1942 Hydramatic - Front Servo Removal

[TMoore - NTCLC]

I have finally got the shift points just about right on the 1942.  Now, I have discovered a new issue - when driving at 40 mph +, with the transmission in Hi range and 4th gear, the car does not appear to "freewheel" - in other words, when I get to speed and lift my foot off of the accelerator, the car immediately slows down dramatically, with the engine acting as a brake.

The service manual indicates that this is a symptom of a sticking front servo, and the cure is to "unstick front servo" - great, no instructions on HOW to unstick it, but I thought I could figure it out.  Disassembly instructions say to drop pan, remove screen, remove two bolts and take out front servo.  Well, I dropped pan, removed screen, identified the two bolts for the front servo, BUT, in addition to the two bolts, it would appear that there are a number of fluid lines that run into the assembly.  One of the larger lines appears easy enough to remove since it has a fitting to unscrew, but the other three are a bit more of a puzzle.

Has anyone gone down this road, and if so, any suggestions on how to unstick the front servo?  I would really like to hear that it can be done without having to remove the assembly, but if not, any instructions on removing the front servo will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Tod

[Doug Houston]

Don't know what else has been done or checked on your transmission. One of the first things that needs to be checked, is the control valve body, which is located inside the side cover of he transmission. It's held in by 4 bolts, and has some tubing lines going into it, from the governor, as I recall.


All of the shifting is controlled by the valves in the valve body. There are several of them, working in bores in the valve body. Often, especially after years of storage or use, they will  beging to hang up in their bores, and possibly even stick in one place, which could account for your funny operational behavior.

Carefully take out the valve body, and clean the bores throroughly, so that ALL of the shift plugs and governor plugs slide through their bores frely, by graviity. You should have a copy of a Hydra-Matic service manual with you, so you don't get parts mixed.

After re-installation, and checking the band adjustments, the transmission should shift perfectly. 

[Carfreak]

You should have a copy of a Hydra-Matic service manual with you, so you don't get parts mixed.

Don't think too many changes until the war and of course, thereafter.

http://www.modifiedcadillac.org/documents/1940s/1941/1941%20Hydramatic%20Shop%20Manual/