Rebuild transmission troubles

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38 Dodge

38 Dodge

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Well I just rebuilt my 904 transmission got it installed fired up the motor and nothing happens when I place the transmission in gear any gear. So anybody have any ideas I'm thinking I might have to take the transmission out again and check either the torque converter and or forward pump. If any can think of some before I pull it I would appreciate the suggestions
Thanks
Ron
 
Did everything bench test OK? (pressure checks) Did you put fluid in the converter?

How much total fluid is in there?
 
torque converter not seated into the pump?
 
The only real bench check I could was with air thru the different ports and all the pistons /valves moved freely. I did put fluid in the torque converter not sure total amount and the dipstick on transmission show full
 
get a pressure gauge on the middle port on the passenger side. 0-300 is best so you can use it on any of the test ports. How much oil did you put in the fill tube before starting it?
 
Mine took a little while to get-going and sucked-up a lot of fluid initially. Keep checking the fluid and add as-needed. I'm not a "tranny guy" but I recently put mine back together and i was concerned at first. I like to jack the rear wheels off the ground too in-case linkage is off or something to be sure the car doesnt move.
 
I cannot remember the total amount of fluid but I think it was something like 8 qrt's and the dip stick level has not changed at all still shows full. I will pick up a pressure gave tomorrow and see what kinda of pressure I have
 
Did you take the valve body apart to clean it? If so did you get the manual valve (the valve that the shift linkage moves) correctly located so it moves when you move the shifter?

When you bolted the trans up to the engine and then proceeded to bolt the torque converter up to the flex plate did the converter spin freely? Did you have to pull it forward a little to meet up with the flexplate?

Are you checking the fluid in neutral? If not you should be
 
Well, if you put 8 qts in, and its not pouring out the pump vent, it sounds like its at least pumping. And as fishy68 says, make sure you're checking in Neutral. is this a stock stall converter too? How much oil did you put in the converter before stabbing it too?
 
The fluid getting on the stick from the inside of the fill tube can trick ya.
I think 11 quarts is more like it, so you may want to keep putting fluid in it till it is obviously coming up the stick a bit.

Just a note; Any fluid in the converter is usually fine as the pump will fill it in about 3-5 seconds.
The important part is that a new converter has a little lubricant in it on startup.
 
Well Ron, some great tips from the transmissions guys Fishy 68 & Trailbeast on here it always a pleasure to read,but let me put a question to you that nobody has asked yet.

Did you change the torque converter after the rebuild?

The reason I ask is because I went down the same road as you 4 years ago with a 904 that had exactly the same symptoms as you describe.

I had rebuilt a 904 for a good friend after he trashed his original 904 in his 65 Barracuda.
Put the trans back in with new converter, Hey Presto! no drive in any gear!!

After many 4 letter words I did an Öil pressure check. 60 psi in D @ idle, throttle lever all the way foreward. Ok, so the pump is working.
Dropped the pan & once again checked the selector detent segment tab to make sure it had not slipped out of the manual valve. All OK.

Pulled the trans again & tore into it very carefully. Decided that I would not assemble it any other way to how it was assembled.

Trans back in again, new oil & there you go, No drive in any gear.:banghead::banghead:

Things were getting embarrasing. In 2 days time it was my friend's 40th birtday & I had promised him he would be able to take his family out for a drive in his car, so my name was on the line.

OK deep breath, & time to think.

Then it struck me!! Cable shift 904/new converter. I asked my friend to show me the bill for the converter.
Turns out he had bought a late converter for his trans.
In 67 Chrysler changed the input shaft from 18 to 27 splines. The 27 spline converter will fit on there fine & drive the pump until doomsday. But the converter turbine wont catch the splines on the 18 spline input shaft.

Trans back out again, early converter in & bingo. He took his family out on his birthday & also last year took his Barracuda to Sweden with no problems.

Didn't miss a beat in 3000 Kilometers.

This is one mistake I will never make in my life again. Promise.
Cheers. Gaz
 
KickDown said:
Well Ron, some great tips from the transmissions guys Fishy 68 & Trailbeast on here it always a pleasure to read,but let me put a question to you that nobody has asked yet.

Did you change the torque converter after the rebuild?

The reason I ask is because I went down the same road as you 4 years ago with a 904 that had exactly the same symptoms as you describe.

I had rebuilt a 904 for a good friend after he trashed his original 904 in his 65 Barracuda.
Put the trans back in with new converter, Hey Presto! no drive in any gear!!

After many 4 letter words I did an Öil pressure check. 60 psi in D @ idle, throttle lever all the way foreward. Ok, so the pump is working.
Dropped the pan & once again checked the selector detent segment tab to make sure it had not slipped out of the manual valve. All OK.

Pulled the trans again & tore into it very carefully. Decided that I would not assemble it any other way to how it was assembled.

Trans back in again, new oil & there you go, No drive in any gear.:banghead::banghead:

Things were getting embarrasing. In 2 days time it was my friend's 40th birtday & I had promised him he would be able to take his family out for a drive in his car, so my name was on the line.

OK deep breath, & time to think.

Then it struck me!! Cable shift 904/new converter. I asked my friend to show me the bill for the converter.
Turns out he had bought a late converter for his trans.
In 67 Chrysler changed the input shaft from 18 to 27 splines. The 27 spline converter will fit on there fine & drive the pump until doomsday. But the converter turbine wont catch the splines on the 18 spline input shaft.

