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My dad is the original owner of a '70 challenger 383 4 speed car - he now has 114,000 miles on it. it had a rebuild at 112,000 miles and all that went in it was bearings, shift forks, seals, & gaskets.
He towed a camper trailer from NJ to as far as Missouri. He also drag races it when he has time and is never easy on it.



DJV CUDA, Please tell all of us the comlete story of why that 1970 Challenger has a 1971 and newer side cover on the trans. You posted a picture of the inside of that trans years ago and I remember you had more to tell about this trans than you are saying here. You had an explaiation for the side cover being changed. That will shed some more light on this original trans that wasn't rebuilt till 112,000 miles.



Dad ordered this car in late 69, is was built in late '69 and he got it early 1970.
during the first year of his ownership ( going by his story ) he has shifting issues with the original tranny, he had taken the car to Cherry Hill Dodge to have it looked at. He watched as they pulled the trans, pulled it apart, and proceeded to get looked over by about everyone in the shop, they came to him several hours later trying to say they had an issue with the tranny ( Syncros ) and it might be awhile before they could get him a new one, Dad apparently asked if they knew how to put the tranny back together with new syncros, and they told him no!

He had to wait and was given a new tranny. all was well for the next 112,000 miles.

When we rebuilt this ( with the help of Jamie Passon ) we ordered all the parts necessary for a 23 spline 833 and gave Jamie measurements on the front bearing that was supplied with the unit. We recieved the parts and then noticed that the bearing retainer was larger then the bearing. Calling Jamie Passon revealed that we had a small block tranny in a big block bell ( large retainer hole, small retainer bearing)

Jamie was excellent about swapping parts for us, and I bet he remembers this story to this day ( this was rebuild several years ago now)

Anyway, the car was run, with the 1971 tranny since late 1970 till about 2005 / 2006 with the bearing retainer not doing it's job, towing, racing etc... all not centered properly - the good thing is that it was centered close enough and didnt break!

Thats the whole story, probably still confirmable by Jamie himself.

We got it back together, needing new bearings, seals, gaskets, and shift forks.

Cherry Hill Dodge is still in buisness, and has about the same workmanship issues to this day...lol... he wanted to take it back to them and break balls since they didnt know what they were doing inthe first place and messed him us second!