I have never done any Torqueflite transmission. Not because I can't, but because the damn things are close to indestructible. The only one that I got into for a diagnosis was one that came in on the hook. I think that it was an old Dodge. It didn't look like it had had poor maintenance, it looked like it had had no maintenance. When I started it the lifters were noisy as hell. The oil looked like Oklahoma crude. I pulled the transmission pan and you couldn't see the filter for the sludge. I cleaned up anything that I could see - fortunately this 904 had a converter drain. I put a new filter in the tranny and refilled it with fresh ATF and took it for a test ride (I changed the engine oil and the five-pound oil filter first). The car ran OK and shifted perfectly. The road test was about four miles. When I got back to the shop I rechecked the transmission fluid and it looked like it had never been changed. I then took the car for a ten-mile drive and did another complete transmission fluid change including the converter again. I saw the car around town a couple of times over the next year, the owner didn't complain about the double fluid change, but he never brought the car back either.
Yep. I'm into them - an '85 D100 shortbed. Bought mine for $1 several years ago. Had a slant 6/auto and could barely pull itself around. Sold that slant six and bought a '78 440/727 Loadflite (HD 727 w/ extra planetary gear & hardened shaft) from a guy parting out a M300 Winnebego (van front end) with about 60K miles. Back-burner project which I need to give some attention to, but have a general plan of how I want it to look. I have the 440/727 in and need to wire it up. I also got the HUGE RV radiator in the deal and bought a fiberglass hood for it ('70 Challenger R/T style). Not planning on modifying the engine at this point - just a nice old pickup to use when needed. If you're thinking of exploring how far you want to go with it, try Bouchillon Performance Engineering website for all kinds of conversion kits and items.
My son has had a few of the 1972-79 Dodge Power Wagons AKA the Tin Ladies. The one he has now was supposedly a "Macho" Power Wagon with bright orange paint under the current paint job. I like the looks of this body style from '72 to '93. Don't be disappointed if it has the "leaning tower of power" instead of a V8, as the slant 6 was a great engine.
I dated a girl that had a Dodge Warlock back in the early 80's. I got sick of working on that thing but the transmission never gave her any trouble. I decided the fringe benefits just weren't worth crawling under that truck one more time...
I bought a Dodge 76 Power Wagon with a Myers plow back in 84 or 85 for $300. It had a 360 with the torqeflight trans and was beaten to death. It had flintstone floors and every trim and interior piece was rusted out and decayed in some way, a huge POS, but it always started and moved through anything. I plowed local driveways with it and made back the $300 + in one season then sold it to another guy for $400, never registered it, just made sure plenty of snow was on the step bumper to conceal the plate. Good times
wow - V8Buick - a first . a good number of positive mopar comments and ( almost ) no bad mouthing . i marked it on my calendar .
Dragged it up on the trailer yesterday and brought it home. Pressure washed the ext and shoveled 50 lbs of leaves n sticks out of the bed. Gotta say, its solid. Opened the hood and theres a V8 in there. Dirty, have no idea which engine. all the stickers are under the hood and intact. put a charger on the battery over night. Might try and see if it will crank after work and get more pictures. Looks like it was white over red and was resprayed with house paint. More later!
Love my Dodge.. 214,000 and only replaced the water pump. Sister has an '01 with 385,000 never rebuilt. Both are the 318. Take care of them and they will last.. I did have a 70 with the slant 6. Should have kept that I guess but it was one more project and I would really rather have my Buick.
Tinkered a bit after work today. Had the 2014 battery on the charger 16 hours and its dead as a doornail. Dropped in the extra optima and it cranked over great.Checked the oil, splashed a bit of gas in the carb and she fired off no problem. hooked up a test tank to the mechanical pump splash and fire. no fuel, pumps bad. Connected electric pump, prime and fire. Runs, low idle has oil pressure.Try to raise the rpm and its froze. little bit of leverage and I get it to move a bit. now running at 1200 -1500rpm. Pretty smooth. lifters quieted down no smoke, strange noises. Brake peddle goes pretty far down and the Brake light comes on but brakes hold. drops into R and D pretty solid thump. Maybe trans aint bad. Gonna soak the engine down in diesel fuel, let it set a day and wash the engine bay tomorrow afternoon. Believe its the 318 with a 2 BBL Holley carb.
Pressured cleaned it top and bottom. Probably had 10 pounds of dirt / grease on the driveway and in my hair by the time I was done. Now that its dry I still see more! Started doing the fuel system. Working on dropping the tank. replace all the rubber lines , blow out the steel lines. new pump and carb. Amazed and how solid it is. have not seen one spot of rust. Once its running on her own We'll see about the trans issues.
i think you can find a a518/46rh/46re from a newer ram if you want od. i would take it and the tbi setup from one and the trans and controller if its a re.
I bought a 1970 D-100 long bed 318 stick (three on the tree) new for $1,700 and change. It had a chrome grille, a heater, and nothing else. I bought an AM radio from the dealer for $60 including the antenna over the counter and installed it. I also bought a factory step and tow bumper from the dealer as well. I don't remember what it cost, but it was about half of what it would have been as an option. I loved that truck - straight axle, hand choke, and virtually nothing to go wrong. I only had it for a year - I bought it for the business that I owned at the time, and when I sold the business, the truck went with it. Part 2: One of the things that I like about Chrysler is that a number of oddball vehicles that would never have seen production anywhere else made the dealer's floors at Chrysler's. Many don't know it, but Chrysler built an aluminum slant six. It was an option, and few bought it because it offered nothing but reduced weight; something that people didn't care about at the time. In the early 60's there was a restaurant in Needham, MA named (if I remember correctly) Chicken Delight. They delivered in two Mopar pickups that were essentially Plymouth Voyager or Dodge Caravan mini-vans that were just the cab section with an open bed. Probably collector's items now. I worked for a shop that did their service, and both of these oddities had aluminum slant sixes. Neither gave any trouble outside of normal maintenance. They were the only Aluminum slant sixes that I have ever seen.
Finished the fuel system yesterday. After a few attempts it started running on her own. Drove it around the neighborhood for a few miles and the trans acted like it should. No slipping, passing gear works. Wonder if all it needed was a fluid /filter change. The fluid was dark but not burnt smelling. Filter looked pretty bad. There was some stuff that looked looked jelly in the corners of the pan and a little boofoo stuck to the magnet. Did the engine oil change while it was on the lift as well.
