Hi everyone, I recently put power disc brakes on my 55 1st series chevy truck. It was sitting for about 9 months prior to that so after cleaning the fuel system and some maintenance I tested it the brakes and all was good.. Until two days later I was at a stop light when I began to see smoke. I drive home quickly and by that time there was smoke everywhere! I jumped out and check under the truck and the Tranny seemed to be the source. After consulting with some local mechanics I drained the Tranny and took the pan off. The oil was black black and smelling burnt! There were small black pieces (probably gasket?) in the filter. The mechanics of it seem fine and while driving home it shifted same as always.. I'm unsure if I should just clean it up, throw a new gasket in there and fill it up or have it rebuilt? Anybody have an idea of what's going on here? Another Option is to order the seal/gasket kit and do that. But I can't find anyone local that knows much about hydra-matic, as a matter of fact most refuse to accept that I don't have a powerglide. Any advice or experience with this Tranny trouble??
No expert by any means but have thought about draining the tranny & torus and replacing with correct fluid as well as replacing filter? My 46 Olds hydro had no external cooler so flushing was out was out of the quesion.
What was the source of the smoke? I assume it was leaking from somewhere? Does the trans have an external cooler or air cooled? Bill
Just clean it up (drain the torus as has been mentioned) fill it with fresh fluid and drive it until it quits. or you could do the totally red neck hot rod thing, "if it aint broke fix it 'til it is". it should be air cooled.
From the pictures, the transmission doesn't look bad, but it is hard to see what the internal clutch paks look like. As has been mentioned before, I would drain ALL of the fluid and clean the filter pickup assembly. After putting new fluid in, drive it around and see what it shifts like. If shifts are soft, that means the clutch paks are wearing out and need replacement. Another thing would be to put a pressure gauge at the main line pressure port, which is near the band adjustments. See if the pressure is ok. Also make sure the TV rod is properly adjusted. A band adjust couldn't hurt also.
Okay I'm gonna have to do some homework but I've already ordered new seals/gaskets. I need to find out how to adjust the band. Thanks for the feedback! Great advice and insight!!
The dual range hydramatic has two bands. The front band has to be adjusted with the pan off and a special tool. I am not sure if there is another way to do that adjustment without the tool. The rear band can be adjusted externally. The adjusting screw is on the left side above the levers. Vehicle on jack stands Engine running Transmission in low Loosen the adjuster and then slowly turn it in until you feel it contact the drum. Transmission in neutral Count the number of turns until the band contacts the drum again. Back off the adjuster 1/3 the number of turns it took you in the above step. If everything went well moving the shifter to low should cause the adjusting screw to be tight and in neutral it should be loose. That chunk of gasket is a cause of concern. If any more is floating around in there they could plug a port and cause low oil pressure which would make it slip and heat the fluid. Did the pan have any sediment in it?
I remember a part that went bad on those......has a vac hose to it.....part went bad and sucked all the tranny fluid into engine.....smoked like hell.....Damm memory can't remember it's name....controlled shifting
Actually, only the Olds/Pont SLANT PAN Hydros had the front band internally adjustable, and the rear band externally adjustable; all the other single and dual RANGE hydros had both bands externally adjusted. Take a look at the Hydro Group here on the HAMB, one of those guys may be of some help. I think you have a lip seal coming apart as evidenced by what you found in the filter/pickup. If that's the case, a full rebuild is needed. Do a search, someone recently rebuilt their own Hydro here. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
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