I have a 50 Olds 98 with a single range hydramatic. In all the hydramatic manuals I have found, the transmission is a 4 speed automatic when in DR. My Olds starts in 2nd and shifts normally up to 4th. About the only time I have got to hear 1st is when I put the car in LO (second gear start type) and slowly started to move, then kicked down on the accelerator and the trans did go to 1st. I have looked at many 50 Olds adds on EBAY and they say "3 speed automatic". I kinda recall some hambers information about a 1st gear lockout in the early years. Is this really true that the valve body is deliberately blocking out 1st in the DR range? What is involved in removing the blockouts? I also hate the 2nd gear LO starts too. My 54 Olds dual range did not have this and started in 1st no matter what the range selected. Any way of removing this wonderful feature out of my dual range units? Yorgatron, please chime in if you have info on this.
I went for a ride in a 49 88 a few years back. The 2 bbl had been replaced with a stock early olds 4bbl intake and it had a mild cam, other than that he said it was the original 303. For a big car with under 200 horses it left really hard. I am almost positive it always started out in first from a dead stop regardles of the selector position.
sometimes it's hard to tell if it moves out in 1st or 2nd,i'm usually pretty good about keeping track of what gear is which,but every once in awhile i soft pedal the throttle and end up in top gear lugging it at 20 MPH... i went over this with my hydra-matic guru once,there was a large diameter spring available for the 1-2 shift in the truck valve body,the extra spring pressure would hold it in 1st for just a little bit longer. we couldn't figure out a part # though,so we're gonna try a few different springs until we find the right one.
What part of Kansas are you? There is an old man in Russell That knows hydro inside and out. If you are close to there I could get you his name and number. He just rebuilt my 49 hydro.
Thanks Yorgatron! I am going to examine the valve body carefully after checking the TV linkage for proper adjustment. It seems to be ok as the 2-3 and 3-4 shifts are fine. The other thing about this car is that it has a flat spot out of idle and perhaps the transmission goes to 2nd so fast (since I have to accelerate lightly to avoid stalling) that it does work correctly and it is just hard to know if 1st is actually there. I guess I could hold the brakes and accelerate up till the engine smooths out, then let the brakes off and listen for a 1-2 shift. Again thanks and I will try and find the harder spring and it's part #.
Hey guys, I need Hydromatic help bad,,,very bad. I know almost nothing about them except that they are 4 speeds. The only other thing I know is that I have a NOS B&M adapter to fit a hydro to my MEL engine, the Olds/Caddy bellhousing to match it and a very very wierd, and I mean wierd "B&M stick hydro tranny" which used a clutch. This tranny still has the throw out bearing, etc. I want to use this set up, less the clutch thingy (i want a torque convertor) in my 1959 Ranchero which will have a 410 Edsel MEL engine. However, like I said, I needs contacts of knowledgeable people concerning hydro's to help me gpo through the tranny. Got any ideas?
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