Fordomatic

Tkczecheredflag

Tkczecheredflag

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Been working to get my recently acquired ‘54 Skyliner road worthy. Getting close. My last issue is the transmission. When I place the gear shift selector in DH the transmission does not engage - you can hear the pump trying to engage but not successfully. If I select DL the transmission engages and the car is driveable. On a flat surface if I start in DL shift selector to DH and it will pass 2nd gear into 3rd gear and continue driving. Hard acceleration to down shift and same issue, it does not engage.
Any trouble shooting thoughts to try before consider pulling the transmission?

Thanks in advance for your input.
 
I’ve never worked on a 54, just 55’s many years ago. But there was a method for in the manual for adjusting the kickdown rod. Couple holes in the linkage you lined up and put a rod thru? Check the manual and see if that’s all done right. Hopefully someone will chime in.

By the way, if you have to pull it, they’re damn heavy. I think only a GM hydro weighted more. And I was young and strong then.

Looks like you’re new. Welcome. We love pictures, and putting your location in sometimes helps.
 
You need the 1954 FORD WORKSHOP MANUAL and it will give you a diagnostic sequence chart along with how to adjust the THROTTLE VALVE linkage correctly.
 
The throttle valve is adjusted to harden or soften the up shifts. This was before they ever thought about a vacuum modulator so transmission pressure is controlled by that TV rod. The transmission generally was intended to start out in 2nd for normal driving. Shifting down to 1st was there for pulling heavier loads. It sounds like it is acting normally in low. but someting is not allowing it to hook up for starting in 2nd. Just be aware that adjusting the TV rod may not fix your problem. Starting in low gets the car rolling and increases the throttle setting for a shift to 2nd. There may be a leak in there that is not allowing enough hydraulic pressure to get it to roll in 2nd.

Get the Ford-O-Matic manual for the 1954 at least. It has troubleshooting information in it. A lot of transmission shops don't have the manuals for the old stuff. A young tech might just look at you like a deer in the headlights. This is likely still a 1P transmission much like the 1951 Ford & Mercury cars. Things started to change in 1955.
 
Just out of curiosity, what transmission fluid are you using?

If you can identify the TV rod, making it linger, makes for harder shifts, ans shorter makes or softer shifts. Only adjust the rod by single turns, between tests and keep track of how may turns you use, so you can put it back to it's original position.
 
Good point, Paul, I was wondering about that myself, but I don't know 54s. I also thought that TK's description might be just his interpretation, not literal.
 
Regarding the shift selector, I mistyped the choices.

The forward selections are DR for intermediate and high gears and LO for the low gear.
 
rotorwrench said:
The throttle valve is adjusted to harden or soften the up shifts. This was before they ever thought about a vacuum modulator so transmission pressure is controlled by that TV rod. The transmission generally was intended to start out in 2nd for normal driving. Shifting down to 1st was there for pulling heavier loads. It sounds like it is acting normally in low. but someting is not allowing it to hook up for starting in 2nd. Just be aware that adjusting the TV rod may not fix your problem. Starting in low gets the car rolling and increases the throttle setting for a shift to 2nd. There may be a leak in there that is not allowing enough hydraulic pressure to get it to roll in 2nd.

Get the Ford-O-Matic manual for the 1954 at least. It has troubleshooting information in it. A lot of transmission shops don't have the manuals for the old stuff. A young tech might just look at you like a deer in the headlights. This is likely still a 1P transmission much like the 1951 Ford & Mercury cars. Things started to change in 1955.
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If you end up at a shop be very careful. This is where being a member of the local car club helps a ton! I had a 1963 Bonneville that had the Hydro-matic (not the THM) and it was not the same for the technician at all. They had my car for a month. I did not dive the car much so after about a yea-and-a-half the thing had 1,500 miles on it, and it started messing up. They fixed whatever it was, but they acted like they gave me some gift from the heavens.
 
As was said before, get a Fordomatic manual that explains how to adjust the linkage. That MAY be the problem.
 
