thinking about buying a 55 buick. but the trans will not go in reverse.. any ideas what besides linkage will cause this? and is it correctable.. thanks for your input
don't know about a dynaflow but on more modern trans no reverse is a sure sigh trans needs attention ,clutch packs etc,could get lucky and just be low fluid or plugged screen ,filter,llinkage etc but even if it is usually it is plugged with pieces of the trans I would plain for the worse case
BUMP For NailheadJay... Anyone else have any ideas for him? I'm not familiar with Buick tranny's either.
Maybe this is what happened. One major word of caution. Assuming your 55 still has the Dynaflow automatic, do not put the vehicle in reverse till it warms up and you are under 800 RPM. There are several threads on Dynaflows here, and most find them very rewarding but dropping a dynaflow in reverse while reving the engine will probably result in kicking the reverse band "strut" out of position, and render the gear inoperable. I usually warm my car up till it idles on slow idle and then lightly hold the brake so that when I put it in reverse it can begin to move and preventing the clunk, or lurch. From AACA
Back in the day, Dynaflows were famous for no reverse. The reverse band would break where it was attached. They made a kit to fix it without removing the transmission or replacing the band. All you had to do was drop the pan and install the kit, and it worked for the life of the transmission. If you can find a NOS kit you will be in business.
Try adjusting linkage for sure. If that fixes the problem, it also indicates that it is time to replace motor mounts, trans mount and thrust pad. When these get sloppy, the motor/trans assembly move around a bit and impact the adjustment of the linkage. Not a tough job to do, but replace all four.
Like bjr in post #7 says. Have heard of them being welded but we are about to find out on my kids 55 dynaflow.