lasalle move from floor shift to column shift

[ccp49]

Does anyone know the year when that occurred? I am trying to figure out if a column shift tranny will have the internal parts I need to put into a floor shift tranny.  And, are those column shift Lasalle trannies the same as were used in Cadillacs?

Thanks,
Dan Barbieri

[Doug Houston]

Firstly, 1938 was the first year that Cadillac AND PONTIAC had column shifts. I sort of think that the internals of the transmissions were pretty well unchanged. Best to check it out in the parts book.

The "hobby" magazines were famous (ans still are) for publishing bum steers. The one about LaSalle transmissions being better than Cadillac was just another of their fairy tales. Cadillac built the transmissions, and part for part, there was NO difference between a Cadillac or a LaSalle transmission. When the transmissions were set in the racks for assembly to the chassis, Cadillac had no idea which car got the transmission.

[Mike Simmons 938]

There is one notable difference between the floor shift and the side shift that encourages many folks to utilize the main internals of the 38 - 40 trans in place of those in the 37, and that is the cage bearing used in 37 where the main (tail) shaft pilots into the clutch shaft from the engine side.The bearing eventually goes bad causing a deep rattle or growling sound. And, they are made of "unobtainium" so forget about replacing them.
38 and later trans, for many cars in addition to Cad-LaSalle, switched to using needle bearings as a replacement, but that meant either enlarging, or making smaller (can't remember which at the moment) the end of the mainshaft on which the bearings ride. If you use the 38 main and clutch shaft, you keep the same  removable speedo drive gear  (later shafts had the gear cut right into the shaft itself). I made this conversion myself once, but can't remember all the details ( or much of anything at this age).Mike Simmons (938)

[Jay Friedman]

Another difference is that the '37 floor shift cluster gear has a 15/16 inch internal diameter and the countershaft the same outer diaamter.  This diameter is 1 inch on the '38 and later column shift transmissions.  A '37 case can be line bored to accept the '38 and later cluster gear and countershaft.  As mentioned by a previous poster, some of the other parts are the same in '37 compared to '38 and later and some are not. 

Also, as mentioned earlier, Cadillac and LaSalle use exactly the same transmission, as is the rest of the V8 drivetrain with the exception of a slightly smaller displacement in the engine, 322 cu. in. in LaSalles and 346 in Cadillacs, and some equally minor differences.  Going back to the '50s, when hot rodders discovered the '37 floor shift transmission, they've implied there is a difference between Cadillac and LaSalle and I've often wondered why.

[ccp49]

One of the bigger benefits of using the newer internals is getting the output shaft that can be used wtih the slide-in rear yoke that is part of the 1949 driveshaft.  The 1937 model comes with a permanently attached rear yoke with a bolt flange which gets attached to the driveshaft.  That would then require a custom driveshaft.