Im an idiot - broke tranny

[euroz06]

Hi all,

so im here to say that im an idiot. 68 charger/383/727 tranny. I forgot to check my transmission oil level and I think i broke it. I normally add some tranny fluid like once a year, but last year went by so fast and I forgot. How I know the level was low? when starting from cold, I had to give it significant amount of throttle to get it moving (was working fine once warmed up). and every drive I was like, ill add it next time. At a car show, I had my cut outs open, so i decided to do a little WOT in 1st gear, and then let go of the gas, to get some pops, and I heard loud clunking, sounded like a had a cylinder go thorugh the block. I parked, looked everything over, started to drive and everything seemed fine. So I came here, described the noise, and was told to check if the flex plate broke/got loose.

I took it to the shop, we looked at the flex plate, and it was fine and tight. Next we took off the tranny tray, and noticed that the oil in it was ****/watery, and we found evidence of clutch packs (lots of it). Mind you, can has about 9k miles after restoration (about 10yrs ago), so aside from cluctch pack material, tranny looked spotless inside (i.e. its been restored likely). We cleaned things up where we could see them, put in a new filter, fresh fluid, and all seemed to be fine. car was shifting, driving well. Untill i started doing my raditor flush burping/checking, and I was doing some rowing through 1-2-3 gears manually (to get rpms high for temp check), and the loud clunk came back i put it in park, then back in drive, and the noise went away.

So the question now: can I live like this, or do I need to rebuild the tranny/its going to get worse? if rebuilding a tranny, is this a complicated process, or can any tranny shop do it? is it cheaper to buy a new tranny? any recommendations for shops in south florida?

 

[PurpleBeeper]

Rebuild your trans in my opinion

 

[euroz06]

any ideas on rebuild cost?

 

[Fran Blacker]

Might damage more parts =$$ and get stuck someplace.

 

[ruffcut]

Tranny! LOL!

 

[Sam69sat]

Do some burnouts in reverse to reverse the damage.

Sounds like something broke off inside the transmission and it's getting jammed up. Pull it before you do more damage. And you know you're not supposed to do burnouts in first then let off the gas right? There are threads on the subject if you use the search function.

 

[Ron H]

Just me, dropped beating the living **** out of my rides a few decades ago. Given what you’ve already indicated was discovered in the pan, and that new filter and fluid, didn't fix it, you can either drive it and do more damage, or have it repaired.
Be patient with maintaining your ride, it's worth the extra time.

 

[Dave6T4]

If you wound it up in LOW, and let off, and then on it again, you could have destroyed the sprag clutch. Rebuild time.

 

[ruffcut]

Sounds like a sprag to me. You may have dodged a bullet. Could have exploded the trans on the spot.

 

[euroz06]

holly crap... yea, i never knew about this issue... all i knew was that it was bullet proof, so was very surprised that something broke.
The material inside the transmission tray seemed like cluch material. under normal driving (just sort of cruising), it seems to operate just fine.

Ok, ill plan on getting the car into a shop to fix this.

 

[Photon440]

If you wound it up in LOW, and let off, and then on it again, you could have destroyed the sprag clutch. Rebuild time.

But if it was in LOW and not DRIVE, at least the low band would have also been applied, taking some strain off of the sprag clutch.

 

[kiwigtx]

Whatever you do, do not ask this turkey to repair the transmission....

 

[Photon440]

Whatever you do, do not ask this turkey to repair the transmission....

View attachment 1715721

At least he knew someone who could weld the broken case.

 

[Splangj]

Is that Ron Jeremy?

 

[kiwigtx]

Is that Ron Jeremy?

May as well be ..... Ron f***ed everything he touched also.

 

[ynst]

I wonder why Chrysler Corporation put those maintenance schedules in every owner’s manual because it appears that nobody ever follows them.

Mechanical stuff doesn’t last forever and, if you’re having to top off a transmission that I’m assuming is only used for a significantly shorter duration than if the car was new, then “shame on you” for ignoring an apparent serious problem.

If you have broken parts, especially a transmission case, get a new case and start over.
Hell, I’ll give you one to rebuild if you need it.

