Thanks to all you guys.

I'm going to do more experimenting tomorrow morning.

Gotta31

What weight gear oil is in your tranny?

Woody: I sent away for 2 quarts of that 160 wt. oil from the Filling Station. Thats whats in there now.

Wilson: I tried that and it worked at a slower speed but not at a slightly higher one. I can't tell how fast I'm going because my speedo is being repaired.

I'm just going to keep on trying different combinations.

Thanks to all of you for all the great suggestions!!

Gotta31

Double-clutching on the up shift helps because it gives your foot something to do whilst you are doing the hesitateing for a couple of seconds thing.

Down shifting, is really only needed to get more power where the rubber meets the road, like a steep hill, most straight six cylinder Chevrolet engines are well adapted to lugging, they don't need to be wound up, tight as Dick's hatband, under normal driving when you are comeing up to a stop sign, there is no need to gear down, slack off the foot feed, and when the car slows down just mash in the clutch at the same time you apply the brakes, at a dead stop shift into first gear. Driving one of these old Chevies is much different than driving a high winding Rice Rocket.

Mr. Mack:

Your 1st suggestion is what I'm doing and its been working fine.

On down shifting, I tried it today going up an on-ramp to another street. I slowed the car down in 3rd (but maybe not enough) while going up the grade and tried to downshift into 2nd. No dice. I had to slow down even more and then do the clutch/brake thing before the tranny and motor synched.

The last time I drove this type/year car was 1956 so I probably forgot more than I remember some 50 years back.

Gotta31 :rolleyes:

I think that if you want to down shift into second from 3rd, that you shift into neutral, release the clutch peddle, speed up the engine and while the engine is winding up clutch again while moving the shift lever into second, it should slip right into second when the engine speed equals the drive shaft speed. Think about that for a while then try it on the road. I do it after some practice without even using the clutch, without any grinding at all.

I do remember doing the "no clutch" thing when I was a kid with the first '31. Just a fun thing to do then. Now though, I'm scared I'll break something and the money won't be coming out of dad's pocket this time!!

I'm tempted to take the top of the tranny just to look and see what condition all the guts are in. I just may do this this week.

How do you remove the shifter from the tranny without grasping the top part with a pair of pliers and scratching it?

Gotta31

There is a special tool to take the shift lever out of the top. The sheet metal part surrounding the lever must be pushed down as it is turned counter clockwise (if I remember it correctly). It can be done without the special tool but is tough. An alternate is to remove the four bolts holding the top cover and then look inside. All that you need to do is line up the slots in the gears with the arms on the shifter when put back together.

Thanks. That sounds ike the 'no scratch' way to do it.

Gotta31

Hey GOTTA 31,
I just read this thread and I think I have a similiar problem starting. The through-out bearing on my '32 is starting to squeal, it lessens when I touch the clutch pedal. I noticed you replaced yours. Where did you get it, I didn't see it in the Filling Station catalog? Also , my car shifts fine up and down but much quicker going down when I double clutch.

The clutch throwout bearings are available from the Filling Station and they are listed in their new catalog. The bearings are on page 292, the part number is FS-116, and the price is $95 each.

Hey FDNY---I called the Filling Station and they have them. But before you do and if its not a panic situation,I'd look in our monthly Chevy club mag and find one of our members who sells parts. I'll be you can find one there and it'll be cheaper than the Filling Station. I had a painc situation going on so I needed one 'Yesterday' !

BTW, I know we haven't gotten together yet and thats because I've been working on this car constantly. I'm trying to fix all its little problems so I can take it across the pond to Tarpon Springs and we'll have some coffee.

Gotta31

FDNY -- I sent you a response last night but I don't think it went through since I don't see it here.

So here goes again: I don't know if the squeal if from your throwout bearing or not. Although it does have a place to put oil in it.

Filling Station does have them. Thats where I got mine, but the FS ain't the best deal. Its $95.00

I'm sure that if you look in the monthly magazine we get, you'll find members who deal in parts. If possible, I would rather patronize them. However, mine was a panic situation. I couldn't shift gears without grinding about a pound off them with each shift.

Through trying the suggestions many of our good members have given me on this chat line, I have the shifting down pat now. My biggest succsss was when I started to hesitate just 2-3 seconds before shifting up.

I hope this helps and good luck on finding the squeal. I'm sure that Chipper and/or JunkYardDog can answer that question.

By the way, if you have a repair manual, don't be afraid to tackle the clutch job. I did my own with the help of a friend and his grease rack and it wasn't bad at all. Just follow the book and you won't have a problem.

Let me know how you make out.

Gotta31

JunkYardDog; I took a second look and found them on p270 of my old cataloug dated 4/05, the sun must have been my eyes the first look.

Gotta31; The pots always on, and I,m not desperate to fix the squeal. I'll be here till the end of April then join the northern migration.

Thanks guys