I've recently inherited my dad's pickup truck. 1954 chevy with a hydramatic transmission. he had been restoring it and i've finally got it put back together and running. I've never seen an automatic this old and figured it was a 3 on the tree. dumb question, i can get it in gear forward, but cannot seem to find reverse. is there some trick to this? i may have some mechanical problems that i'm not aware of too. any guidance would be appreciated on this kind of truck.
Shift pattern on the early trans is usually N-D-L-R, later P-N-D-L-R, reverse wasn't moved to between Park and Neutral until the 60s.
1954 Chev pickup had an option available of a 4speed Hydramatic and they were very rare and very cool. Not sure, but as someone else has stated, some of the older Hydramatics had reverse all the way down to the right......were low would be on current automatics.
I pulled one out of a 1954 Chevy P>U> once and put it in my 57 Chev two door post with a 301 CI and 4:11 rear the thing screamed
my dad had the book with it, it shows N 1-4 1-3 1-2 R. From what i gather, it was an option for the year. the first for Chevy Trucks to have it. I can shift thru all 3 forward, but from what it shows me for R, nothing. thought there may be some trick there.
'54 Chevy pickup would have the 4-speed Hyrdamatic. As others have said reverse is all the way to the right. Is there a position at that end that doesn't do anything? If not you may just need to adjust the shifter. I own a '54 GMC with a Hydramatic but have never worked on the transmission.
i have one in a 56 pickup and reverse is all the way down where low would normally be. also another intresting fact about them is that you put in reverse when u park it and that holds it from rolling away
You have a dual range hydramatic and the shift quadrant is (left to right) N DR4 DR3 Lo R. R doubles as a parking gear with engine off. No reverse sounds like the reverse clutch apply or the clutch itself is the trouble. The reverse blocker valve may be stuck too. (This prevents reverse engagement above 15-20mph. You might try draining all the fluid, including the coupling, and filling. See what happens then, you might get lucky and R comes back.
all, it was a linkage problem on the steering column. the shifter linkage that bolts on to there was not on correctly. needed to be turned clockwise to allow the shifter to push it all the way back for reverse. adjusted that and its shifting correctly now.
I have the same type truck. Reverse is park with the motor running. Starts in neutral. & it is a Hydramatic Trans. It cost me 3500.00 to get rebuilt. Runs great.
If some has one of these trans for sale I would be interested. Has to be 54 p.u Hydramatic.they originally came mated with motor.
I would like for some one to send me picts of the shift mech that is down at the steering box. I think I am missing some parts. Please send picts to dbk220s@yahoo,con This is for 1st series 55 pu with hydro Thanks Don
Why don't some people put their city and state in their postings ? They may find someone close to them that could / would help them.
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