Tkczecheredflag said:
. . . My last issue is the transmission. When I place the gear shift selector in DH the transmission does not engage - you can hear the pump trying to engage but not successfully. If I select DL the transmission engages and the car is driveable. On a flat surface if I start in DL shift selector to DH and it will pass 2nd gear into 3rd gear and continue driving. Hard acceleration to down shift and same issue, it does not engage.
Any trouble shooting thoughts to try before consider pulling the transmission? Thanks in advance for your input.
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paul2748 said:
As was said before, get a Fordomatic manual that explains how to adjust the linkage. That MAY be the problem.
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I agree. I've got a '55 with a Fordomatic that had a similar problem.
After replacing the engine and with the shifter in the drive position it would only move forward with difficulty while squealing & shaking the car. Placing the shifter in Lo it seemed to behave more normally, then manually shift it into drive.

Because the throttle linkage mechanism is mismatched to the car & engine I followed the Shop Manual instructions as closely as possible but had to do some guesswork.

I lengthened the adjustment link at the top of the TV rod 3 full turns to get it as close as possible to what the book called for.
After a test drive it worked much better and I left it alone. Some day I may try a bit of fine adjustment.
 

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Not sure if the same tool would work on the Ford-O-Matic, but I was lucky enough to find the one for my 53 Mercury, Merc-O-Matic. It really helps, in removing much of the guess work, when setting up the linkage.
 

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The degree tools were a big help with the 1P small case transmissions but they can be set up by eyeball if you know how the throttle valve lever is positioned from the get go. A person just has to understand that the internal pressure to the valve body is fully controlled this way. The TV valve can be set with a pressure gauge. There is a pressure regulator in the system but that is for line pressure just like any other automatic transmission.

When the throttle is pushed down to max then the trans control pressure maxes out and causes the down shift from 3rd back to 2nd for passing. Later cars had the downshift lever to control downshift only. These were on vacuum modulated transmissions. Ford started using them in 1961. 1958 was the first year for the dual range Cruise-O-Matic transmissions where they started out in 1st and went through the gears automatically due to the addition of the sprag unit. The advent of the 1955 Thunderbird 292, the 312, and the GM Hydromatic plant fire necessitated a stronger unit so the medium case Ford-O-Matic came out to work for those applications. Lincolns also had the medium case units till the large case units came out a year or so later.
 
My 55 Bird in Drive would start in second as normal then shift into third gear about 15' after starting off. Lugged all the time, and wouldn't kick down. It had an Edelbrock carb on it, with the original distributor. I replaced the distributer with one from a later 292 to solve the distributor advance problem. Put a Pertronix in too.

Then I dithered over the shifting for a long time since I had been advised I may hurt the trans if I fool with the kickdown setup, which had also been modified by the previous owner. Finally I got tired of not driving the car, and unscrewed the downshift rod six turns to see what would happen. It worked, and runs good so far.

Does a C-4 bolt in to my Bird? I would love to have it use all three gears without doing the shift lever tango.
 
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... whew ...

Opening a can of worms here.

I take it as the BIRD is a driver and not as it came from the factory. It is a driver and you have no interest in restoring it?

When you went from the LOAD-O-MATIC DIST to a later DUAL ADVANCE (is it OEM or aftermarket), how much was the off-line performance improved if any?

The EDEL, is it on a 1955 intake w/ adapter or was a 1957 intake used? Can you show a photo of how the TV linkage was modified?

You hate the SINGLE-RANGE that much to upgrade?
 
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- 1954 FORD FORD-O-MATIC TV ADJUSTING TOOL -​

The 1954 F-O-M was discussed previously here -

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=315356

QUOTE FROM EvilBay SELLER -

T54L-77230-A Transmission Shaft Assembly Gauge (control to accel) and T54L-77230-B Transmission Shaft Assembly Drill Gauge Template.

Both pieces are for 1954 Ford passenger car and truck with FORD-O-MATIC automatic transmissions.

The T54L-77230-B template was apparently a campaign change to the linkage setting.
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The 1951-1954 F-O-M was a joint venture between BORG-WARNER (of the time) and FOMOCO. The initial agreement ended with the 1955 production year and FOMOCO made several changes in the original BW design.
 
It doesn't just "bolt in". Flat-O-Matic makes a kit for the swap. It has a bellhousing and assorted parts. I did this swap in my 56 Bird and very happy with it.


Grumpy Rick said:
Does a C-4 bolt in to my Bird? I would love to have it use all three gears without doing the shift lever tango.
Click to expand...
 
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