56 Country Sedan Tailshaft Removal

[My Old Blue]

56 County Sedan automatic trans. I've found the article by Tim Roden, CTCI showing his method to removing his T- Bird transmission and by all accounts a great step by step paper.

My problem is I'm struggling to pull back the tail shaft that is engaged into the planetary gears. I've removed the tube going up into the planetary and as far as I can see removed all components that would hold it in.

Short of using a dead blow hammer, am I missing something here to pull the tailshaft out? Any tips would be much appreciated.

Thank you

[Dominic Hide]

There is a second tube that is flush with the bottom of the transmission case. It is located under the valve body. You will find a relevant picture in the enclosed post from the h.a.m.b. that I participated in several years ago. Hope it helps....

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/.../#post-2428078

[darrell]

im not sure what your doing.are you trying to remove the tailshaft so you can remove the transmission.if thats the case you dont have to.

[Daves55Sedan]

Removal of Ford-O-Matic trans from '55 & '56 full size cars can be done in one of two ways. I have always taken out the trans case and rear extension housing as a unit. But you can also un-bolt all the converter-to-flexplate bolts and remove the entire trans with the converter & bellhousing as a single unit.
But either way you do it, you still need to remove the bolts that hold the transmission crossmember to the frame. Un-bolt the trans rubber mount to that crossmember and drop that crossmember down while using a floor-jack (and plywood) under the trans fluid pan.
Once everything is un-bolted, you can pull back the trans and begin to drop the jack slowly while pulling forward.
If just removing trans case with extension housing as a unit, you need to push the trans all the way back to clear the back of the bellhousing. Tilt the trans down at the front while lowering the jack and pulling forward at the same time allowing clearance between the front pump shaft and the back of the bellhousing. You will notice there is barely enough room, but I have done it several times and I am a lightweight.

[My Old Blue]

Thank you for the info. I've tried to angle the transmission down and out past the engine and I cannot get the bell housing to clear while the tailshaft house hits the floorboard well. The cross member is out.

I pushed transmission back up and trying the tailshaft removal method so I can drop the bell and main case straight down and then pull tailshaft/housing out. I've pulled the tube that is flush and tried all I could to separate the tailshft from housing. I assume this is tight tolerance fit and not a matter that I missed a bolt or something else holding tailshaft in place.

[darrell]

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remove the mount and shove the trans all the way back then lower the front.when you get it down so far you can pull out the torque converter and if you want you can remove the bellhousing.once you get rid of all that weight up front its easy to remove.done one last spring.

[Daves55Sedan]

The easiest way I have removed a Ford-o-matic is by un-bolting the trans case from the bellhousing (leaving the converter & bellhousing bolted to the engine). After dropping the trans crossmember (and having a rolling floor jack under the trans fluid pan), you can pull the trans out of the bellhousing until the front pump shaft clears the bellhousing opening. Now SLOWLY and incrementally, let down the floor jack so that the front of the trans tilts downward (while simultaneously guiding the front pump shaft down past the bellhousing). This also requires pulling the trans forward as the trans is being lowered so that the rear extension housing does not tilt so much that it hits the bottom of the floor (transmission hump).
The front of the car needs to be raised up pretty high. If you have a set of ramps to drive the car up on, that will be plenty of room.
It is a tough job for a wiry little fellow like me, but I have done it several times, step-by-step just like this.
I do not think it is of any value to remove the aluminum rear extension housing at all. It really wouldn't add enough room to make a difference.
If you are doing all this and still having trouble, it is possible that your engine front steady rest is missing (which may have allowed the side motor mounts to sag backward). That would mean you have less space between the little stationary crossmember under the very rear of the extension housing and the back of the bellhousing. As I mentioned before, there is literally a fraction of an inch to work with between the front pump shaft and back of the bellhousing when the engine is in the right spot. If you lose any ground there, you may be defeated. But it can be corrected by re-installing the front engine steady rest with a new set of motor mounts.

[My Old Blue]

Daves55Sedan, good info here! I'll give your method a try. The front engine steady rest is still there. Thank you all for the tips and insight.

[My Old Blue]

I gave up trying to follow the shaft removal method and tried to pull trans as a unit angled down past engine. Got stuck on flywheel. Pushed trans back up and figured only way was to remove the flywheel and viola, I was able to drop trans. I must have missed that removing flywheel was key step. Was a learning experience as this was the first time I ever removed a transmission.

I do have a another question. When I install transmission back , is bell housing alignment neccessary? Or just bolt it all back in and move on?

[Daves55Sedan]

Originally Posted by My Old Blue

When I install transmission back , is bell housing alignment neccessary? Or just bolt it all back in and move on?

The alignment you need to pay attention to is in re-assembly of the converter front plate/flywheel to the converter impeller/housing. The converter assembly is balanced at the factory. The balance is marked by "0" stamped on the side of the impeller/housing and a matching "0" is stamped onto the front of the front plate/flywheel. Make sure those "0"s are lined up.
There is no alignment necessary for the bell-housing to engine mounting. If I remember correctly, there is a set of "dogs", one on each side of the trans mounting flange on the engine which corresponds to mating holes in the bellhousing. It is a pretty tight fit. Just make sure both mating surfaces are clean before assembly.

[Daves55Sedan]

Originally Posted by My Old Blue

tried to pull trans as a unit angled down past engine. Got stuck on flywheel. Pushed trans back up and figured only way was to remove the flywheel and viola, I was able to drop trans. I must have missed that removing flywheel was key step.

If this is an air-cooled Ford-O-Matic, the flywheel is an integral part of the converter, but there is a separate "flex-plate" which is bolted to the crankshaft with six bolts. The flex-plate connects to the converter with three bolts on each side (total of six). If removing the whole trans as a unit, it is necessary to remove that half-moon cover-plate at the bottom-front of the converter and rotate the crankshaft to expose the 3 bolts holding the converter to the flex-plate. Rotate a second time to get the second three bolts out. Now the converter is disconnected from the engine. You should be able to push the whole trans back enough to give room for removing the six bolts at the back of the crankshaft flange, but I am not sure it is necessary to remove the flex-plate. Instead, just rotate the crankshaft until the 3-hole metal tabs are oriented horizontally.
It will be necessary to string heavy bailing wire across two of the bellhousing mounting holes to keep the converter from falling out of the bellhousing when lowering the transmission.