Bought a 58 Apache partly disasembled with a 283 and a supposedly "gone thru" Hydramatic 4 speed. When i got the engine started it emptyed the torus of oil in 5 seconds....... I suspect that the o ring between the torus and flywheel may be missing or damaged. This would be easily fixed but next problem is that it is locked in gear...... And i can not get it in neutral! Could it be because of no oil in the torus that it is stuck in gear? It was rolling free when i picked the car up, it locked up in gear at the same moment it was started and spewed the oil.
What is a torus? I think something may be lost in translation. Are we talking the trans in general? Just trying to understand. Mike
Shot in the dark here. I played with the idea of using one of these in my early chevy truck- Unbolt the drive shaft - will take the pressure off and see if no pressure from the out put will allow you to unlock the torus. Just a thought since it is not a real torque converter. It could very well be locked as you think. Any chance that the shifter linkage is screwed or backwards . I remember mine made me look stupid when I forgot that reverse was all the way over in the shifting pattern. Mitch
The converter on one of these trans was not really a converter more of a coupler -than a real torque converter.
The shifter is on the right way. I was wondering if the torus locks up when not filled with oil... since it is not a conventional converter. Have a bad cold now.... but will take it down soon to find the leak firstly. Thanks and more suggestions welcomed.
Post some pictures of the transmission, that would be a big help to understand what you have there. Bob
It's still in the car and i,m burning up with fever.......... But it,s a hydramatic 4 speed, it,s the original trans that was in my Apache 1958, it,s not the Roto version or SlimJim. T.
Torus is what the hydramatic used as a torque converter, same function just a little different way of doing it. It is possible that it is locked up due to the loss of fluid. Even with no o-ring I don't think it should leak that fast. The torus has a drain plug, is it there and is it tight?
Feel better, don't bother with the pix. I looked it up, just never ran across one before. I need to get out more. Bob
not quite sure what you mean by locked in gear? those hydros didn't have a park position; but if they were put in reverse a dog locked into the case and would act as a park....
The drain plug is there and tight. Hmm..... I had it in what i thought was park when i started it, that's when it jumped over my foot and leg..... (started it with the ol "thiefstart" method, screwdriver at starter....) These things are some work to take down and up so if i find out what's makin it leak hopefully the rest is in order... and i don't want to do it twice. I tried all the shift settings while the engine was runnin and in none of them the wheels was in neutral.
Found the leak, i can see a stream of oil comin out of one of the threaded holes in the crankshaft flange.........Why???? To make it more clear, oil is leaking out of one of the holes in the crankshaft where the flexplate is screwed! Any ideas??
There should have been a gasket between the crank flange and the taurus plate. sounds like the gasket is not there. Have fun undoing the 30 plus blots on the taurus. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news on it. as far as locking up it might be locked in reverse without the pressure to shift it out of park.
Aha... So there should be a gasket there..... That might be it! Thanks! The good news is there is only 18 bolts on this one......
Not only do you need a gasket on the crank flange, but you should use a gasket sealer on the flange also, sealer on the flywheel bolts, sealer on the torus cover gasket ( one side, to hold it in place on the flywheel ) and sealer on the torus cover bolts. Torque to 30 lbs. Go around twice. That's the way I did it and never had a leak.
EDIT..... Trans oil is pouring out not from the threaded holes but from the hole where the dowel pin is supposed to be!!! I will try to make access from the front and push in a dowel with some good gasket material around it. More suggestions welcome.
Here is the problem with the Internet. We have a guy here comenting on how to fix this guys hydra-matic transmission, and he doesn't even have a clue what a Torus is. He thinks the guy is mispronouncing it....If you dont have a clue what you are talking about, Keep your face shut! Its hard enough sifting through information without dealing the uneducated.
?????? Fair enough, except for this: Unless someone's post has been removed (and for all I know, something did), the only post I saw from someone who didn't know what the torus was, wasn't giving any info on how to fix it. It was just a question. Other people offered up some advice, and to be honest with you, nothing really stood out to me as flawed info in the thread so far. In fact, with my exposure to these early Hydr-matic trannies, I think there's enough info in this thread to get the problem fixed based on general description of the trouble. Seal everything. Get that dowel pin back in there. I didn't see anything else that stood out as "weird". I'm confused?
The Jalopy Journal
