Re: Repairing Ultramatic

Posted by Mike On 2009/9/26 11:32:02

Packman said he'd do them if he could get the tools, and if you follow his threads at all you'd know he can do just about anything he dreams up. Get ready to send it to Kansas!

Also, kanter sells rebuild kits for $400ish. The front seal that causes issues is like $30. Check your pan gasket that most shops just reuse for leaks, and i believe packman talked about two pistons with seals on them that can be serviced from under the car; they leak pressure past them.

Also, adjust your linkage, i believe that can cause slipping at take off.

I used lucas auto transmission additive in mine, and it seemed to help a lot with take off at first. I heard it might help swell the seals for a temporary bnand aid, and it seemed to.

The ultramatic service manual is here, download it and give it a try. When i get my second ultramatic installed i'll take a swing at rebuilding mine (in a 50 that leaks also).

Since i'll have the motor out, it should be really easy to replace those leaking tranny cooler lines. I put in a frame cooler and a plate type cooler (per packman) in front of the radiator. I left the original cooler in-line with them, i'll be taking it out of the loop when i switch motors and tranny's.
I really recommend this because when the engine gets warm you're heating the tranny and when the tranny fluid gets hot you're heating the motor. I just don't see much cooling effect going in either direction when up to temp. As soon as one system has a problem, it heats the other.


Good luck with your ultramatic. When mine's warm, it slips a little at take off, but it's never just "jumped" right into gear like a modern one. It leaks like a siv, has 40K on it. Maybe they're just a little slippery at take off? Need to drive a fresh one to see!