Cracked the case - PICS

[grdprx]

Had a transmission failure yesterday.  Heard a loud noise then a little rattling, then saw fluid on the tail shaft..  (I have a hole in the floor)
Limped it home, wasn't too far away.  Wouldn't shift up to 3rd.
Found this after I parked it.

[500Jon]

OOPS!

Was the hole in the floor there before the trans failure???
Seen this where the park lever fails and engages into the PAWL!
OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[grdprx]

Ya, the hole in the floor is a prior owners idea of a 4 speed conversion. I've been working up the nerve to tackle the metal work.
But first, my tranny wants attention!

[John_Kunkel]

Looks like the guts flew out of the governor and the parts wedged between the tailhousing and the shaft.

[grdprx]

I'll drop the pan this weekend and work on getting the transmission out over the next few weeks... 

[Cooter]

Looks like about where governor is.....

[Charger-Bodie]

Time to take advantage of that hole in your floor to swap in a 4 speed!

[Dino]

And here I thought you solved a murder case or something.   

Yep, time to put that 4 speed in.   

[grdprx]

That conversion is out of my league, I am pretty happy with how it drove.  Got an unforeseen winter project now.

[John_Kunkel]

I'll drop the pan this weekend and work on getting the transmission out over the next few weeks... 

No need to pull the trans, the damage should be limited to the tailhousing which can be removed in the car. If some of the debris got into the pan it might need to be removed.

[grdprx]

I'll drop the pan this weekend and work on getting the transmission out over the next few weeks... 

No need to pull the trans, the damage should be limited to the tailhousing which can be removed in the car. If some of the debris got into the pan it might need to be removed.

Would a busted governor prevent it from up shifting to 3rd?

[fy469rtse]

John's on the money ,
damage restricted to tail extension , broken parts still in there ,
you will know when you slip the rear off,
and yes busted governor will affect it, do you have a spare trans to pirate bits for repair ?

[grdprx]

I do have a parts tanny, I'll have to get under there and check it out.
May not be all doom and gloom like I've been feeling the last couple days...

[grdprx]

This is not looking good...   

[1974dodgecharger]

Huh looks like time for 4 speed.....

[BudW]

This is not looking good...   

Doesn't look that bad to me.

The E-clip (the cause of failure) is in the upper Left hand corner (first picture). 
The metal savings that is present is about what I would see in this type of failure.

Replace the tail housing and damaged governor components (I would swap the entire governor assembly, myself) and you are back in business. 
Should be about a two (to maybe three) hour job.

BudW

[John_Kunkel]

Yep, the small e-clip is the most common part that initiates catastrophic governor failure.

The e-clip snaps into a groove in a shaft that's wider than the clip so it's a good idea to push on the end of the shaft to seat the clip as far outboard in the groove as possible. (right side in pic below) Failure to do so allows the mass of the governor weight to "get a run on" the clip and shove it off the end of the shaft.

[Rolling_Thunder]

4-speed...    the swap isnt that difficult ---  I've never grenaded a 4-speed in my life....     and I'm hard on transmissions....     autos...   well lets just say I can barely count on one hand.

[1974dodgecharger]

4-speed...    the swap isnt that difficult ---  I've never grenaded a 4-speed in my life....     and I'm hard on transmissions....     autos...   well lets just say I can barely count on one hand.

you can grenade them if you didn't rebuild it and rebuilt the engine for more power.  I left the tranny alone stock tranny, grenade, never say never 

[c00nhunterjoe]

Im pretty sure that im going to scatter a 4 speed this spring.....

[1974dodgecharger]

Im pretty sure that im going to scatter a 4 speed this spring.....

im sure its not 47 years old either coon im sure you rebuilt it and took care of it.  I took care of mine, but it was old and ragged.

[c00nhunterjoe]

Im pretty sure that im going to scatter a 4 speed this spring.....

im sure its not 47 years old either coon im sure you rebuilt it and took care of it.  I took care of mine, but it was old and ragged.

Age doesnt matter when traction comes into play.... lol. They were only built to handle so much. Your failure looked like a stress fracture that scattered. Perhaps an out of balance driveline somewhere in its life that led go its demise
After 47 years, its hard to say what the previous owners have done to any our our toys before we got them. Its all part of the game.

[Dino]

It's those big wheels of him that did it.  There.   

[grdprx]

Started taking stuff apart today. Driveline is off and tranny support is off. Tomorrow I'll get the tail shaft case off and see what I have to work with...

[fy469rtse]

I Still think you will be ok ,
check park pall lever , could be some damage done to that , but with a spare trans and bits  ,
my tip put a big magnet in bottom of pan, dump fluid again after a few miles and change filter again if magnet picks up any more debri