Technical 1950 Hydramatic Help

'telekenfun' this is the last of the hijack, I gotta answer your questions!

I don't know who was first with the Hydro modifications; B&M was certainly the best known. I think Cal Hydro was a B&M competitor. By late '63 Hydros were being re-worked in local garages, mine was set-up by a local guy; he would machine the inside of the clutch packs to add extra plates/disks.

I pulled that article off the HAMB years ago, I think I have one from another magazine saved somewhere....

'Speedy Canuck' - followed your link, nothing there...

 

'telekenfun' This is the last hijack, I want to answer your questions...

I don't know who was first to modify Hydros, B&M was certainly the best known. I think Cal Hydo came after B&M and was a competitor. By late '63 there were a lot of companies modifying them, mine was done by a local guy. One of his tricks was to machine the inside of the clutch packs to add discs/clutches.

I copied that arcticle from here on the HAMB years ago

'Speedy' - I followed your link but nothing was there....

 

The 54 and 55 Willys Aero cars optioned the hydramatic too. I have a 55 Willys Super Hurricane with hydro behind it. I have a 53 Hudson Superjet with 202 flathead six and hydramatic, along with a 55 Nash Rambler with 196 flathead six and hydramatic. Both are very responsive due to hydramatics 1st gear!

Some GMC and Chevy big trucks used a Buick 322 Nailhead with hydramatic too. From what you said about sixes used in GMC and Chevy trucks, I take it that both the GMC and the Chevy early sixes had the same bell pattern.

Lastly, let's not forget the Muntz Jet, it came with hydramatic too.

 

There were a couple of companies modifying Hydros in the 50s. Cal Hydro was a competitor of B&M, along with Hydro Motive and one or two others.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, that link will give you a bunch of information on modification, installation, parts, magazine articles, etc.

 

Hmm. Here's the link again. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/social-forums/hydro-tech.671/ It's a social group. Alternately, you can just click the group button under my avatar to the left. That'll take you there. The group is "Hydro Tech"

 

Agreed ..... Being there, back in the drag racing days of Stone, Woods and Cook ....... Dropping the hydros in gear from neutral just did not happen.
That hydro had a wicked 1st gear ratio, cars were a "hole shot wonder" with the hydro.

 

Speedy - figured it out - you have to join the group to see the posts.... .

......Now I've got a lot of reading to do!!

 

So, to update here, Ive sorted out enough of the fuel/brake problems that I can mess with the transmission. If I set the throttle valve linkage nuts towards the radiator, I CAN get the trans to shift down (4-3) when flooring up a hill, HOWEVER, The shifting through all the gears from a dead stop is very quick, and it slips 2-3. Im in 3rd and 4th really quickly. So, by placing the adjusting nuts towards the firewall, I can space out the shift points more properly. Each gear winds out longer and shifts well. My problem is, with the shifts set properly, it wont down shift 4-3 while driving up a hill. I dont think I can find a sweet spot with the adjustments. It pretty much needs to be set where it is in order to wind the gears out longer, as they should be.

 

Thanks, hopefully I'll look at it today

 

Everyone who wanted an auto trans in the early 50s used the Dual Range Hydramatic (called that because of the dual planetaries -- essentially a pair of two speed trannys back to back, or rather a Power Glide two speed is half a Hydro...). There was no other full auto trans! GM sold them to the competition in the early 50s after production was up enough that they could make more than GM needed. Various deals were struck. The only one I have knowledge of is the AMC deal. In exchange for being allowed to buy Hydros, GM was given royalty free use of the patents AMC (Nash... became AMC in 1954) had on their "Weather Eye" ventilation system. Nash started using the Hydro in 1950. Borg-Warner (Detroit Gear division) and Studebaker had teamed up to develop an auto, also introduced in 1950. That may be what prompted GM to sell to others. Interestingly, as Stude ran into financial troubles, Ford joined with BW to further develop that auto around 53 or 54. That led to the Cruise-O-Matic and derivatives (FM, FX, and FMX trannys), which were license built BW designs, but with different cases and valve bodies. Rotating assemblies interchanged, and BW was contracted to supply 50% of Ford's needs for five years.

 

I thought Ford switched/doubled down on other options due to the Hydramatic factory fire in 53'?

 

Ford entered a mutual development agreement with Borg-Warner about 1953 after Studebaker backed out due to financial difficulties and the Packard buy-out. Detroit Gear was a division of BW and had been working with Studebaker. BW later stopped using the DG name for the auto tranny division (might have spun it off to it's own division???). This led up to a contract with Borg-Warner to produce half the auto trannys needed by Ford for a five year period (IIRC it was five... might have been ten...). The Ford Cruise-O-Matic and Ford-O-Matic trannys were actually Borg-Warner designs manufactured with cooperation from Ford. They differ slightly from the BW M-8 internally. The (expensive to produce) rotating assemblies are the same, but the case and valve body are unique to Ford and BW versions. That's why a rebuild gasket kit works for several Ford and BW trannys -- there are 2-3 gaskets for things like pans and VBs to cover all models. I forget the order, but the first "O-matic" was the "F" model, the second the "M". The third was thus called the FMX -- the best features of the F and the M combined. The FMX was the last BW based Ford tranny... unless you want to count the AOD, which I believe is FMX based...

 

I don't recall Ford ever using the Hydramatic?

 

^^^Maybe not specifically "Fords", but the Hydro was used in early 50's Lincolns, a division of Ford^^^.
I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

I think Lincoln used the Hydramatic in their top of the line cars, but too expensive for Ford models.
Here's a good history of the Ford/Borg-Warner agreement, and Ford auto trans development along those lines up to the AOD. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise-O-Matic
According to the Hydramatic article on Wikipedia, 49-54 Lincolns used it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydramatic

 

Splitting hairs