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Fluid drive question


thebelvedereman

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The fluid drive on my 47 Dodge doesn't seem to be working correctly, wondering if anyone knows any tricks, once I shift from first to second gear, I can come to a stop in second or third without engaging the clutch, but the car will not shift by itself, not sure if it's true for a 47, but every fluid drive that I've driven so far if you're in 2nd gear and you Tromp the gas down it will downshift, and if you let the gas up while moving it will upshift, and in 3rd gear if you tromp the gas down it will downshift, well my car does neither, it will only stay in the gear that you're in, I'm in the process of moving, and my service manual is packed away somewhere, does anybody have an idea what could be wrong??, I remember something about the carburetor being different on the fluid Drive models, I don't see any difference in mine, maybe someone put the wrong carburetor on before I get the car, or maybe it has nothing to do with the carburetor my memories kind of fuzzy, it still drives just fine using the clutch and shifting gears manually

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Dodge was the half way house of mechanical....combined the Plymouth with features of the higher priced Chrysler and shared the larger platform.....my observation is by comparing the very repair manuals, the Plymouth book is very much detailed while the Dodge in many areas is just glossed over leaving me to feel that the person buying the Dodge was more apt to share some views with the Chrysler owner and return the car to the shop for repairs while the Plymouth owner was a competent hands on man which may have been driven a bit by the lower entry cost and need to be self reliant in repairs...again, mind idling in neutral..

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That's right. My '48 Dodge had the fluid drive and could be left in any gear without engaging the clutch. If I hit stop and go traffic, I used to leave it in second speed but I would depress the clutch when stopped to minimize heating up on a really hot day. Those cars are great.

John R

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In other words, there's nothing wrong with your car.  D24's have the three speed manual behind the fluid drive, for the "smoothest car afloat", with acceleration that can be described as "majestic" when taking off in third...

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1 minute ago, Dan Hiebert said:

... with acceleration that can be described as "majestic" when taking off in third...

 

LOL ?  "Majestic". I like that term. My truck has Fluid Drive with a spur gear 4 speed. I'll sometimes come to a stop without depressing the clutch, then forget to downshift out of 4th. I realize it quickly when the light goes green and I crawl away from a stop. It'll pull it though, as long as it is fairly flat.

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Although Plymouth did actually have fluid Drive, for almost six whole months in Chrysler's last-minute attempt to use up all the extra fluid drives before they debuted the automatic transmission, poor Plymouth was always Chrysler's bitch, they always got all the leftover parts LOL

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14 minutes ago, Dan Hiebert said:

In other words, there's nothing wrong with your car.  D24's have the three speed manual behind the fluid drive, for the "smoothest car afloat", with acceleration that can be described as "majestic" when taking off in third...

Yep, I'm just a dumbass, it's been 20 plus years since I've driven a fluid Drive, like I said out of all the Mopars I lean towards the Plymouth most of all

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Fluid Drive? Fluid Torque Drive, UnderDrive, Overdrive

Gyromatic,  TipToe Shift,  M4,M5,M6,  Simpimatic,  Vacamatic,  Prestomatic, Hydraulically Operated,  HyDrive, Gyro Torque Matic, Truck-O-Matic ....?

My oh My.............A lot of 40's 50's MoPar transmissions and couplings/converters to think about.

Edited by Dodgeb4ya
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5 hours ago, thebelvedereman said:

Although Plymouth did actually have fluid Drive, for almost six whole months in Chrysler's last-minute attempt to use up all the extra fluid drives before they debuted the automatic transmission, poor Plymouth was always Chrysler's bitch, they always got all the leftover parts LOL

when did this happen...you are not confusing the Hy-Drive with fluid coupling.....HY-Drive is the first torque convertor used and it multiplies the basic 6 cylinders 177 lbs of torque 2.6 times...this allowed for special faster gears in the transmission and at the same time a higher set of gears in the differential....

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That's why every old movie in New York with Yellow taxi cabs always had 47 Dodges they would leave it in 2nd gear all day running around town picking up fares!! We used to leave ours in third but I thing it was rough on clutch plus I got tired of getting honked at and getting passed by overweight kids on bicycles, car was really slow on the get away, but super easy to drive. On occasions that I did use all three gears these transmissions were the easiest to shift I ever owned. seemed like the shift from 1st to 2nt the shifter didn't even move over at the cross over point in the shift pattern!

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