1966 F-250 Camper Special Transmission HELP??

Posted by Zeus on March 08, 2007 at 05:16:39 from (198.176.208.75):

I have a 1966 Ford F-250 Camper Special with a Cruise-O-Matic, 3 speed automatic transmission (old cast iron case). I recently replaced the tranny with an old but remanufactured one (never installed after rebuild) that I bought from a salvage yard. I was told by the yard that back in the 70’s and 80’s, they had a contract to supply and install remanufactured tranny’s for U-Haul. They still had several left that had not been used/installed since they had been sent off to be rebuilt (over 20 years ago). These still had the tag from the rebuild, all holes in the case had been sealed up with plastic plugs, and they were painted U-Haul orange. Since the price was right, I bought one. Upon opening up the pan and tail housing and looking inside, I found it to look like everything (valve body, bands, hard parts) looked like they had been replaced with all new parts. Also, it was very clean and still was lubed up pretty good. I replaced the front and rear seal and put it in the truck with a new torque converter. It worked perfectly (at first). All shift points were smooth and correct. It felt like a brand new transmission. Now after getting the chance to drive it for extended periods, I have noticed a problem when shifting in to drive, 2nd, or Low (forward gears) and need help diagnosing the cause. Here’s what happens:

Problem is a delayed initial forward engagement. This problem only happens AFTER it’s been run a while and it is up to operating temperatures. When the engine is cold, the problem is not there. Everything works perfect! Once it heats up and I put it park, reverse or neutral, then try to shift it into a forward gear, it has a delayed engagement and shutters a bit, then as pressure build up, it goes into gear (about 3 seconds). Once, it’s in gear, it works perfect and smooth (no slipping). It will not do it again until I shift it out of a forward gear and back again. There are no problems with reverse. Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do to correct this? I have been told that maybe my forward band needs adjusted or the vacuum modulator is bad. If this was the case, wouldn’t it have a problem on a cold motor? I’m thinking that maybe the problem doesn’t show itself until it heats up and thins out the fluid, allowing it to pass through a seal and doesn’t completely shift into gear until pressure builds up enough to overcome the leak. I also think that maybe it doesn’t happen when cold because the fluid it thicker. Are there any tranny guys out there familiar with the old cruise-O-Matic that can help? Thanks

Follow Ups:

• Re: 1966 F-250 Camper Special Transmission HELP?? Zeus 10:44:36 03/08/07 (2)
  • Re: Re: 1966 F-250 Camper Special Transmission HEL Geno-Wy 16:37:42 03/08/07 (1)
    • Re: Re: Re: 1966 F-250 Camper Special Transmission Zeus 14:43:38 03/15/07 (0)
• Re: 1966 F-250 Camper Special Transmission HELP?? Geno-Wy 08:09:59 03/08/07 (0)

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