1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[Hooli]

Arrrgh at bodgery and excess sealant. My Bonnie had huge lumps of silicon jammed under clusters due to a 'professional' who rebuilt it like that.

[Junkman]

That hateful shit can ruin everything.

[PhilA]

Absolutely. The manual states the only place to use any sealant is on the tailshaft seal. All other gasket faces should be dry and clean.

So much so, the first thing that is stated in any of the manuals or supplements is that cleanliness is absolute. These gearboxes do not have much in the way of a filtration system and rely upon the internals being scrupulously clean for correct operation. If a little chunk of it has become lodged somewhere, feeling the stuff aroud the bung (which currently has no gasket!) it has the same consistency as dog chew toys, flexible enough to be drawn in but solid enough to thoroughly block a small orifice- of which there are several for fluid regulation.

We shall see what occurs upon disassembly. I just wish I had a table to set the thing up on.

--Phil

[Junkman]

Which fluid did they use back then?

[PhilA]

The original spec is Type A. That is commercially unavailable any more, but Dexron-II(E) is a suitable substitute. Apparently it can make some gearshifts a little thumpy but that's as good as it gets these days.

--Phil

[PhilA]

20190722_193320.jpg (3.02 MiB) Viewed 3961 times

Gearbox workbench.

Phil

[PhilA]

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Workbench gearbox.

Designed the size of the thing so the crane legs go either side. Made easy work of placing it up on there.

I will have to remove the torus. It just wobbles about and is free to rotate. There are 3 holes in a triangle around the center, I have a feeling that's for a special locking tool, rather like a big angle grinder spanner.

That'll be another thing to make, then. I think I know how I can do it, will have to experiment with flat bar.

Phil

[Hooli]

Nice Tommy Cooper references in there.

[PhilA]

That was unintentional!

[PhilA]

Just ordered the service manual for the gearbox, an original 1951 book. That'lll be helpful, other than the Haynes-style "use Special Tool 234132456214 to undo this part of the gearbox" sections.