VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Mechanical - Engine, Trans, etc '37 Master Deluxe Transmission trouble

You will need to put gear lube in the u joint housing as well as the trans for the first time, After that it is lubed by the gear oil from the trans....I knew you could do it. Good Job!

The easy way to put lube in the transmission is to remove the top (4 corner bolts). You can see the top fill hole from the inside. Add fluid until it is up to the level of the fill plug.

As was noted above, some fluid is needed in the "U" joint area. Check for a fill hole on the top side. Same lube in there as you put into the transmission.

Jiffy Lube will hate you.

I thought that you overfilled the transmission and fluid ran back into the u-joint area through the rear bearing. The only hole I can see is a 3/8" bolt hole opposite the where the speedometer connection is. I do still have the top of the transmission off. It is much easier to add fluid through the big hole.

Jiffy lube has done plenty of oil changes over the years for me, but for some reason, they charge too much on gear boxes.

Rich

When dry the transmission hold 1 1/2 pints of oil. That brings it up to the top plug level. If the U joint ball is dry on a 1937 you remove the speedometer gear fitting and add 1/2 pint through that opening. The gear oil will flow to the U joint ball area but it will take some time for ti to get there and then the trans will be slightly low.

Gene,

Thanks. After looking at the transmission, I did remove the speedometer gear to fill the universal joint. I also had over filled the transmission a little. I removed the top plug and let the excess run out. I should be good to go for a test drive tomorrow.

Rich

Well, I did a 10 mile drive this morning and all seems to be working fine.

I do have one new problem, but not transmission related.

I bought a new rubber seal for the accelerator linkage (where it goes through the floor boards) and this is too tight. I shot some liquid wax on it and some oil. Neither was a good fix. I may just have to remove some of my new rubber so that it allows the linkage to move freely.

Rich

First of all, congratulations on your succes with the transmission rebuild.
The original toe board bushing was made from a very hard rubber and the rod would slip through the opening freely. Have no idea as to what the reproductions are like. If the rod is smooth I would ream out the opening as you have done. Give it a little more "space".

Gene,

Thanks for your comments. I appreciate them.

As to the rubber bushing, it is a soft pliable rubber. It appears that I have a slight misalignment between the accelerator rod and the location of the hole through the rubber bushing. If the body sat about 1/8" of an inch higher, it would be perfect. I took some sandpaper to the rod and cleaned it up real good to see if that would help, but not really. I did take some "sno-seal" (stuff to keep leather boots dry) and lubed it with that. It was a brief success, but I guess the rubber just cleans it off of the rod and it is back to square one. I will have to ream it out a little, no big deal.

Rich

Thats typical of reproduction parts. Never the same as the original and require modifications.

Well, I'll add my "congratulations!" to you, too.

It's always inspiring to see someone successfully take on a job like you did; even if you're a little dubious about getting into something, you're usually glad you tried it yourself, at least eventually.

Anyway, way to go!

Hi RichK,

You might try some spray silicone on the bushing and rod.

Obob,

Thanks for the comments. I will usually try most anything, but I did not want to end up with a pile of parts that I could not put back together, or worse, put it all back together and then have it self destruct because I screwed up. I figure this one was about 50% skill and 50% luck.

As to the silicone spray, I did try that too. The rubber bushing is just too tight and slightly off center. I decided to replace it because it looked like water and cold air would come through that hole. I also increased the tension on the return spring. This helped, but still not good enough. That linkage needs to move without hinderance or the engine races when you go through the gears. A little surgery should solve the problem.


In the past week, I also cleaned and lubed the speedometer. It has a nasty squeek. While I was at it, I reset the odometer to zero (usually the State does not like that done, but when I registered the car, the speedometer was not mounted in the car, so they just put down unknown.) Anyway, now that I have a speedometer working, I hooked up an old dwell/tach meter that I had and took a drive. This tach does not go very high being just a test meter. I found that I was doing about 900 rpm at 20 mph in 3rd gear. That should translate to about 2700 rpm at 60mph. Does that sound about right for the master deluxe (4.22 rear end?)

Rich