I lost 2nd gear on my Ford O matic 2 speed a while back. Now getting back out in the shop today I pulled the tail shaft and took the 2 screws and cover off of the governor. The valve stuck up in the governor housing and I had to pull it out with a magnet. The manual says it should “fall under it own weight”. So falling under it own weight, is that dry or wet? It seems nice and smooth now after I got it moving, and I haven’t even cleaned it up yet. I guess I just don’t want to be overconfident this was the shifting problem, but it sure would be nice if it IS this easy to fix. I figured Id spray some brake parts cleaner up inside the governor housing, and clean the valve itself with a little oil and steel wool to polish it. So question is how hung up did it need to be to prevent shifting?
how heavy does it get when the housing is spinning at a couple thousand rpm? I guess we could do the math? I plugged some random numbers into an online calculator, it weighs 10 pounds or so when spinning at 1500 rpm. So there is some force on it. But keep steel wool far away from transmission parts
Do not polish it! It rounds the edges. It can make it stick even more. Take the governor off the shaft. Clean it with brake clean. Should be able to put the valve in it and shake it back and forth with your thumb over the hole. If it doesn’t rattle back and forth, slam the whole thing on a flat bench or take a metal hammer and tap the cast iron housing. This will jar it and free the valve up.
Cleaned the governor up, put it back together. Dropped the pan and cleaned the br*** screen, then refilled the transmission. I still had it up on jack stands, but it shifted into 2nd gear. If it gets me through the summer it’s a win! I only have about 75 miles on the newly rebuilt engine, so I want to get out an finish breaking this thing in! Thanks guys
Be careful with brake cleaner. Make sure it’s non chlorinated!!!!! Non chlorinated brake cleaner is basically acetone.
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