VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 How reliable are the power glide transmissions

My question is in the title. I'm looking for an early 50 car and finding some are with automatic transmissions. Problem would be if I purchased a car with PG and the trans had a failure where would I take it to have it repaired. None of the shops I know of say they do not work on that old of a trans. And if I found a shop many miles from home it would cost a fortune to ship. I feel comfortable working on most every item on a car but I know nothing about automatics. Most of the cars I've looked at have close to 100,000 miles so these are units that proberably are on there last leg, maybe. That's what I'm not sure of. Can they go many more miles without break down.

Chances are good that a car with that many miles has had some major mechanical repairs by now as when new the average mileage to overhaul was about 70000 miles I believe. The PG transmission is a good tranny and if you can rebuild a standard one I think you probably can do fine on the PG. As a seventeen year old in high school I rebuilt five PG trannys in my shop class. All the credit goes to the shop instructor for his guidance and I am sure there is help today with all the internet etc. access.

I had the PG in my 53 rebuilt at Fisher Transmission in Wichita. Old man Fisher told me that rebuilding isn't an issue as many of the later model PG parts work in the older PGs even if the book doesn't say so. Having said that it was NOT inexpensive. Be aware that the 53 is the first year where the PG in Drive starts out in first gear. Before that you had to manually pull it into first. Also be advised that cast iron PGs are prone to leaking so be prepared for your ride to mark her spot when parked.

By 1953 the Power Glide had most of the bugs worked out. It used most parts as in 1950 and 1954 sae as 1953, Weak areasess would be leakig ad the reverse band linkkGE WHIICH FIT UP TO 1962 IN AN IMPROVEd VERSION. linkage, It is normal for it to leak when it sits over winter due to the fluid in the converter draining down. Also it should never be run in Park for any length of time because the oil supply is cut off.
It was a very simple unit. early 1953s had the cross mmber riveted in making emoval of the vvery heavt unit a big job. Late 1953s has the cross member bolted in.

My uncle had a "junk yard" and I remember driving quite a few the early 50 Chevys that had the power glide transmissions up the hill and putting them in the junk row. The biggest thing I remember is that the reverse was out. I got a 1950 Styleline to re-do and I made sure that it had the "3 on the tree" because of me remembering this.

In 1950 the reverse band and link was a weak spot. Made better in mid 1951 but still not the best. The later style was used then for replacement for 1950, early 1951
1955-1957 was good. In 1988 the reverse band link was breaking early on so they made a real heavy link kit which fit back to 1950 Then tey discovered the 1958 was still breaking in 1958 cars and made a kit to reduce the excessive pressure to the reverse piston. this soved the problem and later 1958 cars came with this mprovement.ost 1950-1951 cars got changed over i due to breakage when required.
Every time I put my 1950 in reverse I hold my breath. There are signs that the PG was pulled out at one time because the sealant around the floor PG cover is broken indicating it has been removed. The 1950 PG I had in 1952 never broke reverse and had 40,000 on it when I sold it.

In 1953 I pulled a 31 foot, 6,000 pound travel trailer 1,735 miles from Pennsylvania to Texas with a 1952 Chevy with a Powerglide transmission. That was before the Interstates so it was mostly two lane roads and some pretty steep hills. I had no problem with the Powerglide although I did burn a valve in the engine.
Fred Serfass