Transmission oops!

[starliner62]

A couple of years ago, I installed an unknown 3speed OD transmission in my Lark. It worked great....that is until it ran out of fluid, then POW!!!!!! I knew what happened, so I put the standard three speed back in the car and put the OD tranny under the workbench. As most of us know, life, work and other projects sometimes gets in the way of working on your own car. This morning while waiting to see what the weather was going to do, I tore the OD trans down to look at the carnage. As I had deduced, the planetary/sun gear was toast along with the free-wheeling clutch. What surprised me was the sun gear shell/output shaft was not hurt. The planetary gears must be pretty soft. Now I needed parts. I purchased a short shaft T-86 from Carl Purdy a few years back for a real good price so I jumped in the parts books to see if the parts would interchange. According to the book, everything I needed would interchange. I took the transmission apart and thankfully, the parts I needed looked great. Now I just have to put everything back together. Moral of the story......don't let your transmission run dry!

[JoeHall]

Usually, the OD tranny will start to whine a bit when it gets much over a pint low. Difficult to discern with the ear, whether the whine is coming from the tranny or the rear end, but a fluid level check will tell you

[starliner62]

With the exhaust system I have on my Lark, it is hard to hear anything. I think it is time to get rid of the eight inch glass packs.

[altair]

liquid cooled od unit

A couple of years ago, I installed an unknown 3speed OD transmission in my Lark. It worked great....that is until it ran out of fluid, then POW!!!!!! I knew what happened, so I put the standard three speed back in the car and put the OD tranny under the workbench. As most of us know, life, work and other projects sometimes gets in the way of working on your own car. This morning while waiting to see what the weather was going to do, I tore the OD trans down to look at the carnage. As I had deduced, the planetary/sun gear was toast along with the free-wheeling clutch. What surprised me was the sun gear shell/output shaft was not hurt. The planetary gears must be pretty soft. Now I needed parts. I purchased a short shaft T-86 from Carl Purdy a few years back for a real good price so I jumped in the parts books to see if the parts would interchange. According to the book, everything I needed would interchange. I took the transmission apart and thankfully, the parts I needed looked great. Now I just have to put everything back together. Moral of the story......don't let your transmission run dry!

I have a question. I was under my Champion looking at the tranny and OD unit and there was discernable evidence of oil escaping through the rear seal of the OD unit. The transmission was only about 1.5 qts low so it got toped up. I removed the fill plug from the OD unit and got my hair well oiled before I got the plug reinserted. The OD unit has a fill and drain plug as does the transmission. Will filling the transmission also fill the OD unit, if so what is the top plug for in the OD unit? Can the rear seal in the OD unit be replaced with out pulling the assembly? Thanks Dave

[r1lark]

Yes, filling the transmission case will also fill the O/D unit, but sometimes takes a while. I usually pull the fill plug on the O/D unit off while filling the transmission case, and if lube doesn't start coming out of the O/D unit within a reasonable amount of time I'll help it out by putting some in the O/D unit. I've also had O/D units that some lube will come out of when checking, and figure that this is based on the angle of the engine/tranny, overall 'posture' of the car front to back, etc.

Yes, the rear seal can be replaced without pulling the tranny, except maybe in a convertible or sliding roof wagon with the X-member. I've never worked on a car with the X-member, but room looks pretty tight around the rear of the tranny in one of those......perhaps someone else will chime in here.

[Alan]

You should check and fill the OD like it was separate from the tranny. You will find if the OD does not have fluid in it after a rebuild and you put oil in from the tranny side and expect it to over flow into the OD. You will have the same thing you have in your hand now. As you drive down the road, everything will be fine for about 5 to 10 miles. Then it will feel like you are slightly applying the hand brake. You will pull over to the side of the road and look around, then hop back in and it will seem like the brakes are locked up. No noise. BTDT 50 years ago. Never again.