Technical Trouble mating hydramatic trans to drive shaft...HELP!

Vehicle is a 1961 Cadillac CDV.
I'm having some trouble putting on the driveshaft yoke to the transmission output shaft. myself and two buddies tackled it last weekend.

the yoke goes on for about 2in and wont go any further. the center support bearing wont reach its correct position in order to be bolted in. we tried tapping the back end of the driveshaft to help it slip on and it just wouldn't budge.

- the yoke and the output shaft are not keyed so that's not the problem.
- the center support bearing is not getting caught up inside the x frame so that's not it either.
- the inside of the yoke had surface rust on it but its clean and it was greased well. one thought i had was that there might be too much grease in there and its stopping it from moving forward but i figure that is very unlikely.

my only idea now is to pull off the output housing and see what's going on.

anyone have any idea what's going on? any advice or guidance is greatly appreciated.

 

Not any real life experience on this setup, but maybe a few thought starters. Was this yoke previously in the trans ? If so, you mention only going in 2in. How far was it in before and/or are there witness marks showing how far it was in. Is this the driveshaft and center support that was originally in the car ? Was the center support changed ? Is there an obstruction inside the rear of the trans housing that the yoke is hitting (speedo gear etc.) ? Is there anything visually inside the yoke that is restricting movement ?
Good luck

 

The output housing is not difficult to remove. While it's off you pull the governor (looks like this)
Take it apart and clean it. The speedo gear is plastic. Something is wrong, it should slide in to the hilt. I think there is a chunk of something holding it back.

 

I forgot to mention that the transmission has been rebuilt and this is now the first time its been back in the car in about 4 years.

Also, the speedo is a little further forward right? the area i'm having an issue with is right where the yoke meets the output shaft.

 

Is there a new tailshaft bushing inside the tail housing that is too small for the outside diameter of the yoke to fit into ?

 

That is a good point...and, what if the seal is too small ID? If the spline sticks out an inch or two, it would go until it hit the wrong seal or wrong bushing
.

 

ahhhhh that's a good point. i will look for that when i take that housing off.

 

Don't discount this possibility.

I don't know specifically about the Hydramatic. But I've seen some slip yokes where the rear end of the sleeve is closed off with what looks like a cup or welch plug. In the very center of the plug there might be a small hole drilled to act as a vent when sliding the yoke over the output shaft. The hole is small enough that it could be plugged with rust and old dried grease.

Some vehicles could experience a "thump" or "bump" noise under certain conditions that attempted to move the yoke too far forward and cause it to bottom out. I think some were cured by adding a vented yoke or drilling a small hole in the center of the plug.