Noisy Saginaw
 

Hello I rebuilt a 4spd Saginaw to replace the sm420 in my 55 Chevy pickup. It drives nice with this transmission better gearing. I’ve got a ticking noise, in or out of gear, clutch in or out , engine on or off, but not in reverse if the truck is moving it tics. What is it? My guess is reverse idler bushing. But where do I get one. Thank you Paul

Re: Noisy Saginaw
 

My guess is a U-Joint.

Re: Noisy Saginaw
 

What he said! Uni joint dried out

Re: Noisy Saginaw
 

New u joints along with new drive line, ordered online USA made came with u joints with grease fittings. When together with new transmission . I can unhook the drive line and spin the tail shaft see if it makes noise. Thank you

Re: Noisy Saginaw
 

New trans and driveshaft.
Did you have to change the pinion angle or did you check it?
Could be a binding u-joint.

Re: Noisy Saginaw
 

No I did not check that. The new transmission is only 10” longer than the old one. The truck is at original ride height in the rear minus 63 yrs of sag. New drive line length is 54-1/2”, none of the angles look bad. thank you.

Re: Noisy Saginaw
 

You should check the angles though.
Another reason I thought of pinion angle is your saying no noise in reverse.
In the forward gears the pinion nose tends to rise. In reverse it drops down. When it drops down the angles could get closer to equal so no binding or noise.