Trans failure question...
 

Car is a 327 Chevelle, Powerglide trans, Stock Eliminator type of thing, car broke on the line, engine runs fine, inspected differential for ring and pinion failure, no problem there, I suspect planetary or input shaft breakage. Does that type of parts failure break the converter as well? Years ago I broke an engine about 400 feet out, broken rod, that damaged the converter due to the sudden lock up of the engine. That didn't happen this time. Engine sounds OK. I haven't dismantled anything yet.

Re: Trans failure question...
 

Pull it and take it over to Leo. Powerglides are usually strong enough when built for racing. I ran one in my super-gas car for years without any issues.

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Doubtful it hurt the converter. You probably should have it flushed if there is a lot of metal in the pan. Most likely it broke the planetary set. Did it have stock or aftermarket planetary gears?

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Thanks for the replies. Leo is 15 minutes from here, this trans has probably hundreds of runs on it, I haven't tried to start it up and diagnose it, the car rolls nicely since today I took it out of the trailer and put it into the garage. I didn't check to see if it had high gear either. The car rolls without making strange noises so that is a good sign. Years ago,I had a '63 Chevy Bel Air 2 door post car with a 4.56 geared 12 bolt, a fairly stock 409/425 horse motor with a Glide. That car went 12.20's every place, the Glide never ever gave any issue, in fact,I still have it on the shelf, and if a 3450 pound bull moose like that didn't break the Glide, that meant that was the best thing going. There doesn't seem to be any bad noises coming from the trans in the Chevelle, just power going in and none coming out . Out it comes, and it goes to Leo.

Re: Trans failure question...
 

Inquiring minds want to know what went wrong, please share !

Re: Trans failure question...
 

Good morning to all,
You can break an input shaft and that won't make any noise while rolling the car. I stripped the splines out of the Alum. Hub in the High Drum and that didn't make any odd sounds either. Of course I ran it too many times ( the Alum hub ) and that's what gave up. In my last Glide I as cleaning everything to put back together when I discovered cracks in two of the three legs that connect the planetary to the face with the parking detents. That would have wrecked the whole unit if that went undetected. Also had countless street miles and will over 500 runs that I could count. You sometimes have to remove and inspect things - even when "nothing " is wrong. The stress and strain of racing will weaken parts. I would have the converter checked at this point, just my two cents.
Good luck on your adventure.

Respectfully,
Henry Kunz 1534 H/SA

Re: Trans failure question...
 

Good points, all of you. I'll snag the trans out, drain it and drop the pan, then see what broke. I need to check the engine as well. It got rather high for an instant when it failed, I don't think there are any bent valves, but a compression test and a leak down test wouldn't be a bad thing to do anyway. It has a pretty good engine in it and I want to be careful of that. It was kind of noisy when I was being towed back to my pit space, although it was quieter by the time we got there. I originally thought it might have been a rear end failure, but that wasn't the case. Ring and pinion looked very good, it rotated ok, so the cover went back on and new lube went in. Oil looked great also. I suspect planetaries also.

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Well, opened the hood to check some things.First easy to fix thing was the fact that the alternator belt was missing. Must have happened off the line when the trans let go. That's fixed, so l lit it off and tested it going through the gears. No Low, no High, no reverse. So, it would seem that the input shaft or the clutch drum is probably out. Fluid looked good on the stick, I need to drain it and drop the pan for a better look. If the converter failed, it would still have a sensation in gear, even though it might be very sluggish. I'll slip the trans out and check a few obvious things like that. It's a Powerglide. How hard can that be to fix? I didn't notice any bad noises when steering the car back to my pit space from the starting line,You don't really get any feeling of anything trying to engage as you shift from Lo,Drive, or reverse. Even a broken converter will transmit some sensation of gears engaging. I'll get to the bottom of it yet. Watch me!

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did you break at irwindale?

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Yes. Second time only, left lane. Ended my day nice and early. Were you there?

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no, but seeing where you live, it was an easy jump.

i am thinking of buying a 2000 era camaro or mustang to have fun there

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One easy test is with a Line Pressure gauge, Check the pressure in each gear range.

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You're correct in your assumption about the Powerglide being easy. I've done 727's, and the Glide takes about half the time.

I broke a 1.76 planetary and it did still lurch when you put it in gear, so a good chance you broke the input. Are you using a stock input shaft? I would upgrade to at least a 300M if so, though a Vasco is best.

If the planetary is good, make sure you check the end play on the gears in it while you're there. I seem to recall there should be .02-.03" between the gear and the planetary housing.

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Don't know if you're into the diagnosing before pulling. A third option behind input shaft and planetary breaking is pump gear breaking. Just had a friend's car do this. Pressure test would confirm pump operation if you wanted to know before pulling. Not really needed to diagnose as whatever is broken will be apparent when pulled. Shaft can break and leave a piece in the converter.

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Several years ago, i had the drive lugs break off the inside of the inner front pump gear.It resulted in a zero oil pressure situation real fast out of the blue. It was in my Chevelle wagon, same engine/trans combo. When i pull the trans and inspect it,I'll know more.

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Got the trans out of the car. When I drained it and removed the pan, there is a good quantity of aluminum shrapnel in the pan.No large pieces, I don't know if it has an aluminum direct clutch hub, but it's getting a steel one this time around if it needs one. The input shaft doesn't seem to want to come out, but if the splines in the hub failed, that would account for the aluminum debris. The front pump drive lugs were all still there so further disassembly is next. At least now with the new flex plate rule coming in, this would be a good time to change that out as well.

Re: Trans failure question...
 

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Re: Trans failure question...
 

Hi gear clutch hub breakage does not keep low gear and reverse from working.

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What did you find?

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Seemed like a bit of work here, right about the time the trans broke, the flywheel failure in the stocker that resulted in a rule addition happened, so I ordered a TCI flywheel and figured that when it arrived,I would install my other trans I wanted to try which is a 350. The 327 probably would love the extra low gear because it left like a cannon ball with the 2.08 Glide. The input shaft on the Powerglide didn't break, neither did the front pump drive gear lugs. I dropped the pan and found aluminum shrapnel in the pan, but the rest of the trans doesn't seem too contaminated. The flywheel just came today, as did a new Simpson harness,so it's back to work time. I suspect the failure was planetaries since nothing works. We have a trans with Park and four neutrals. Once the car is fixed,I'll open up the Powerglide and I'll know more.

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Not likely your issue but I had a powerglide that suddenly had no gears and it was the pump to case gasket that caused it.Replaced that and good to go.

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Well, took some time and opened up the Glide that broke. It has a 2.08 low gear, an aluminum hi gear hub, straight cut planetaries, and the shrapnel was the teeth on the planets. Trans was pretty clean inside, the high gear clutches and the band looked pretty good, it was just the planetaries that failed. I don't know how many hundred runs this thing has on it, but it looks easy to fix and this could be considered long term routine maintenance. I'll be getting it to Leo shortly. I guess he moved from San Dimas to a new shop a bit further out. At least he didn't leave the state!!

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Nothing like a good internal pressure leak to disengage things a bit. These transes are so simple they are almost ridiculous.