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Fluid Drive Transmission Question - 1950 Dodge w/ Gyromatic


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Guest Hispanikpanic

Good morning folks.  I have a 1950 Coronet as well.  My mechanic has told me to put hydraulic fluid in my transmission???? is this correct?  I see in the manual it calls for 10 weight motor oil.  Can someone help a newbie out?? LOL

 

Thanks

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If he used TDH (transmission, differential, and hydraulic) fluid,  ISO32 grade, he used the right thing. There are lots of different kinds of hydraulic fluid.

 

Correct choices: straight 10 motor oil, or TDH ISO32.

 

It isn't hard to change and only takes about 2 quarts.

 

Fluid Drive unit is separate, takes the same fluid. This subject has been covered about 1000 times. If you do a search for Fluid Drive you will find enough info to keep you amused for weeks.

Edited by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)
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  • 1 year later...
3 hours ago, LillyBelle said:

Any idea as to where i can get one of the solinoids thats mounted by the carb? Mine looks like its seen better days.  

The ones used on Carters are available, and reasonable in price.

 

The ones used on the Strombergs are available.

 

You will need the carburetor identification number.

 

Jon.

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  • 2 years later...
On 4/8/2003 at 2:14 AM, Jon Robinson said:

Luke:

These are really nice cars and terribly underrated. You'll enjoy yours once you get some bugs ironed out, and you've come to the right place. I started 20 years ago with a 1949 Dodge Coronet club coupe, and after a succession of old Chrysler products, went back to the Fluid Drive era deliberately, and I've put 130,000 miles on my 1950 DeSoto in the last 12 years.

It is possible someone removed the automatic gearbox from your car. I saw a 1950 Dodge Coronet club coupe like that once.

Fluid Drive was just the fluid coupling that allowed you to some to a stop with the depression the clutch, as you say. It was also designed to cushion the drivetrain against all the vibration the crude early roads inflicted on cars. They started putting automatic-shifting gearboxes behind the Fluid Drive in 1941, and it was refined into your M-6 "Gyromatic" in 1949.

The first step is to determine whether your car still has the M-6 automatic gearbox. Take a look at the passenger's side of the transmission and see if there are two soup-can-shaped devices sticking upward out of the gearbox, pointing toward the floorboard. If these devices are there, you have an automatic, and we'll go from there. Also, look for a wiring harness coming up from the transmission and connecting to the two little connectors on the spark coil with three wires running over to the carburetor.

These transmissions are work very nicely and are super-reliable. If neglected, they tend to have a few very predictable, easily corrected quirks. Also, once we get your transmission cured, I'll help you with your power problem. As you say, these were not racing cars at all, but I've driven my Dodge and DeSoto over the Colorado Rockies and the Cajon Pass here in California routinely, and I keep up with traffic, no problem. You may have a dragging brake shoe, and even more likely, you may have a dirty, out-of-adjustment parking brake on the rear of the transmission--very common and easily fixed. There are also questions of rear axle ratio I can tell you about.

You have a nice, comfortable road car that will serve you well, especially on long trips. My latest trip with the DeSoto was a meandering 6,300 miles between southern California and St. Paul, Minnesota.

Tell me what transmission you have, and we'll get started.

JON

Hey JON,

             I have a 1950 Dodge Coronet, with the gyromatic trans. I can manually shift reverse, 1st and 3rd. It sounded like she was trying to shift into 2nd and 4th on her own, but just grinding gear sound. I checked the gearbox and she was dry. Filled it up with 3qts of SAE 90, haven't test drove yet. I was wondering what those "easy to follow steps" you had about the gryomatic trans were. Don't want to damage anything as this car has blown my mind with how well she runs! 

Thanks,

Kurt J

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