Re: To drain or not?
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Forum Ambassador
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IMO there might be two valid reasons to drop the pan. Cleaning the screen is a given but a visual check of things and the amount of sediment in the pan to make sure all is as good as the lack of symptoms suggest might be worthwhile.
The tightness of a couple of things should be examined. The screw holding the pot metal manual valve operating lever to the shaft has a known problem of loosening up and the small pin holding the valve link to that lever has been known to loosen and drop out. Checking the condition of both items might avoid a future surprise.
Posted on: 2014/7/19 13:17
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Howard
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Re: To drain or not?
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Forum Ambassador
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I can't think of a single reason not to do some incredibly overdue maintenance. Drop the pan, clean it and clean the inlet screen, and refill with Type F or Type FA. There is really no downside to this other than your labor and cost of the fluid. Then asses the transmission performance and decide where to go from there.
Just FYI, myself an many others who have had the groaning clutch have driven thousands of miles like that by doing just what you're doing, namely letting up on the gas and taking the load off as you anticipate the clutch engagement.
Posted on: 2014/7/19 13:27
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Re: To drain or not?
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Home away from home
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In some previous discussions, it came out that Ultramatics work best on B&M's special fluid. It even cures certain problems. I don't recall all the details, maybe someone with experience will chime in.
Posted on: 2014/7/19 16:41
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Re: To drain or not?
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Home away from home
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There is a service bulletin for the Twin-Ultramatic recommending friction modifiers. They act to increase clutch engagement a few milliseconds to produce smoother shifts. These might help reduce the DD chatter.
I think a better use of your car would be to draw a sample from the trans and send it for analysis. Any diesel shop can do that for you. If the color is good and the report is good the only reason to change it would be to switch to modern Dexron. Whatever is in the pan is going to stay there. The recommended change interval is 25,000 miles. If the car has only gone 10,000 miles in the last 40 years there isn't much reason to change it.
Posted on: 2014/7/19 18:05
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Re: To drain or not?
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Forum Ambassador
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B&M Trick Shift is I believe the product Rusty referenced. Some folks have reported improvements in clutch engagement with it, others note no real improvement but it may be worth a try. I've read that its modified to contain a rosin to improve "stickiness".
Posted on: 2014/7/19 18:05
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Re: To drain or not?
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Home away from home
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While we were enjoying a rainy day outside the garage, I did take down the pan. The only problem noted, and the probable reason for the new leak, was a broken cork pan gasket in two places, possibly aggravated by my re-torquing the bolts. The drained fluid of uncertain vintage still looked red (but darker than new) and did not smell burnt. Just a touch of mild slime in the pan, much less than I'm used to with GM automatics. All looked clean around the untouched valve bodies. The one observation with regard to the valve lever and pin was that mine now has one of those bifurcated split pins as the rod connector. So maybe the transmission has been opened sometime in the past. The screen, once I figured out how to remove it, also looked clean, but was cleaned again for the next 45 years. Put it all back together, meaning than I'm down to four NOS cork pan gaskets left, and hope to have a dry day sometime soon to do a test drive.
I did not get around to adding any of that "miracle" Lucas transmission additive because I followed the Service Manual's instructions on refilling. Full mark came up sooner than anticipated. So I may still have some old fluid hiding somewhere beyond the valve body and converter. Once I drive it on dry roads, I will determine if I should drain about 20 ounces of Type F out of the pan (oh how I wish modern, non-Allison GM transmissions had a drain plug) and add the Lucas stuff. All in all, a dropped pan (after 45 years or more?) yielded no unpleasant surprises.
Posted on: 2014/7/21 9:30
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Re: To drain or not?
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Home away from home
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Did you drain the torque converter? This requires removing the lower bell housing and removing two plugs, they are 180 deg. apart. If not, you now have a mixture of old and new fluid. This is probably why the transmission filled up with so little fluid. If it was my Packard, I would go back and do a complete transmission drain. No need to remove the pan this time.
(o{}o)
Posted on: 2014/7/21 11:20
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We move toward
And make happen What occupies our mind... (W. Scherer) |
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Re: To drain or not?
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Forum Ambassador
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If you have a 56 as the picture indicates, then just remove the inspection plate held on by two small bolts. Now you have access to the two plugs that are 180 apart.
Posted on: 2014/7/21 14:04
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Re: To drain or not?
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Home away from home
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Good catch, Randy. I was going to mention that the V-8s have a plate that can be removed, but the thought got lost somewhere. Thanks.
(o{}o)
Posted on: 2014/7/21 17:50
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We move toward
And make happen What occupies our mind... (W. Scherer) |
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