Bearing Retainer Interchangeability

-

95dakotadude

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2015
Messages
92
Reaction score
12
Location
Oconomowoc
Hi all,

I had a B/E A230 trans with a 4.34 retainer and it fit in my bell perfectly. However, I am swapping in a B/E A833 and the retainer on that is roughly 4.7 (I couldn't measure either of these perfectly because the input shaft got in the way, but the A833 is definitely a little bigger than the A230 and will not fit in the bell).

The bell side to side is 4.349, and 4.354 vertically (probably both 4.354 since it's a circle, I was in a rush. So the A833 will not fit right now.

The A833 build date is Aug 20, 1969.

Can I just swap the A230 retainer onto the A833, or do I have to get a new bell/have the bell I have machined down?

On a completely different note, if I can't swap or end up not swapping for whatever reason, is this the bearing I'd want to buy?
Brewer's Performance - Mopar A833 4-Speed Transmission and Component Specialists

Thanks,
Karl
 
Last edited:
these are two that I have

s-l300 (1).jpg


s-l300.jpg
 
I have 8 A-230s here and all have a 4 bolt bearing retainers.

The 3 bolt versions may be for the lighter duty A-903?

The A-230s and A-833s came with different size bearing retainers, the larger diameter versions are for big block cars.

So it sounds like your 4-speed came from a big block car.
 
Update: The two are not interchangeable, I tried it today. The A230 retainer is too small on the 4.80 A833.

However, I found a bellhousing I had in storage that is ~5.1in diameter. Obviously this is bigger than the 4.8 retainer on the transmission I have. Can I use this bell and let the retainer "float" in the bell?

Thanks,
Karl G.
 
NO... don't even think about it. The retainer has to be a snug fit in order to keep the transmission input shaft on the same axis as the crankshaft.

I had a 4.34 retainer and a 4.80 belhousing once. The simple fix was to have a buddy make me an aluminum adapter ring with a 4.80 OD and a slight interference fit onto the retainer OD. Then I just pressed the ring onto the retainer and bolted it on the trans. You could do something similar with the 4.80 to 5.125.

Check the runout either way, it is common to have to dial in the bellhousing alignment with offset dowels...
 
NO... don't even think about it. The retainer has to be a snug fit in order to keep the transmission input shaft on the same axis as the crankshaft.

I had a 4.34 retainer and a 4.80 belhousing once. The simple fix was to have a buddy make me an aluminum adapter ring with a 4.80 OD and a slight interference fit onto the retainer OD. Then I just pressed the ring onto the retainer and bolted it on the trans. You could do something similar with the 4.80 to 5.125.

Check the runout either way, it is common to have to dial in the bellhousing alignment with offset dowels...

So what should I tell the machinist if I drop off the bell? If the bell is 5.125 and the bearing is 4.8, should the ring go from 5.125 to 4.799 to allow for some interference? Of course Brewers doesn't have one of their adapter rings listed for this application....
 
So what should I tell the machinist if I drop off the bell? If the bell is 5.125 and the bearing is 4.8, should the ring go from 5.125 to 4.799 to allow for some interference? Of course Brewers doesn't have one of their adapter rings listed for this application....
Your machinist shouldn't need the bell at all (unless you need him to verify that the hole is slightly larger than 5.125". You can do that with a dial caliper. Bellhousings are heavy to lug around ;)
Just bring him the retainer and tell him you want the OD with the adapter ring installed to be 5.125. The retainer OD should be exactly 4.805, so the ID of the adapter before pressing it on would be about 4.804...
 
Ended up dropping the bell and taking it to a machinist to turn my original 4.3xx bell into a 4.8 compatible one....The other bell I had for for a big block and wouldn't fit my small block. I figured it'd be the same price and a lot less work hunting for parts just to drop it off. The machinist said he'd machine it so it had .002in of clearance. If it's good for him, it's good for me. I can always get an adapter from brewers if I need to go back down to 4.3xx for whatever reason.
 
-
Back
Top