Well, 3 years & 9 months to the day from when I bought my first T-85 at the Moultrie GA swap meet I have an overdrive in my '56 Ford. This saga has been an ordeal, to say the least, with numerous posts on here about it. I bought 2 transmissions to make one good one. The first one had a rusty input shaft & the planetary gears were wiped out. Putting the two together along with a new input shaft & an ordeal with solenoids & speedometer gears for the most part it was a bolt in. The transmission cross member had to have about 1/4" sectioned out of each side to move it back so the stock mount would work. Having that done it looks like it was made that way. The front universal joint had to be a combination one with 2 ends being bigger than the other 2. A special thanks goes out to Bill @ T-Bird Products in West Chester PA for their help. They had everything I needed as far as parts go. I direct wired the solenoid switch through a relay from a switch on the gear shift lever. It is a sweet operating transmission now and a reduction of about 1,000 rpm at cruise.



My only issue now is a buzz in the driveline that is still there & was there before the transmission swap. Seems it has to be either a driveshaft problem or maybe a pinon bearing but every problem I ever had with pinion bearings back in the day resulted in a howl from the rear end. No howl here. I starts about 65 mph & gets worse with more speed. It may be just a tad worse coasting but not much. Before the swap I thought it was a U-joint but they are both new now. Just a little something I'll have to deal with but compared to what I've been through is nothing.



Thanks go out to many on here who have helped me, gave me advice & information. This is indeed a special place.

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Doing Fords for 45 years. '56 Customline Victoria

E.J. in Havana FL

Congrats E.J.Perserverence pays off in the end.Now you can offer advice to others when they get stuck.