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#1 thanks, it'll have to wait...if i keep topping off and checking the fluid, no damage, right?

#2 see the attached picture. Might be on the face of the flywheel, I'll go look again.

#3 nothing special on the nut, right? why did they have a 'castle' nut on there if no cotter pin?

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#1, No, as long as you don't run it out of fluid it's just annoying and time consuming.
#2, That's possible, but I know the Twin Ultras have them where you pulled the first one.
#3, It may have just been the nearest nut with the right thread the guy on the assembly line had. I can see it now, ran out of nuts, so used one from somewhere else on the car. Has been known to happen before.

So, draining the converter - my flywheel does not have the opening that the manual describes. I did see a penciled note that "Apr 85 Wheeler" saying that someone named Wheeler worked on the converter in 1985. Maybe they used a flywheel that didn't have all the Packard openings, and now I can't drain the converter.

The two plugs I did find, in the photo #5 I showed you earlier, resembled drain plugs, in that they did little else besides close the gap in which they were threaded. But they did not have a allen head like the manual shows here on Page 25.

So, I can't drain the converter. I bought 14 quarts of trick shift from B&M, and I'm sure that some standard red tranny fluid was in the transmission before. In theory the 4-5 quarts in the converter is still there, I will add 7-8 quarts into the main transmission, and the two will mix. Will they mix happily?

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Carl,
A supplement was issued for the 25th Series in the Ultramatic section in the 1951-54 service manual. One of the changes noted is the relocation of the converter drain plugs from the front face of the clutch housing to the outer diameter of the housing, so it looks like you found the right plugs. I checked an old 1952 or 53 Ultramatic that I have laying around and the drain plugs are on the outer diameter on it.
Still, it seems strange that there was no fluid left in the converter.

Thanks, BDeB, missed that but see it now. Good eyes.

So, logically, after I fill both the tranny and converter and drive the car for a few minutes I should see if I can then drain the converter and if it is indeed filled. I would be able to refill it again after this test, but that would at least give me peace of mind knowing the converter has fluid in it.

I don't have all the equipment to do the tests they specify in the Ultramatic Drive Hydralic Tests starting on page 29.

If there was no oil at all in converter it's either the wrong plug or the transmission was worked on and never run. There is no way a converter could be run and then be empty without a large pool of fluid under it because there is no way for the fluid to drain from the lower half of converter past the pump shaft.

HH56-

The tranny has been leaking for years, I just didn't think it was this much. I figured it was the hole I found in the tranny oil pan; instead it could be coming from the converter. I'll find out after I clean up everything, refill and drive. Any leaks will be more evident.

Anything else I should keep my eyes open for?

Success! Eric gave me the idea to stick a small screwdriver into the hole and see how far it travels. When I did, oil came rushing out...

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I've been known to have a good idea once in a while!

Quote:

Kanter has a pinion seal for $42. Is that all I'll need?

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