1957 Thunderbird Three Speed Noise

1

1967 Camaro

Member
Took the Thunderbird out for a ride yesterday and became aware of a nasty noise while in first gear. Doesn't really make the noise accelerating in first but coasting in first the noise is very noticeable. Doesn't seem to make the noise in second or third. I have not been under the car yet but wanted some advice as to what to look for. My local friends who own early birds have said the motor must be pulled to pull the transmission due to the X bracing. Any advice will be appreciated.
 
According to the '57 shop manual (which you should have :)) the trans can be removed from the engine in car, but imo would be much easier to just pull the engine with trans. I have pulled the engine/auto trans from a '56 Bird and was not difficult using a leveler. :cool:
 
Assuming the transmission was not recently worked on, in general there are a couple possibilities for a noisy first gear. The slider gear (7100 in the drawing) and the mating teeth on the cluster gear(7113 in the drawing) could have severely damaged teeth, creating a growl of sorts when the transmission is under load. If a tooth was busted off it would tend to make clicking sound.

The other possibility is a worn ( or damaged) front ball bearing, or damage to the needle bearings inside the cluster gear.
 
Guess I will be pulling the engine/trans in the near future. Discovered something interesting when I had the car up on ramps. The engine is a Fred Jones Rebuild as he tagged the block on the passenger side with a serial number, bore size, main and rod size on the crank. Fred Jones had the big dealership in Oklahoma that was recently demolished. My trans. code is AB-7222-B. Also has 77X in the main casting. Thanks for the advice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top