Ford Cast Iron cruise-O matic transmission

[Crosley.In.AZ]

I rebuilt one of these old dinosaurs today...   it's been a decade or so since I built one.

[Learpilot]

I rebuilt one of these old dinosaurs today...   it's been a decade or so since I built one.

Looks great !!! I have a question, Do you always paint them after a rebuild ?  Does that make them a little hotter or not ?
Thanks, Rick

[2rods]

Why do they have 2 pumps? I dismantled a powerglide and it had a front and rear pump.

[slocrow]

Why do they have 2 pumps? I dismantled a powerglide and it had a front and rear pump.

For a push start, I'm guessing.................

[Crosley.In.AZ]

The rear pump power glide will not up shift to 2nd gear if the rear pump fails. usually the drive pin shears of in the p-glide  rear pump.

Most of the rear pump trannys would push start.


a coating of paint does  not hurt the trans temps.

[dragrcr50]

for crosley,  hey my 2000 f250 powerstroke 4x4 's od trans wont respond to the button on the stlk to turn off overdrive.  i hav e changed the button,   what is likely the problem  200k miles otherwise works great has banks turbo etc

[The Paisano]

The cruiseomatic trans was refered to as an FMX transmission.When the rear pump had enough pressure going out through it to lock up the trans and actually could jumps start a crar atr arounf 28-35 mph.
I actually only rememer on guy trying this without success,if I reacll right.
IT's a heavy cast iron piece.WAs Just about as dependable as anothing out there.The Mopar TorqueFlight had a pretty good tract record at the track.
The FMX only draw back was that if you didn't change fluid and clean the filter screen,the rubber o ring seals would get hard and cause real shift problems when cold.Band technology was pretty poor to.
The Paisano

[Crosley.In.AZ]

The FMX trans came later , after the small , medium , large case Cruise-O matic trans.  

Easy way to tell a FMX trans.... they are case fill which means the  dip stick  filler tube inserts into the case , not the pan filler tube  as the pictured transmission.

The pictured cruise-O is a medium case, the most common size.

Sam... a scanner on the f-250 truck would show if the command for O-drive was  changing  off or on.  If the command is there.. then a solenoid problem most likely. You need a CAN capable scanner , not a cheap code reader.

IF the command for o-drive off/on  is not there... then i suspect an electrical problem from the steering column on down to the trans.  Some tilt columns had wire problems if the tilt was often cycled up and down daily.

[RottenRodney]

This comes at a pretty good time as we're gittin' set to git after a cast iron Cruise-O' as well. This one's still bolted to the back of a good used Studebaker 289 and the package is gunna end up in a Deuce leftovers project. I'm encounterin' some head-scratchin' resistance from friends who just don't understand... I'm usin' this 'cause I have it. Does that make sense here? I knew you guys would understand.

[wayne petty]

just curious... tony. ever thought about snapping picts of all the older or oddball stuff that goes through .. make a picture history of your own... instead of just drawings to identify stuff...

enough images... you could even make a coffee table book out of the images..


again.. just a passing thought...

[Crosley.In.AZ]

just curious... tony. ever thought about snapping picts of all the older or oddball stuff that goes through .. make a picture history of your own... instead of just drawings to identify stuff...

enough images... you could even make a coffee table book out of the images..


again.. just a passing thought...

wayne,

I have hundreds of photos of various transmissions , related internal parts.

[phat rat]

for crosley,  hey my 2000 f250 powerstroke 4x4 's od trans wont respond to the button on the stlk to turn off overdrive.  i hav e changed the button,   what is likely the problem  200k miles otherwise works great has banks turbo etc

Is that button on the end of the shifter? If so it might be having the same problem as Chev trucks turning on tow/haul. The wire coming down from the button breaks from the constant bending. I got tired of fixing mine and extended the wire enough to reach  a monetary button I put in the side of the console

[wayne petty]

tony... a thought... just  hit me... in emergency flat towing... would/might dumping several extra quarts of atf in the trans help lube things during the tow...   i know that pulling the drive shaft is the way to go... but you just cannot convince some people....

i still remember the old man with the big boat.. telling me of how he was flat towing one of his cars... when he felt a bump from the towed car...

then the torque converter out of that car passed him on the right going about 40mph...  rolled up a gas station drive way.. bounced off the pumps and with some speed still left in it...  right into the service bays...  

seems the motor was out of that car... nothing holding the converter in place... it was probably a late 50's lincoln continental..

i wonder what the techs in the service bay were thinking..  as a torque converter came crashing into their shop....

[dragrcr50]

hey guys in passing,  i used to run a trans shop til the early 90s and then it was gonig til about 99 and the owner was murdered/  anyway his son is a very good friend of mine  and big time street rodder.  
His mother wont let him scrap eveything as it shoud be several nice bldgs and equip .  heres the deal  he has many rebuilt transmissions automatic and standard in stock and a lot of rebuilt trans converters.  they did the converters in thier own shop .  he still has all of these  and they have been built for many yrs now, but would like to sell them.  so if you have something you cannot find get with me and ill see if it is in stock and can be boughtr very reasonable i think ,  we has some old cast iron cruisomatics, jetaways etc around .  i know lots of old chrysler trannies etc. the guys that ran it for him and killed him were dirt racers and all fo the chevy stuff is gone .    just a thought might help someone ..sam

[jaybee]

A friend of mine once bought a car with a Cruis-O out of a junkyard & had the yard tow it his place in the country.  It was hooked to the tow truck when we got there to escort him out to the place so we didn't know the driveshaft was still in.  After about 12 miles at 45-55mph it was clear the rear pump was trying to lock something up because we looked in the rearview mirror to see smoke rolling out from under the car.  The think was so hot it didn't stop smoking for almost 1/2 hour.