope” to it?
The solenoid for the overdrive. The top is sloped, presumably for clearance in a passenger car.
Excellent news! I agree that there are few things more gratifying than finding an old-time mechanic who knows what he’s doing and doesn’t charge out the nose.
I had wondered how this situation was going to resolve itself, and I think you hit on the best solution.
Fascinating. I just admire the hands of a working man as much as the gears of a working machine. Well done!
Mmmm Tigers awesome hope we get a good look at those some day, Need something for an old car look around for the greybeard guy he has more diagnostic and rebuild knowledge in one of his finger nails than all the rest put together,
I got paint mixed by such a person recently he recognized me from about 1973 when we were teens and expertly eye matched the unusual (for NZ) colour my car turned out to be
Like the guy who does Rootes parts I know, I rang to see if the little plastic nervers that attach badge letters were around, he rattled off the part number at me just like that they turned up yesterday exactly correct I dont need to look up the part number in my book before I call he carries every part number for Rootes cars around in his head.
Great news on finding a skilled, knowledgeable, mechanic to rebuild your transmission. These types of people are getting quite hard to find. Swapping in junkyard parts is an established tradition in low buck DIY repairs, but it’s always a hit or miss proposition. If you get a good part, great, you’re ahead. If you get a bad one, you’re out your time, most yards will give you an exchange on the part. Then you repeat the process. Back when we were young we had more energy and lots of time to spend working on our old cars. Back then labor was cheap, now it is a considerable part of the repair cost. Most shops will not install used parts/components because they can’t guarantee the repair. DIY ers are willing to take a chance, I did and swapped a used trans into my old V12 Jag. Things turned out fine, but I would not have wanted to repeat the R&R again! Luckily for me the shop that I obtained the trans from was familiar with the car it came from, having serviced it regularly, but it’s always a crap shoot.
Now your truck is ready for the next fifty years of service.
Great that Gary is so close to you and you found him on the first phone call! I assume that sourcing a transmission at Turner’s Auto Wrecking seemed like a reasonable thing to do at the time.
Excellent news! So glad this has turned out well, and looking forward to hearing about the Tigers.
Great news about the transmission, and for getting the truck back to work!
I’m going to be uncharacteristically optimistic about the Gary story in that I believe that the supply of “Garys” is directly proportional to the demand for skilled old school mechanics. Over the years, I’ve encountered several such individuals. They are generally not easy to locate, but once you tap into the right network for whatever their specialty might be, you find them. They’re always plenty busy…and they often have younger proteges working with them; individuals who will ultimately inherit the business. What’s essential though is that there be sufficient demand for their services so that they can stay busy and continue to make a living. If there were Garys on every corner, then they would exceed demand and likely truly vanish.
In some sort of bigger sociocultural picture, it’s unfortunate in a way that there’s not greater demand for the skills and knowledge of craftspeople…but there seems to be just enough to keep the system moving along. At least for the time being.
I remember seeing your truck with the Curbside Classic then-logo on the side in a picture. We’d (I’d) like to see that again please.
I also remember the video of you driving it and shifting gears without depressing the clutch. Will this unit still do that?
Your truck was in nice company with the 68(?) Mustang. Nice shot.
Congrats on your finding a great solution for your beloved truck. How long have you owned it now?
Great to see that you got it back on the road! I had a number of cars with overdrive and think you made the right decision in keeping it. OD is so nice to use and appropriate to a ’50s or ’60s vehicle. I love that you use this old truck as intended and that it has not become a garage queen…
Wonderful news. And how great that you found someone who knows how to make the old tech sing again, rather than having to swap it for something commoner. May it give you many more years of faithful service.
This is great news. Congrats on getting back on the road.
Congratulations Paul ! .
I understand now wanting to work on it in the wet, I seem to feel that your skills are more towards house repair / building .
That you got an essentially good “core” from the junkyard is also a very good thing and IMO part and parcel of running a 50 year old vehicle .
I also agree that the lack of the competent tradesman in the gas station on nearly every corner is a great loss .
I don’t have a beard yet some guy at a Porsche group gathering this morning tried to talk me into looking at his Bimmer 328II .
Now, grease the chassis, fill up the weepy steering box and get back to work =8-) .
-Nate
Old guys just working on what they want are great. My father has befriended a few people in various trades with this same scenario a number of times. Unfortunately most have passed on now. He does have one friend who still does this with his body shop (behind his house) but as health issues come up he has taken longer and longer to get thru projects, and my fathers TR-3 may take a while.
Years ago when I worked in a marina I had the names of a few guys like this for specific things. One rebuilt marine transmissions (with a specialty in Hurth and Paragon) in one of the smallest industrial rental spaces I have seen (maybe 100-150 sqft). No on the boat stuff just drop the transmission on his bench. Another handled the old OMC stringer drives. call him up he would show up in his pickup take the drive and bring it back good as new a week later.