AAA towed my truck home the other day and they didn't use a flatbed, instead they hitched it from the front bumper. As we towed it into my driveway there was smoke coming off my 1962 cast iron powerglide trans and the smell of burnt fluid splashed all over my firewall. It looked like it boiled out of the trans dipstick tube. I pulled the motor and could tell that the torque convertor was discolored from extreme temperature. It now paints a stripe of fluid down the street any time I drive it, Does anybody know what the heck could have happened? Does an aluminum powerglide bolt into place where an Iron powerglide comes out? Will an earlier cast iron powerglide work? The 55 powerglides have the starter higher than my 62. Is it the same shift levers and such?
when I had one of these trannys in a '57 chevy it was known to "burp" out of the dipstick due to a clogged screen - there was a fix that involved a check valve in one of the cooler lines I think......iron glide has a rear pump so I'm not sure about damage from towing (hopefully an expert will chime in) as far as interchange, be careful of starter location - even though the starter bolts to the "adapter" ring 6 cyl bellhousings are different and wont clear the v8 starter - aluminum powerglides are way different as far as linkage is concerned......if you end up having to do a swap, go to a 3 or 4 speed - same work as putting in an aluminum glide....
Towing it should not have damaged it unless they towed it in gear, then @ about 45 it was trying to spin the motor. It sounds like it got hot so I am going to guess it was towed in gear. That was probably not a good thing. if it is painting a strip but pulling fine I would be looking for something clogged or a blown gasket.
55 to 57 glides had a different quadrant order. PNDLR. 58 up are PRNDL. I had the smoke thing on one of my cars with early Hydramatic. Think it was the towing speed. Never did any damage though.
I believe the old car manuals specified towing it under 40 or drop the driveshaft... now we know why!
Some said as low as 35 and others as high as 45. I think that the manufacturers shop manual suggested 40 as I recall. I had the missus hauling me as fast as 80 on a chain back in the day, less motor. We would just throw a motor in 'em and sell 'em, no problems. But you know what they say, ignorance is bliss.
the 6 and 8 cylinder versions of the iron powerglide were different, which engine do you have? the aluminum PG from a 62-64 (?) should fit if you have a V8. If you have a six you'll need an iron powerglide, and they changed over the years...58-62 should be a direct fit.
If it was in gear then the rear pump would make it actually be in gear, and cause mayhem...did you make sure it was in neutral before towing? you could take the transmission apart and see what's up, but they are odd transmissions....
The cast iron powerglide has 2 pumps. The reason why you are not suppose to tow them past a certain speed (about 35 to 45) without the drive shaft removed (or no engine) is because you can jump start the motor the same as dumping a clutch on a manual.
If the torque converter is discolored from heat you may want to remove it, drain it, & make sure the impellor fins internally are not damaged. The other thing is the torque converter is a split case with a gasket, held together with bolts around the outside. If the cover face or the housing got hot enough to warp the gasket between the to halves may leak or be "burned" so it doesn't seal.
AAA is being a dick(of course). Does anyone have a 1960 chevy truck manual that they could scan the page describing towing for me?
Shoot.. any old timer (that means me...) that has ever towed cars would know that. We just picked them up from the rear if we had any doubts.
Like has already been asked, straight six or V-eight. If it's a six, NO aluminum Glide will fit unless an adapter is used. Being it's a 60 truck, it should have a 28 inch long cast iron Glide, and if it's a V-8, then an aluminum Glide will bolt right in; the detents should be the same, but the geometry of the linkage is different. If you use an aluminum Glide, 62 to 65, the output will be course spline just like the cast iron Glide (an X-frame car Glide will be shorter however, 25 inches long). You'll need a block mounted starter also, as well as the correct flexplate. I'm not sure what a 60 truck used for trans mount/rear mount, so that may need to be changed. It does't matter if it was in gear or not, the rear pump would still have been doing it's job, but in gear would have caused problems over any real distance; AAA should have known that and be accountable unless you signed a waiver of responsibility. Now would be a good time to swap to a TH350 or 200R4 as they're of the same length; only a slip yoke change and new shifter would be needed. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
The Jalopy Journal
