I am trying to remove the TC of an air cooled Fordomatic trans. The 272 and converter are out on the floor, trans. removed. Does it have to be unbolted from the ring gear first?

 

I'm not quite sure I've got the picture of where you are here, but unbolting the torque converter from the ring gear is something you should have done when splitting the transmission off the engine - the torque converter coming off with the transmission. So if they are apart, and the torque converter is hanging on the back of the engine by the ring gear, then yes you should probably take it off.

 

Thanks Julie. The trans. separated easily, leaving the TC. I expected the TC to come off easily too, but no. Will try unbolting. Have never worked with a Fordo, and very few automatics (like two) of any kind.

 

The only old Fordo I've messed with was attached to a flatty. The torque converter actually had a ring of studs and nuts around it that held the steel cover onto the aluminum housing and could be disassembled. The ring gear, if I remember correctly, was part of the front cover on the converter. The flexplate wasn't round like modern units. It was rectangular and about 6" or so wide and the length was the same as the torque converters width. It bolted to the crankshaft in the middle of the flexplate and the ends of the flexplate bolted to the torque converter under a few of the torque converter cover nuts on opposite sides. To remove the converter, just remove the two or three nuts on each side that hold the flexplate to the converter. Yours might not be exactly the same, but it would have to be similar.