I have a 1962 Dodge Dart 440, with a
361 and three speed stick. It was column
shifted, but the previous owner converted
it to a floor shift (no name visible). The
transmission is, I am told, is an A745.
At any rate, it has quite a bit of wear,
it will grind going into second unless I
either double-clutch or granny-shift it. I
took it apart, and it had these very weird
looking synchronizers, with three pins
on each. What can you tell me about it?
Pin-type synchronizers they are! They
were reasonably durable in normal
driving, but not exactly the fastest or
smoothest shifting trannys ever built—
and that’s being kind!
Unless this is a platinum resto,
I’d sure swap to a more modern
transmission, and pick up few extra
gears, and synchronized first gear,
while you’re at it. The lowbuck swap
would be a ’64-’69 B-body A833, the
’64-’65 variant would keep your ball
and trunnion front U-joint (’shaft would
probably need to be shortened), the
’66-’69 would an aluminum 10.5˝-clutch
version, used ones are plentuful. You
OEM starter would bolt right up.
A modern 5-speed (Tremec, or
the “Chrysler style” unit from Passon
Performance) would blow your mind.
Why did Chrysler use the pin-type
synchronizer? I was told, long ago, that
they did not want to pay GM royalties so
they could use their patented stop-ring
design—known as “Synchromesh”. The
pin-type was the legal workaround. The
patents, apparently, expired way back
when.