Tranny sitting for 30 years

[tparker]

However much I may or may not know about engines and the rest of the car, I know much less about trannies. LOL. I'm getting ready to take the engine in and I need to start thinking about the tranny. I have a 727 which has been sitting for 30 years. It was rebuild when I got it and I only ran it for a couple years before I stored the car.

What would you all do to the tranny? I can change the oil and what not. I can buy a tranny kit and dive in head first. I can take it to someone. I watched a couple videos and not sure if I want to dig into it. Any thoughts?

Tom

[MoparLeo]

 I would at least get a seal kit for it as the seals are probably hard and will leak by now. Get a manual and tear it down if you like. They are not that complicated and teardown pretty quickly. Good to know where everything goes and what it does. You can do a shift improvement mod while apart and make sure all adjustments are correct before you put it back in.

[tparker]

Thanks. I watched a vid or two and It mostly looks doable, but there are a lot of stuff I'm not familiar and has me second guessing.

[Chryco Psycho]

Depends a lot on how it was stored & what climate you are in  , inside & dry no problem , in a humid environment Problem , outside bigger problem
With a converter & slip yolk in place great , add a cap to the breather no moisture should get in

[1 Wild R/T]

Depends a lot on how it was stored & what climate you are in  , inside & dry no problem , in a humid environment Problem , outside bigger problem
With a converter & slip yolk in place great , add a cap to the breather no moisture should get in

Sacramento has no moisture...

[tparker]

Well, it was outtside for a few years, then I brought it in. Sac has limited moisture, but it was in the north bay area for a long time too. It was in the car most of that time, no different than a running car. Hopefully it should be good, but I'll sttart looking into some teardown vids in more detail to see if it is something I should do

[anlauto]

I would send it out for a complete rebuild again. 30 years is a long time to be sitting

[jimynick]

Ha, just ever the contrarian, I'd throw the sumbitch in and run it. I would replace the convertor and tailstock seals and drop the pan and change the fluid and pan gasket. OR, spend $100's of bucks you may've never needed to spend. Just my 

[Chryco Psycho]

Dropping the pan alone would give you a good idea on the condition of the rest of the internals

[redgum78]

You can never tell, I have slammed in transmissions that have sat for 20 years plenty of times in junker cars just to have some fun.
Most of them work but leak oil from someplace or another.

Given it was fresh when stored and if I wanted to limit the chance of it coming out again I would at least do the front seal, change the filter, fluid and pan gasket.   

[anlauto]

Guess it wouldn't matter if you down mind putting it in and out a few times....worth the gamble 

[chargerdon]

Putting it in with new front seal, and rear seal first, and then having to take it back out and putting a seal kit in it, is more work than tearing it down initially.   

1) On my 74 Challenger had a 904 in it, that sat for 9 years with supposedly had a great transmission, i went ahead and put in new front seal, dropped the pan and put in new filter, then refilled with new fluid.   I put in a used torque converter and then began using it.   Within a 50 miles and a few days it began to "slip" in first gear...then got worse fast.   So, i had to take it out and rebuild it myself.  During the rebuild it became obvious what went wrong...   the main o-ring in the piston for the rear clutch pack had dried out and was in pieces, so that the piston wasn't be applied strong enough for the clutch pack to hold.    Once you spin those clutches, they self destruct pretty quick. 

PS, i bought a manual and watched a you tube 904 rebuild series of 15 videos...   It really wasn't that tough.   Special tools needed are: a slide hammer (needed to pull out the the front pump), a good set of snap ring pliers, both expanders and contractor types, a compressor to compress the spring on one of the clutch packs.   This you can make yourself..  U-shaped bar of steel, with hole in it, and 12 inch bolt.   plus a second bar of steel with hole...   run the bolt thru, and crank it down...it works.   A good set of feeler gauges and a digital micrometer tool (harbour freight $15) to measure things.   Just take your time and its easy !!   

2) I picked up an A518 4sp overdrive auto to put in.   It had sat for 2 years before i bought it and then 4 in my garage.  Thought id learn from my first mistake, and buy a full rebuild kit ...new clutches, steels, and complete gasket kit and overhaul it before putting it in.   Total waste of time and money...while tearing in down all of the clutches and steels looked like new and the seals were all intact and pliable.  Go figure.   This one the kit was nearly double the price as it has 4 clutch packs instead of only 2 in the 904.   It was a lot more work and has an 800lb spring in the overdrive clutch pack that required a shop press to disasemble.   Again, waste of time as it was in perfect condition !! 

Don't be afraid of trying the rebuild should you go that way yourself...its honestly pretty easy !!   regarding the rebuild, the manual has you doing all kinds of measurements to insure that you have all of the right tolerances...   Conversely, the youtube a518 rebuild instruction series...the guy says...look,  if you use quality kit,  and don't change anything, and it isn't totally worn out, then just put it back together and the tolerances will be fine !!   

At any rate the morale of the story is, which ever way you go, it will be wrong !!   LOL !!

[dodj]

IMO...if you need to drive it soon. Throw it in and hope for the best. If it's a hobby, you have time. Take it apart and learn about autos. 
I never knew jack about 833's until I took one apart. They are not as intimidating once you pull one apart yourself.

[7E-Bodies]

My 70 727 had been sitting 20+ years and I decided to go through it when a local transmission shop owner known for muscle car restoration offered to teach me on a Saturday when his shop was closed. It was a golden opportunity and I jumped on it. Good thing I did. He pointed out reverse would never have grabbed (obvious) and 2nd was a maybe at best. Someone hat tampered with it, removing half the springs for supposed quicker shifts. He did a lot of explaining and even though he repeatedly stated 727s are the easiest transmissions to rebuild, I'm no threat in taking any of his business. My head was spinning. He charged me $1000, parts included. Pleasantly surprised. Good guy. In short, if you have the budget, go through it.