Trans failure question...

[Greg Reimer 7376]

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.

[Mike Gray]

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.

[Mike Pearson]

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?

[Greg Reimer 7376]

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.

[ss3011]

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

[Henrys Toy]

Originally Posted by ss3011

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

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

[Greg Reimer 7376]

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.

[Greg Reimer 7376]

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!

[David Lee]

did you break at irwindale?

[Greg Reimer 7376]

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