3 on the Tree

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Boston Fit
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3 on the Tree

Post by Boston Fit »

I found this clip of a guy driving a 3 on the Tree (column-mounted manual shifter). It's not what you would call great cinematography, but I do like these old-school transmissions. I'd love to drive one, but I'm sure they're impossible to find now.
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Re: 3 on the Tree

Post by potownrob »

never drove one but i've seen them driven (like 15-20 years ago). most of them are most likely in the junkyard by now. one of my assistant scoutmasters from scouts had and i think still has a late 70's chevy van with the 3-on-a-tree. sounded cool with the engine they had in those vans. i don't know how that thing is still running though.
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Re: 3 on the Tree

Post by ClutchFork »

Stick shiftin since '77
theholycow wrote:Why in the world would you even want to be as smooth as an automatic? Might as well just drive an automatic...
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Re: 3 on the Tree

Post by tankinbeans »

A friend of mine used to have one. I always stared when he drove it because I couldn't quite figure out how it worked. In my mind I could not ascertain where all the linkages went and how the gears were shifted. I always knew, or thought I knew, how the 4-on-the-floor shifters worked.

After doing the clutch in my brother's car I realized I was sorely mistaken.
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Re: 3 on the Tree

Post by ClutchDisc »

They're still around, here's one in very good shape: 1981 Ford F-100
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Re: 3 on the Tree

Post by ClutchFork »

Here is my 1977 (new and after about 5 years and an added sunroof). Top photo shows it in reverse and parked. Bottom photo is my sister driving down the freeway in third gear. Notice in the top photo there is a rod extending straight down through the floor. That is part of the clutch linkage. Oh would I like to have that truck again.
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Re: 3 on the Tree

Post by tankinbeans »

I'm curious, because I've never driven a manual with a column shifter, if you could shift them out of sequence?

Are they like the H pattern on floor mounted shifters, or are they big U's with a gear at each corner? Pardon the question if it's kind of idiotic.
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Re: 3 on the Tree

Post by six »

When I was in Hong Kong about a decade ago, I rode in a taxi that had a 4-speed column shifter. The driver drove it real smooth, and I was much intrigued by the column-shift manual since it was my first time ever seeing one.
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Re: 3 on the Tree

Post by ClutchFork »

tankinbeans wrote:I'm curious, because I've never driven a manual with a column shifter, if you could shift them out of sequence?

Are they like the H pattern on floor mounted shifters, or are they big U's with a gear at each corner? Pardon the question if it's kind of idiotic.
I don't recall having shifted out of sequence but see no reason you couldn't. It was an H pattern on the side of the steering column. I saw on the web that there were even 4 speed column shifters. I did sometimes shift with my left hand.
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Re: 3 on the Tree

Post by six »

InlinePaul wrote:
tankinbeans wrote:I'm curious, because I've never driven a manual with a column shifter, if you could shift them out of sequence?

Are they like the H pattern on floor mounted shifters, or are they big U's with a gear at each corner? Pardon the question if it's kind of idiotic.
I don't recall having shifted out of sequence but see no reason you couldn't. It was an H pattern on the side of the steering column. I saw on the web that there were even 4 speed column shifters. I did sometimes shift with my left hand.
Some old Toyota Hiace vans had 5-speed column shifters.
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Re: 3 on the Tree

Post by potownrob »

InlinePaul wrote:Here is my 1977 (new and after about 5 years and an added sunroof). Top photo shows it in reverse and parked. Bottom photo is my sister driving down the freeway in third gear. Notice in the top photo there is a rod extending straight down through the floor. That is part of the clutch linkage. Oh would I like to have that truck again.
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is that a bottle opener on the dash in the bottom pic?? where's the rod you mention in the top pic??
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Re: 3 on the Tree

Post by theholycow »

Those wide pedals are interesting.
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Re: 3 on the Tree

Post by tankinbeans »

potownrob wrote:
InlinePaul wrote:Here is my 1977 (new and after about 5 years and an added sunroof). Top photo shows it in reverse and parked. Bottom photo is my sister driving down the freeway in third gear. Notice in the top photo there is a rod extending straight down through the floor. That is part of the clutch linkage. Oh would I like to have that truck again.
Image
is that a bottle opener on the dash in the bottom pic?? where's the rod you mention in the top pic??
Look at the brake pedal and follow it back. The rod he's speaking about is parallel to the brake pedal arm, or at least appears to be.
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Re: 3 on the Tree

Post by ClutchFork »

Yes that is a bottle opener on a magnet. Good old metal dashboards.

Yes, the rod is between the brake and clutch pedal arms and back a little, goes through a hole in the floor. There was a lever at the other end that worked a cross shaft. The cross shaft was mounted between a bracket on the frame and a bracket on the engine and when my engine mount was broken, if I torqued it too much the whole assembly fell off onto the ground.

After about 125,000 miles or so the shifter had a lot of play. Then you had to do the find-em-or-grind-em shifter dance. As I recall, coming out of first you had to poke it towards reverse, wiggle it around a bit to get the gate over to 2-3. Eventually it got to where it would jam and you had to pull over, go under the hood and manually pry it apart.
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Re: 3 on the Tree

Post by Bill B »

Then there are the fun times when the linkage breaks as it did on my old Maverick. You can only use 2nd and 3rd gear until fixing it. I saw a 67 Camaro at a car show with a 3 on the tree. I am guessing that they did not make many of those. Also saw a 59 Thunderbird with a 3 on the tree.
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