Transmission won't find a gear

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rymanrph

rymanrph

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So I swapped drivetrains into my current '68 Barracuda from my last '68 Barracuda (360/727). Everything worked fine in the other car.

I went to drive the car for the first time today and I'm getting nowhere fast. It will go into all gears and will move in all gears, but when I'm in drive about all I can do is idle forward. If I give it gas, it acts like I'm in neutral and barely wants to move. When I went down the street I pretty much had to let it idle back.

The engine and transmission were separated at one point before going back in, but I made sure I had fluid in the torque converter and then filled up the trans after a new filter. The fluid level checks just fine (right in the middle when hot).

I have a Lokar kickdown cable. I pinned the pedal to the floor and then pulled all the slack out of the cable and secured it.

The only thing I can think of that I could have done to mess it up is this. I had it on jack stands when I first got it running. I cycled through the gears to make sure everything worked before putting it on the ground. When I went to put it back in park, I didn't have any brakes (hadn't bled them yet) so the wheels were still spinning. It made a grinding noise obviously. Could that have ruined my trans?

I don't know a whole lot about automatics, so I need some help on where to start troubleshooting.

Thanks.
 
Putting it in park with the wheels turning will make me cringe, but it won't hurt the trans any.
They are made so that it will give until the wheels go slow enough for the cog to engage.
Linkage (Make sure it is engaging into each detent on the trans correctly)
Filter (Be sure it's the right one for the year of the trans and installed correctly)
Converter (not put back in correctly and damaged the pump)

This is what I would suspect, and the order I would go after it. (since it worked before)
Unless there is something that hasn't been mentioned.
 
TrailBeast said:
Linkage (Make sure it is engaging into each detent on the trans correctly) Did that.
Filter (Be sure it's the right one for the year of the trans and installed correctly) The new one is identical to the one that I removed.
Converter (not put back in correctly and damaged the pump) I made sure that it was seated correctly before mating the trans to the engine and bolting it together. The first time I tried to line it up it hadn't seated correctly, so I removed it, fixed it and re-installed it. I started to bolt it together, but realized it wasn't right after trying to put two bolts in.
Click to expand...

Is there a way to tell if the pump is damaged?
 
Such a simple fix; it was at least 2 quarts low. I feel stupid for not thinking of it myself, but I appreciate the quick input. Thanks guys.
 
I almost mentioned the fluid level, but figured it was probably already looked into.

That's what I get for figurin. :)
 
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