Sounds and should be a simple install I guess, but I got me a rebuilt C4 tranny and now that it is home , I can not seem to get the convertor seated all the way into position. I had it mostly on, but could not get the last contact made, so pulled it out and now I am going even worse with it. Has anybody got any inside knowledge, tricks or had the same issue and solved it. I'd like to get any helpful comments please...
Double check your input shaft with the converter, pull it out of the tranny and see if the spline engages the converter. There are two input splines, 24 spline and 26 spline (or is 28 spline) anyways, If you have the correct input and converter (they match) then try again, it should click or bang or clunk 3 times as you spin the converter with constant pressure towards the bellhousing. I've had them take some time to all line up and engage all the way. Keep at it, this is the only trick I know of!
Found it. If it is any help to somebody else the centre shafts come in a 24 and 26 spline configuration as mentioned above by kidzintha34fodor<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_7918074", true); </SCRIPT>. Turns out the convert has the small 24 spline shaft and the tranny has the larger 26 spline. Not much in it visually for the non experts like me. Thanks for the prompts.
fifty, C-4 converters pretty much came in 3 varietys. All 3 had a 1.375" or 1 3/8" crank pilot. The earliest C-4 had a 10.5" bolt pattern with the 24-spline. Then around 1970 they went to the 26-spline, but retained the 10.5" bolt pattern. These both had the dip stick in the trans case. Now also around 1970 Ford had another C-4 converter also 26- spline but with a 11 7/16" bolt pattern for use with the dip stick in the pan transmission. Of course you will find mid-year changes and what have you and nothing with these are always exactly as listed, but this pretty much will get you started, all the best, TR
Yes, I am using an early tranny as the housing is a little smaller with the smaller convertor and smaller bell housing etc. Guess I am one of few people still persisting with this old stuff, just did not realise I was out there in the minority.
All my C-4 stuff is 24 spline. It works great and T.C.I. offers a street fighter converter for it. I used to twist the input shafts off until I got a loose converter and that took care of the only breakage that I ever had.
Just a little follow up on my C4 tranny install. I got the correct convertor and still I could not get the dang thing to fit flush up against the engine block. Ain't it true that it is always the 1%er's that get you. In this case the center small diameter splined shaft had not been installed correctly or moved during transit to my house. So when I dropped the convertor over the shaft to fit it up, the convertor seems to have pushed the small shaft back in, but in doing so got caught up on the splines inside the tranny at the other end of the small shaft. Hence the shaft never seated itself all the way in. Since the shaft was not all the way in it prevented the convertor from going into place, but only by about less than a 1/4" so it was hard to notice. This being the case the tranny could not bolt up against the engine block as required. What a nightmare, as I dont claim to be a tranny guy and rarely would need to do a change out to know what looks right or wrong. Any way, I hope by reading this you dont get caught with the same small undetectible problem that I had. Well it is installed now and looks to be OK...
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