Posted by gordon maney, editor, power wagon advertiser on March 09, 19100 at 18:56:12:
In Reply to: Another NP 540 question??? posted by Aaron A. Arnold on March 09, 19100 at 17:14:50:
stop and think about your typical four speed. final drive, fourth gear, direct.. is a pull on the lever toward the rear of the truck. that is also where direct is in a 540. that is not where fifth gear is in a fifth overdrive 540.
in the overdrive transmission, fifth gear (overdrive, is a push on the knob toward the front of the truck; in other words, it will be where you expect fourth to be.
with the trans out of the truck, put the lever where the average person would expect fourth (in this five speed) to be. rotate the input shaft and watch the output shaft. make a chalk mark on the output shaft. if the output shaft turns slower than the input shaft, it is a fifth direct. if the output shaft turns faster than the input shaft, that makes it an overdrive.
in ANY case, the place where you would expect to find fifth will ALWAYS be direct drive. the only undetermined thing is if that position is fourth or fifth gear in your transmission.
otherwise, chipped teeth, really loose bearings, cracked case, etc. if dave cirillo is paying attentino here, he may comment on other things to look for on a truck transmission.
if you can establish it is an overdrive, and yet have the seller not realize that, you have an advantage. due to the shift pattern, many of the uninformed yard people do not know what they have. often they pull the lever to the direct position, believing it to be fifth, count the revolutions, and declare it a fifth direct. they succeeded in finding direct; they did not succeed in knowing if it is a fifth over trans.
if it is a fifth direct, $500 seems like a lot of money....