Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

This was taken from the leaking TC. The TC was disassembled and it was discovered that the bolts that outer shaft to the TC were loose. All were only finger tight! The outer shaft unit also ever so slightly moved around, making us think we indeed a a problem before we took it apart.

Now that I took it apart, I realized I had no gasket or seal to reassemble it. So, we took another tact. The original TC was examined from my 1955 400 and the out shaft was solid. Hence, I wouldn't need to reseal the outer shaft. Additionally, my original transmission leaking only from the cross shaft seals and it wouldn't shift into park.

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We then examined the turbines on the leaking transmission and discovered some minor deforming and chipping. Maybe, if the splines line up, I can put 1/2 of the original TC onto the leaking TC as the outer shaft is secure?

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Well.........holy smokes! This is the first time I've disassembled any TC and the second one was indeed pretty bad. The turbines in my original Ultramatic are tore up and there was visual bits of metal readily seen. To the best of my knowledge the original transmission has 92k on it!

So the large O-ring gasket seemed good and we just decided to switch them and see what happened!

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Well.......the TC was reassembled with proper torque settings applied. The front seal was also replaced, but my pal Tom really didn't think it was too bad. He firmly believes that the loosely tightened outer shaft to TC was the real culprit!


Well, the transmission was reinstalled and I began to hold my breath! We kept it up on the stands and fired the car. I moved it through the gears and everything seemed to be in order. I also let into run in gear for (25) minutes and noticed no leaks or anything unusual. The car was then put on the ground and we took it for a ride.

Wow! She performed nicely. Better than anytime before! We stopped and peaked underneath again..........no leaks.......Drive it some more and topped out at 60 mph (I didn't have my ID or license with me) and drive it home. Still no leaks and I now have all gears & PARK!

I'm relieved and I plan on going to that car show next weekend.

back to the 92k transmission. Anyone ever see a TC that bad before? What causes this to happen?

Okay....post away....... I'm done for now!

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G'day Kevin, I hope that it works out for you but I doubt that it will for the following reason. The loose screws holding the converter drive indicate that the converter is out of balance. Anyone pulling one of the Converters down has to very careful to mark the assembly position of any of the non-rotating components carefully. Many shops do not and the 18 ft/lbs holding the cap screws on the output drive loosen quickly if the converter is out of balance and the converter leaks like a sieve. Many people think that a leak from the bell housing indicates a leaking converter to trans seal. This is not correct as the converter to trans seal handles exhaust oil only. You must also be fussy and change the large converter O ring each time the converter is split, making sure that you scrape away any traces of the old O ring. Best regards and good luck. Peter Toet .

Since you're already done reassembling the torque converter and installing it in the car it's a little late for this, but I figured I'd tell anyone who reassembles theirs to absolutely, positively, never use RTV sealant on any part of an automatic transmission, unless you don't ever want it to work again.

Having said that, I have to say that I've never seen a converter with with a turbine that torn up before.

As for this: Quote:

You're a cop, I'm sure you could have talked your way out of a ticket!

Did you have a 40 spline front pump rotor? If so did you drill the 6x 1/8" holes in the outer shaft? Glad all is well!!

It had the 40 spline!

I really appreciate all the comments too.

It was the bottom of the ninth so to speak for me and it looks like I'll get some miles out of this trans now. Time to save some dollars and investigate the modern transmission options, while I carefully watch this one.

Any guesses on how that amount of damage occurred on the 92k trans turbines?

It's probably fine but the sc talks about drilling those holes when changing from a 20 to a 40.

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Quite possibly a piece got in there from a previous rebuild and decided to destroy everything in it's path. Or from a weak part of the casting that let loose. You can never really be too sure.