Trans back out again, early converter in & bingo. He took his family out on his birthday & also last year took his Barracuda to Sweden with no problems.

Didn't miss a beat in 3000 Kilometers.

This is one mistake I will never make in my life again. Promise.
Cheers. Gaz
Click to expand...

X2, good call.
For some reason I didn't even think about that.
 
Thanks for all the help, unforunatly when I went to work Tuesday morning I ended up having to travel to Baton Rouge and will not be back until this weekend. SO I cannot get to the car until then. the Torque converter is the same one that came with the tranny.
Let me ask this question the tranny the motor a 318 roller (not sure of the year, I did not check- came ou out of a late 70's early 80's truck) I picked up at the local pick n pull rebuilt it and used the tranny from a 69 318 motor. before I put it all together I did place the converter up to the crank to make sure it would fit with not needing a bushing. then I installed the TC in the tranny and then mated the tranny to the engine. this was all done before I installed the enging and tranny in the car.
I hope this will help a little more when I get home friday first thing Sat I will be jacking the car and investigating the issue.
Thanks again
 
38 Dodge said:
How can I check the TC if it is seated correctly
Click to expand...

When you married the trans to the engine, did you have a space between the TC and the flexplate? Did you have to pull it forward a bit toward the engine to bolt it up?
 
If I remember correctly it was all tight I don't remember any real play between the two
 
Usually you will have to pull the converter forward toward the engine to mate it to the flexplate after bolting the trans up. It's quite possible you didn't get the converter seated.

Did you hear two clunks as you were spinning the converter while putting it in the trans?

Here is a vid that kinda explains it.


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7klzEV0kng"]How to seat a torque converter - YouTube[/ame]
 
If it was tight....did you line up the TC to the tranny with the pump dogs/ears in the proper slots of the TC? I don't know the proper terms for this but I do know when I took mine back apart I had knocked the little dogs off of the main shaft requiring a new pump in a newly rebuilt transmission.
 
I put the TC in all the way I to the tranny to where it bottomed out in the housing but like I said it was a little while ago
 
Posts 5,16 and 18 kinda tell the story. You havent told us how you engaged the pump and input splines yet, so Im gonna assume you didnt know about it. So, Ill tell you how I do it.I take and old wheelrim and lay it flat next to the workbench.Next I pick the tranny up and drop it into the centerhole.If the output-shaft(O/S) hits the floor, start over but block the rim up higher til the O/S clears the floor.I lean the tranny up against the bench, and put it in park. Now comes the tricky part. Hoist up that drained convertor, flip it over and gently drop it into position. You will have to plan ahead as to where to put your hands so as not to cut them on the ring gear. Youre almost done. Now you have to rotate the convertor until it drops down below the level of the bellhouse. Sometimes you have to rotate it back and forth and/or several revolutions. Sometimes it drops down all at once and sometimes in two steps. When its right the cover will be below the bell. What you are doing is engaging the front pump and the input splines. You can do this with the tranny sitting on the pan, its just a little trickier.Now after the trans is married to the engine you will have to pull the convertor towards the engine until it meets the flexplate. Ive done it both ways. Its usually easier sitting flat. But when its on its tail it makes nice clunking noises.
If you cant answer yes to posters 3,9,15,17 and 18, then likely you are going to be replacing at least the pump gears.
In response to post 19; "all the way in", or" bottomed out" are incomplete answers.
 
AJ I understand what u are saying now so long story short I will be dropping the tranny when I get home and go from there
Thanks to all for the help and will update what happens oh boy lucky me
 
Ok, so once the unit is down, pop the TC out and set it down,hub up. Can you see on the hub the two slots? Those are the visible guys you will be lining up later. Now look down inside the hub. There you will see the splines that need to be mated to the tranny. By this time it should be making sense, what the guys are saying about the two clunks:eek:ne for the slots and the second for the splines.
Now look into the front seal area of the trans. There you will see the front pump drive-lugs that fit into the TC slots.There better be two of them and at 180* from eachother. I have never broken that pump so I dont know what that might look like.
Also check your TC drive hub carefully for cracks and damage. I have cracked a couple and heard rumors of that being almost common.
Yeah, lucky you.It will all be worth it in the end, and soon you will have all but forgotten about the swell time you had.
Also if you dont know that the TC and trans came out of a working vehicle as a set, it might be wise to prove that the splines in each are matching.If you take the front pump out, this would be a good time to do that.
 
When the converter is properly engaged into both sets of splines and the pump lugs the pads that meet up to the flexplate will be approximately 1/2" below the surface of the bellhousing. If it wasn't you didn't have both splines and the pump lugs properly aligned and most likely ruined the front pump.

Another question. You say this is the converter from the transmission that you rebuilt. Did you have it flushed out when the trans was rebuilt? If you didn't and the transmission was toasted that converter was full of crap. When you assemble it make sure you put a clean torque converter back in it.
 
I drained the converter and added fluid to it before I installed it the transmission. The transmission was working when I took it out of the car and started the restoration. But before I put it back together I rebuilt the tranny
 
I don't think you need to remove the trans to re-seat the converter. Just unbolt the converter and loosen the bellhousing while on a jack. Get it back a little and spin the converter till it seats with a ""thunk". The tighten everything back up and see what happens.
 
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