Hone Overdrive

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In the late 1960's, Fred Hone marketed and sold the Hone-O-Drive, an overdrive unit he had been developing for four years. Opening the Hone Manufacturing Company in Santa Fe Springs, California, Fred designed and built this self-contained, fully lubricated, 2-speed synchromesh planetary transmission that is manually shifted from 1:1 Direct Drive to a 1.43:1 (or 1.47:1, depending on which article you read) Overdrive. This effectively changed a car with a 4.11 rear axle ratio into one with a 2.87 ratio. Engagement/disengagement is supposed to be available at any time with no neutral or freewheeling. You just ease off the throttle for a moment, to lighten the drivetrain load, and then move the shift lever.

The Hone-O-Drive case is aircraft-grade, heat-treated 356T6 cast aluminum, while the gears are heat-treated, high quality steel with helical teeth to minimize noise. Shafts are of special steel with heavy-duty splines. The basic Hone-O-Drive is 17 inches in length and 6 1/4 inches in diameter.

There were three basic models. The Model 100 was designed to fit onto the front of a Ford 8" differential housing, bolting in place of the front pinion bearing support. The Model 200 was designed to fit the Ford 9" differential. The Model 300 was a "universal fit" model to fit everything else. It is basically a separate unit that mounts in the driveshaft tunnel of the car

and is coupled to the transmission yoke on one end and to a driveshaft on the other. This way the unit will fit all makes and models as well as manual or automatic transmissions. It is the Model 300 unit that was used optionally in the Baldwin Motion Chevolets and by many motorhome companies.

It appears that the Model 300 was sold as a kit for many applications that included a rubber-bushed mounting bracket and shortened driveshaft.

NOTE: Please do not contact me about availability of a Hone unit or parts. This unit has not been made for about 30 years, so they are rare and hard to find. I do not have any units or parts. I only published this webpage because there was no other information available on the internet at the time, so I put up what information I had available.