48 Chrysler Windsor Fluid Drive

[Guest MarkWelleJr]

Hi all-new to the site, and VERY new to classic cars, so bear with me...

Recently acquired this car, in very good shape, complete driver, nice looking car. I am learning many things as I go, but have a question (one of many I'm sure...). I believe this car should have a total of 4 forward gears, correct? 2 lo, and 2 hi (1/2 and 3/4), with the car driving like an automatic in lo or hi, and clutch-shifting between lo & hi. So far so good? If so, my question is that my car will not shift into '4th' gear. Auto shift between '1st' and '2nd' no problem, clutch-shift into hi ('3rd') no problem, but no '4th'. Reverse is also fine.

What should I be looking at? What I've tried to research so far has lead me in several directions from the carb and some sort of wires to the transmission itself...thoughts?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

[jeff]

I am certainly not an expert on Chryslers or Fluid Drive.

But, is it possible that when you manually shift to "High" you are already at a speed such that you engage 4th, not 3rd? I believe the car is meant to be driven from a full stop with the gear shift in the "High" position - in other words, only using 3rd and 4th for most normal driving, and manually selecting "Low" for starting on a steep hill, etc. Try such a start, and see if you get a shift when you momentarily lift off of the gas (at about 15 - 20 mph, I would guess).

Jeff

[Guest fustydad]

Mark,

There's an article at The Fluid Drive torque converter that will give you a pretty good explanation. I have a 41 Chrysler with fluid drive and I just checked the wiring against the diagram in the 41-48 shop manual but haven't driven it yet to see if it properly connected. If you haven't, the shop manual is available from a couple sources on the web.

[Guest Bob Call]

The fluid drive is designed to drive in the high range under normal conditions. Depress the clutch and shift into high range (where 3rd gear would be on a normal 3 speed transmission) then release the clutch. Start by pressing the accelarater pedal and when you get up to 12 to 15 mph let up on the accelarater and let it shift into 4th then press the accelerater and drive normally. Start in low range (where 2nd gear would be on a normal 3 speed transmission) if you are starting up hill or pulling a heavy load. In low range let it shift at about 7 or 8 mph and when you get to about 15 mph depress the clutch and shift to high range.

[Rusty_OToole]

If you are shifting into hi range at over 14 MPH it may be automatically shifting into hi gear of hi range. What happens when you start off in hi range and lift off the gas at over 14 MPH? Does it shift? If it does the trans must be working correctly.

You are supposed to start off in hi range anyway. For complete information do a search for Fluid Drive in the Chrysler section, there is plenty of info on driving, servicing and repairing, especially a couple of long threads from 2008.