still doing shake down rides... did a little ride around town this nice afternoon... all was doing great.. got some rattles to fix. I had adjusted pinion angle
to get rid of a vibration and that seemed to be cured. Stopped at my local auto parts store to show them the truck... ewwwws and aaahs and high fives... got ready to leave
started it up dropped into reverse and nothin... tried drive... nothin... low..sameo... then I noticed the trickle... red... from under the middle..

dropped to my knees and I see the trans pump dumping trans fluid out the front seal.. transmissions hold a lot of fluid !! I greased up their parking lot pretty good.
Called s-i-l , wife came to get me to go home to get trailer... back to the lot... that was fun... you all know how busy a.p. stores are on Sat afternoon... got it pushed back and
winched up on trailer.. trailer now has a nice fluid cover... as does my driveway... I had to keep engine running to steer, scraped some paint, pulled a muscle or two..,. it all
started about 2:30 and pushed into garage at dark.

Post mortem next week, got more hand surgery on Monday so I'm on active/injured list for at least a couple weeks. I'll call the trans builder tuesday and see what he says
Trans only has 23 miles on it... So much for fun sunny saturday afternoons

 

Well, crap.

Okay, it's better to be embarrassed at your local parts store than caught out in Brookwood or someplace, driving around.

 

Well, that stinks. Once had to pull the same automatic transmission out of my 29 Ford (my avatar) three times before it was fixed.

Thought about installing a zipper...

I feel your pain.

 

Nothing sucks more than breaking down with you hotrod!! Most of the time it's something aftermarket that fails!

 

Did you check the drain plug on the converter ? Not all converters have them but its worth looking at.

 

That is a bummer for sure, John. Wonder why that would happen? If something was defective? I hope your engine to trans run out is OK... Ahh car guys understand these things, I wouldn't feel embarrassed about it.

 

You’re Never done! But it would be nice to get it on the road for more than 23 miles. Hope the cure isn’t that bad. Are you still gonna try to take it to the Grand Nationals?

 

The best part is that the truck attracts a lot of attention, so literally everyone in the parking lot is watching while it breaks...its okay, it will get figured out.

 

Wow, what a major bummer.
Its bad enough that its a tranny issue but then to scrape the paint while loading...ugh

Bobby

 

I'll second the drain plug. So sorry for you John, you have my sympathies.

 

I was hoping to BJ ...but it's doubtful now. First build in the trans was 850.00 (included a new torque converter that was in 2013... so that cost + the interior will probably not let me get it finished.. I'll be there but the Yellow 53 might stay home AGAIN We'll see what the trans man says

 

Was hoping to finally see the Beast but it’s got it’s own mind!

 

Haven't checked anything yet...just drug it home and shut the door and distributed 25#s of oil dry
I"ll need a lift to do some looking and I think I'll let the trans expert do that after I trailer it over.

I remember a drain plug in the converter but best I remember it was tight... but, who knows I could have just assumed since it was new

more to come... hand surgery at 5:30 am tomorrow followed by a day of goofy drug comedown... I'll call the trans guru Tuesday
j

 

J
Sorry to hear about your bad day, stuff like that seems to happen where a lot of people are about. Hope you get it worked out.
One word of caution about that day after surgery you mentioned, best to avoid on line shopping.

B

 

You think the pain killers might remove all the filters between his credit cards and the online vendors?