Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

All,

Requesting a couple of opinions please to steer me. Over the weekend a friend & I removed my original (to the best of my knowledge) ultramatic from the 400. It shifted poorly, leaked excessively from the shift shaft seals and had no ident whatsoever for the park position. So, we instead installed a 1956 ultramatic. After adjusting the linkage on the lift, everything worked without any leaks.

Today, I drove it less than a 1/2 mile and it started bleeding all over the place! Seems to be from the front (through) the flywheel access port. Lots of fluid everywhere. If I got back in and determine that I failed to secure the torque converter plugs, maybe I'm ok. But if I go back in and they are secure, what do you all suspect could be the problem?

Also please be direct with me. If I have to open this transmission up, am I better served with going for a rebuild from Pete Fitch in VA or should I explore the modern options?

If there are no options, I have a beautiful looking trailer queen for sale. (Just kidding)

I had the same thing happen to me last fall and I had Pete Fitch rebuild my ultramatic-I remember when i was talking to him he said there were several major differences in the 1955/1956 Ultramatic. I suggest you call him ASAP and install a transmission cooler on the car-I got a nice one from Jegs it only cost $114.00 (and it had an electric fan) plus the mounting kit (I also added a tranmission heat gauge. One of the problems with Ultra that if the linkage is not properly set up-and its a tricky task-the high clutches will burn. But give Pete a call.

Did you put a new converter seal in it? That's the first thing I do when I get an auto trans out.

Assuming nothing else was unbolted in the front so the bolt that threads into an oil passage was incorrect or missing the copper washer and converter plugs are tight, that only leaves the front seal. They have been known to crack and fail suddenly like that if old & hard. You should be able to see an oil trail coming from behind the converter if that's the cause. A relatively easy fix if the pump shaft and bushing are OK-just a PIA to remove & do.

As to whether you are better off going modern, that is a question you would have to work through. Your car does have a few modern touches so the originality does not seem to be that major a deal breaker. The reliability and serviceability of a modern unit would obviously be there --- IF AND ONLY IF you get a decent conversion. Problem is that there are so few options--only a couple of places seem to be doing them. Those I recall so far that have posted having a conversion also seem to have an issue of some kind.

If I were going to do it, believe the GM with the modified bellhousing rather than extra plate with adapter Torqeflite would be the better choice. Jack Nordstrom does a TH400 for the Studebaker Golden Hawk along those lines--although being for a Hawk, lots of things you would probably have to do as well to fit in the Packard. Don't know if any one else picked up doing the other unit--700R4 I think--after one shop quit doing them. Don't remember anyone specifically mentioning the GMs but The Chrysler conversions seem to have the issues--but also maybe because there are more of them.

I expect you are also looking at every bit of cost and maybe even more than it would take to have the Ultra rebuilt to have a conversion made.

Driving my first '56 Patrician home (300 miles) from WV, back in 1987, I lost high range just after crossing the PA border. I lugged along in low gear to the next exit and checked the fluid; it was off the stick and starting to stink. I added a few quarts of ATF and got high gear back - for a few miles. I babied the car to the next exit and added more fluid with the engine idling, but it ran off the bottom of the bell housing as fast as I could pour it down the dipstick tube.

So, the car was towed the last 90 miles - to the shop where my dad worked. I had a complete Twin Ultra rebuild kit in the trunk, but all they put in was the front pump seal. Problem solved.

I'd rather fix the Ultramatic, as long as parts are available, than convert to some other.

The only way i would do a conversion and a very good reason is to get the overdrive.

If it were my car and originality was not Priority One, and with the intention to drive it a lot, I'd do a proper TorqueFlite 727 conversion and you'll likely never have to worry again if you maintain it. TF727 was probably the most bulletproof automatic transmision ever made, a claim no TU, no matter how well re-built, can claim.

Okay here we go!

In the short term I am going to just try and get the Ultramatic NOT to leak! With (4) months to retire, it has always been my hope to have the 400 completed and shown at(2) of Tucson's larger fall car shows. The first show is next Saturday & the other show is (2) weeks later.

So today my pal Tom & I decided to pull the transmission out and replace that front seal. As pictures show, the seal currently in the transmission has virtually no seal material extending past the inner ID of the seal. I guess I should have noted this before it was put in a few weeks ago. Second issue, the torque converter's main shaft seems loose? It can ever so slightly move (twist) it by hand.

It the morning, we'll replace the seal & I'm planning on putting my other torque converter into this transmission. I hope the 55 & 56 interchange?

Any other thoughts out there before the morning begins?? The older I get, the faster I was ...(Charles Barkley) and working on one's back is tough work.

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Not sure the converters will interchange. It depends kind of on the vintage. Here are picts of the input shaft on a 55 and early 56 and a late 56. Notice the spline width and the length of bushing area at front. Also, depending on vintage and whether any upgrades were made the converter pump shaft on late had different splines and may not mate with earlier pump properly.

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the inner shaft should move, the outer shaft should not. if the outer shaft is moving a bit, you can tighten it by taking apart and accessing the bolts from underneath the converter pump housing. there is also a paper seal under that outer pump where the bolts go to it.

i couldn't tell you the difference between a 55 and 56 TC personally. i have seen the inside of two of them and most of the parts i have seen looks similar. i know that that inner shaft on a 56 has a different style bushing in it. it has oil grooves on the bushing, vs the 55 that is just a flat bushing. there maybe be other differences, but i suppose they function the same.

please see my blog, Henry's 55 Constellation, for more detailed pictures of the Twin Ultra and the inside of the TC.

Hank