T34 transmission

I’ve got onto a bloke who will sell me a T34.

Before I fork out the money, can anyone tell me if they are a decent box? Are parts still available?
Has anyone had one behind a 281?

It’s for a C1600 4x4.

Thanks

The T34 , T35, T36 transmissions were used for many truck models of Internationals from around 1961, and was in the Army ACCO 4x4's (T35) From my experience as a spare parts man, they did a good job, they were only fitted in single drive models, many were virtually flogged to death only to be refitted with new bearings and the synchros background to make them stay in gear.
There were several suppliers with aftermarket parts back then, but most have either retired or closed now. The choice of suppliers these days I think would be, Fleetparts Australia, based in Toowoomba, Midland Truck Spares in Eaglehawk Victoria, Rocklea Truck Spares in Brisbane . There may be others, whoever bought all the stock from Power Train Products from Victoria.There are parts still available in the U.S. if you can't find them here, the U.S. had a version with synchro on First gear as well. The hardest parts to find now I think, will be the mainshaft overdrive gear 238613R1 and the countershaft driven gear 238588R1. If you need a spare parts drawing and numbers , I could get it for you. Hope this helps.

You also need to be careful you are getting a proper T34,and not a direct box converted to OD by replacing the two gears ........because the overdrive will then be hardly noticeable........There is also a later version with a spacer plate between the top and change tower.....this mod to cure jamming in first or reverse......most upsetting,i can tell you.

Thanks for the reply’s.

Does anyone know what markings a T34 should have so I can be sure it’s a proper T34?

The simplest way is to remove the selector lid, look in at the gears, the input (clutch) shaft gear should be larger than the next gear on the mainshaft. If this is correct, then it is an overdrive box.
it is possible to make a direct (T35) into an overdrive(T34) by changing four gears, which is the front two gears on the countershaft(cluster shaft) and the input shaft and the next gear on the mainsheet.

mainshaft, hate that spell check!

In the day...it was possible to make a T35 box into an OD in two ways .....cheapest was by changing just two gears,which gave a very slight overdrive.....maybe 5- 10%...........to get a proper T34 you needed four gears ,which doubled the cost.....so wasnt often done............However ,if you can find a T36 box,it only needs two gears changed to give a 20% OD....... also note new parts for these boxes are hard to find in the US too...check out the Redpower forums..

Thanks. It’s a bloody pain trying to sort an overdrive out... seems like there is no perfect soloution. The bloke is chasing 1500 which is probably fair but it’s still a lot of coin. Don’t want to get 10 years down the track and find it’s impossible to source part.

If thats in Oz $.....1500 for a 50 year old gearbox would be on the insane side of completely outrageous........and you wont need to wait 10 years ...Id say new OD gears are impossible to find right now.

Such is the game we play, A mate and I have restored several WW2 Dodge 1/2ton 4x4's , and a favourite saying of his is " you will stuff around with this old sh*t"
If you thoroughly inspect all the gears,paying particular attention to the synchronisers and the mating parts on the gears, you should get a good run from it.
It would need to be purchased on the condition that is does not jump out of any gear. If memory serves me correctly, I think 4th-5th synchro is the same as the NP542.