Inliners International Forums Thread Like Summary - Hydramatic - Can't Get Separated from 302?

Hi all,

Potentially about to show my ignorance about some of the older engines and transmissions but I have a GMC 302 that's bolted to a Hydramatic. We just removed it from our family's old motor home as a first step to getting that coach back in action and I've got an issue...

I intended to take the engine and trans out in separately but it would not come apart so we ended up with the whole package on the hoist.

I've removed the bellhousing bolts. During the removal process we had as much as 1/2 inch of separation at the housing and I could see that the "torque converter" (I understand they're not technically a torque converter with the hydramatic but it's what I think of it as) had come out slightly from the transmission, there was clean metal visible on the nose of the converter. That's as far as we managed though...

Normally I would have expected that the converter needed to be unbolted from the flexplate but the way the housing is on the transmission there is no way to do this that I could see. It appears part of the trans housing is on the engine side of the flexplate, indicating to me that the converter needed to come out of the transmission first.

The engine and trans are both absurdly heavy so it could just be that they're binding on eachother and not releasing but if that's not the case, am I missing something silly?

The transmission is in "park" or rather reverse since they don't have a park per-say.

Apologies in advance if my explanation is hard to follow, please let me know and I'll try to clarify what I'm saying and post different pictures.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

hotrod

Okay so I'm just now watching the video you linked and that might be the missing key... Not looking forward to undoing all those bolts but I'm going to give that another look.

Absolutely shocked that this might be the way to get them separated and that I didn't notice a different way to get that second piece of housing apart.

That said, I'm still not sure I understand how that housing comes off but I'm going to give it a shot in the next day or so.

Crazy to think that every automatic I've worked on uses 3 or 4 bolts for the torque converter and these things used a whole hardware store's worth...

When my son took his '54 Studebaker to Texas for college in 2001 there was a parts list in the glove box. Belts & hoses by Gates #s and size. Ignition by Delco & Standard #s. I was a counterman at CarQuest at the time and Studebaker was almost nonexistent in the computer & had vanished from the catalogs. Many parts were still on the shelf because of other applications. An example of you had a Prestolite (Autolite) distributer parts are the same as the same era MOPAR mostly. If you have a Delco its is GM mostly Chevy, Stude used both. Any way he had quite a list. I also got to know the guys at the CarQuest in Lubbock. We got to know the president of the local Studebaker Driver's Club who took Jake under his wing and was very good to him for the years he was there. Like hauling him to Clovis, New Mexico to pick up a transmission. Borg Warner T86s don't handle supercharged 289 Stude v8s well as Jake demonstrated a few times, but the OD feature is a lifesaver on the highway.

By the time I quit my part time job at O'Reilly there was little left on the shelf I needed a discount for and the frustration & pay wasn't worth being there. My younger son until a month or so ago was the commercial parts man for an O'Reilly in Reno. He could find anything that was anywhere for sale but he couldn't afford a life. We relied on him to find what we needed and still do even though he works fir his brother now. He still has connections.

O'Reilly grew too fast when they bought CSK ( Checker, Shucks, Kragen) who had bought up lots of other parts houses. They had to use the management from the failing places they bought and it hurt. They do have a group back in Missouri that helps stores find things but I don't think the folks at our local stores know that. I know they are not taught to use the books because people got upset with me when I used them, but I found the part. I still use some of my old CarQuest books. The change in parts stores and the disappearance of wrecking yards has taken a lot of fun out of what we do. Old age is not a plus either, but there is some left!

Yes, I had forgotten that those are machined as a pair. I'm sure many were mismatched.

When I was a kid my dad was a mechanic. He was also a machinist and was allowed to use the machine shop at a couple of the bigger parts houses in Amarillo. I often went with him. Those guys knew their stuff. When I was a counterman for several years I got to work with one of those old time lifelong parts guys. He taught me so much but there was more in his head than there was in the books.

I did it after I retired from teaching. CarQuest then Kragen & O'Reilly. CarQuest was my second favorite job. The best was robbing stagecoaches in Columbia, California.