Overdrive breakage

Yeah, having gone to school for a year of mechanical engineering, it would take hours to make a model for the CNC and then take several hours to cut too.

Mine has the rod end on it, so I guess that is one nice thing about the saturn. I would like to have them drilled as close as possible to original though.

 

Looks like your fork broke in exactly the same place mine did. So much for AA's "improved" fork.

 

Yes, same exact one it looks like! I knew it was a bunch of malarky when they told me they "improved" it. Looking at Vernco's site post from 10+ years ago about it, you could see there was no difference between, mine, his or your fork.

 

Improved doesn't mean the same thing to everybody! To an end user it usually means that it works better or lasts longer but to a manufacturer it means cheaper to build!

(Cheaper to build and sells at the same price equals more profit!)

Is there any way to tell if an overdrive was built by AA just from looking at the outside? I'm considering the purchase of a local OD but if it has those aluminium parts then forget it!

 

I'm pretty sure WARN ODs have a tag saying WARN. I don't think the Saturns have a tag. I have a Saturn.


I was wondering, would it make sense to send AA this thread and tell them I made new forks because theirs suck? Or would I get in trouble for that...

 

:iagree:

 

Trouble? Like what are they going to do? Sell you an OD with cheap, sub-standard parts???

I say send it! You can also send them my comment about NEVER buying any of their products after hearing numerous complaints about their shoddy components. I think it's safe to say that no one else on this list will either, nor anyone that does an internet search and finds any of the many complaints about this common problem that they have failed to correct.

Companies need to realize that the days when they could sell crappy products and just ignore repeated problems are over with! It only takes ONE person to have a problem with a product and then goes and posts it on the internet to damage a companies reputation. But when many people report the same problem over a long period of time then it's obvious to anyone that does a quick internet search that this product isn't worth buying!

 

Well, you know, there are lawyers everywhere...

Maybe a petition would help too?

 

Folks have been tinkering with ways to make Jeeps and the equipment better for years and years...
As long as you don't go into production for profit, no worries....in my opinion.

 

Couldn't you just take a new aluminum shifting fork into a CNC machinist and have them turn one out in Stainless steel or any other suitable metal?

 

That would be VERY expensive. As I stated earlier, you would have to create a computer model and that would be time consuming. Then machining it out of a chunck of metal would take several hours. It is much easier and cheaper to make a sand mold.

 

http://buildyourcnc.com/

 

Bronze fork from Herm $35.00 AA may sell them also.

 

AA doesn't sell bronze, just the same "improved" design.

 

Finally! This saga is complete. I got my new shift forks all done and machined. At least I have a good spare now for the '49 if I decide to put a Saturn it in.





It sure looks great having that silver box thingamajig back under there! It has been out since November. I noticed that it shifts into overdrive much better now. I think (this is just pure speculation) that the cast aluminum fork flexes while shifting, thus causing the failure. I don't think I'll have any issues for a long time to come.

 

Well done garage gnome! I haven't had a chance to install my bronze fork yet. Soon.

 

How about scanning it and milling out the STL file?

 

I just finished putting in the bronze fork I got from Herm. It works perfect in a rear shift Saturn, don't know about other versions of the Saturn.

 

Isn't that crazy Posi? Herm told me the same thing, that the bronze Warn fork wouldn't work in a Saturn. Then he told me he didn't have any. Called back coupla months later and he said they wouldn't work but said he had a couple- so I got one and called you about the other. He had to know all along that they would work and was probably just hanging on to stock. It would make sense that it would work since AA bought Warn out and started making the Saturn off of the original Warn specs- no sense re-inventing the wheel so they went with the original specs with the exception of the shift fork. I can imagine an engineer at AA looking it over and recommending they use aluminum instead of bronze to save a buck-OR somebody higher than engineer level made the call and the subordinates are stuck with the customer service nightmare. Maybe they don't sell enough of them now to justify the cost of changing. Who knows; at least we the enthusiasts have figured it out for ourselves and have used the magic of the interweb to help someone else. Kudos to Rick Grovers for not only figuring it out years ago but for taking the time to document and share it on a website, and to everyone here for sharing their experiences so that we all learn something.

I dunno what happened; I originally got on here to give Posi an atta boy and thanks for verifying that it works and then all that blather came out....sorry guys.

Mike

 

And while I'm blathering...
Kudos to garage gnome for picking up the ball and running with it farther than anyone by getting news ones made. Now thats motivation!

Mike