Re: Ultramatic Torque Converter

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2015/5/5 22:17:51

Perhaps the person who disassembled the converter failed to to scribe the position of the converter sections before hand, see Page 14 in the Ultramatic section of the 55/56 shop manual. The entire converter assembly is balanced as a unit via welded lugs to the direct drive clutch housing. I suspect that a good full-service automatic transmission shop may have the equipment to rebalance it.

Yes, the front universal (ball & trunnion type) for the senior cars has been pretty much unavailable for some time. Properly maintained it should be good for a very long time but if a careful inspection shows it's worn beyond usefulness, browse this site (or perhaps someone will look up the post and give you a link) and you'll find information about making a new drive shaft with a forward splined slip yoke and conventional front universal. Any good driveshaft shop should be equipped to do that job.

Also, though you probably can't find a new complete joint assembly you may be able to find a repair kit for it which includes new balls and needle bearings, and perhaps the cross pin. If the housing is not worn, this may be satisfactory. Worn housings can also be returned to original specs but it's an expensive operation, perhaps more expensive than having a replacement driveshaft made. But if the rubber boot was intact and there was plenty of grease in the joint, I'd say there is a good chance the joint is OK - mine was OK at 93,000 miles.