 

[moparx]

one nice thing about a 727 transmission, it's the EASIEST transmission to rebuild !
obtain the [carl] monroe and [tom] hand books, plus a FSM and a quality rebuild kit, and dive in ! take your time, paying attention to lip seal installation, clearances and CLEANLINESS, as well as performing air check tests as required, and you will not fail !

 

[Budnicks]

Mopar 727 Torqueflite Transmissions,
if the car has sat for a time
the torque converter can drain back to the pan,
So maybe after starting it, after it's sat for any real time
put the e-brake on put it in neutral to check the levels/warm
& let it/the converter fill back up
the pump does a lot better filling the converter back up after it sits for any time
& in nuetral
if you do that method, it should be easier to get a real/proper fluid level...

And it will usually show over fill/full if you don't do that
get a false reading/levels, & it's very not good to over fill them either
a weird quirk that MoPar TFs have...
especially;
If it's not daily driven or sits for a week or more at a time....

 

[vsj100]

$2000.00 here in San Jose. Leales Transmission shop did mine

 

[euroz06]

So i might have been an idiot x2. I think my diff is broken too…

Can someone help me figure this out.

So, i have 469 case, 3.55 sure grip. I dont recall which gears ive bought, but they werent the top of the line, but werent the cheapest (one of the ones summit was selling). I had a gentleman at a shop build it for me, and then the shop closed down. Ever since built, ive had some slight howl, and some play on the yoke (i.e when shifting from park to drive, id get a “hit”, which i later got to the play in the yoke). Mind u, diff has about 7-8k miles on the rebuild, i dont drive hard (done maybe 1 burnout years ago). Ive had some weird chirps now and then at low speed, and my wife couldnt hear the howl, so i figured i can live with it.

The events ive been describing in this post (and my original post on a weird boise) happened at the same time. I did a hard acceleration out of a car show (and remembering back, ive done, 1/2/d shift manually), let go of the gas, heard a lound metal clunking from the driveline. Put it in park, started driving(right on the highway) and everything seemed fine. Pulled off the highway, started to hear weird low volume metal ticking/tapping sound (which could have been the diff or the tranny). Days later when i drove trying to diagnose, no noises, then drove over a bump, the little ticking/tapping came back, but seemed to go away after a short highway drive. Then again did the hard accel in 1st manual shifting to 2nd and the metal clunk started and went aaay after putting in park (no ticking/tapping this time).

Had the tranny fluid changed, found a bunch of clutch material, figured broken clutch pack. Again to test, hard accel in D from stop, no problem. Hard accel 1/2 manual shift, loud metal clunking, goes away after putting in park… but also the ticking/creaks came back.

This past week decided to replace diff fluid (got the fluid and the additive). Old fluid was dirty, so i even gave it a 1.5 quarts, drove it around the block and drained again. Put in fresh fluid/additive. Now its much worse. I did 10 circles left/10circles right, drive on the highway, and it def makes metal grinding sounds in certain conditions. The noises have become less as i was driving more, but on-off throttle lound noises, and coming to slow stop grinding type of noises (no noise when tight turning). Tranny worked like it should, i did a wot take off (in D), went through all the gears, no noises or anything (couldnt hear the diff, so cant say if it was making noise). Though at throttle/at speed, doesnt appear to be noises, just on of throttle.

How could i have broken mopar bulletproof tranny and bullet proof diff, and i didnt even go to track or do burnouts? Wtf is going on on top of that my heater core started to leak after a coolant flush (and trying to burp it), and my ac broke 4 months ago and ive been fighting with vintage for 3 months to send me the right parts for the modern conversion…

What sort of car gods did i piss off… never a problem in 10 yrs and all this all of the sudden.

Im trying to get an idea on this, as i dont trust local shops (im in miami), they will likely just say replace the diff, replace the tranny (best case scenario they’ll rebuild at a cost that it would be to replace the tranny), and charge me $6-7k.

Is it possible that my tranny is “ok” as long as i dont do manual 1/2 hard accel? Or something is busted, im just prolonging whats coming? Should drive the car more to get the diff worked in more, or is done?