ford-o-matic parking pawl

[Skookum61]

Hey Everybody,

A mechanic told me my bell housing was cracked (as the reason I'm occasionally having trouble getting into and out of park) and he could weld it for me for "no more than $1200", I got under there and not only does it look fine, it looks like it's cast iron! Maybe it's the parking pawl? On a 1961 2-speed ford-o-matic is it just above the trans. filter (as a friend suggested)? Don't really want to get into the transmission unless I know what I'm doing.

Thanks,
Grant

[falcon cobra]

I could weld up the crack in his head for half of that, did the big dummy look at the motor mounts? that can mess with the shift linkage, I don't know why they call themselfs mechanics...jh

[redfalken]

I thought the bellhousing was aluminum but you could take a magnet to it and at least find out if it's ferrous or non-ferrous.

A broken pawl would probably just cause it not to engage in park so the car would roll easily. I suppose if the broken piece went somewhere it wasn't supposed to go that might cause some problems.

I had a tough time shifting once and discovered the shift collar was broken. Here's a write-up on that -

http://www.rainierfalcons.com/forums...ead.php?t=1125

Aren't you about ready to head out on your big adventure soon?? If you end up taking it somewhere or looking for parts, I've only dealt with one tranny shop in Seattle. Clary's at 97th & Aurora. They seemed pretty honest but I was just buying parts.

[pbrown]

Grant,

You need to have someone in the club take a look. We often hear stories about mis-diagnostics of these old cars. I don't know why people have forgotten how to fix old cars. They are not that complicated.

[Luva65wagon]

Weld up an aluminimum (that's the British version) bell housing for $1200? Is that with a rebuild included? That would be a good deal. Otherwise, tell them thanks, but now thanks - and you'll make sure all them fancy on-line referral services will get to know who they are.

I don't have any experience with a 2-speed automatic, but usually the bell-housing doesn't have anything to do with park being hard to find. If the entire transmission was rotating because of it, then that could bind things up, but I suspect there would be a lot more serious symptoms. It might be a pivot the linkage is attached to - but I think it's steering column to tranny. You should also see if you just disconnect the linkage, will it go into park. Just jack up the back end so you can rotate the drive-line. Should be an obvious CLICK when it falls in.

I'd seriously consider getting a second opinion though if you're not comfortable with this sort of work. You can't really get to the mechanism without pulling the pan, for sure, but it will probably be easy to see when the pan is off and you shift the thing into park. There is usually a lever or pin that engages near the output shaft of the tranny, so it's usually rear-ward - and physically driven by the shift linkage.

I couldn't find a 2-speed image, but this should give you some clue of what you're looking for.

[Luva65wagon]

Wow, did a little more searching and I can't find a thing about the 2-speed Ford-o-matic parking pawl. It's like it doesn't exist.

I fond this page, if it helps. Good pictures.

http://www.charlietranny.com/2speedPARTS.htm