transmission

Hey ... so I was driving my 1965 a-100 van testing the cooling system after installing a belly pan and a six blade fan. I noticed that the van was not moving as quickly relative to the rpm's. By the time i reached the bottom of a hill it was so noticeable that I began to head back home. It became impossible to continue in drive with any progressive motion so i tried reverse and drove 5 city blocks backwards (in a panelvan so no windows) amid stares horns and unfriendly gestures. Once I reached my block My neighbor yelled "Hey... Its the mystery van" for the 5th time this week and told me he smelled transmission fluid. I parked the van and tried forward once again and just heard grinding so i shut it off and tried to maintain my composure for abt 3 mins before locking it up and going inside.
My question is about replacing the transmission. There are a few old mopars on craigslist. Is there a difference between the transmissions of that era ie: a more heavy duty for vans versus cars? for ex: would a dart transmission fit or would it have to be from a truck. Any help in troubleshooting or in narrowing down the criteria for my search would be appreciated

Have yours rebuilt. The case is A100 only.

First things first. Start it up and check the fluid level in Neutral, NOT Park. It will use Dextron, not Ford ATF.
Make sure the fluid level is okay and there are no leaks. Try another test drive. If it's still dead, rebuild your trans. The tailshaft is unique to the A-100s and a few early 70s trucks. Try to avoid the big chains (AAMCO) and find a good local rebuilder. There can be a good guy at the AAMCO, but the business model is a full, stock rebuild and a big markup. You want someone who's willing to include the updates and maybe even a transgo shift kit without the overhead of a big corporate ladder.

RodStRace wrote:First things first. Start it up and check the fluid level in Neutral, NOT Park. It will use Dextron, not Ford ATF.
Make sure the fluid level is okay and there are no leaks. Try another test drive. If it's still dead, rebuild your trans. The tailshaft is unique to the A-100s and a few early 70s trucks. Try to avoid the big chains (AAMCO) and find a good local rebuilder. There can be a good guy at the AAMCO, but the business model is a full, stock rebuild and a big markup. You want someone who's willing to include the updates and maybe even a transgo shift kit without the overhead of a big corporate ladder.

what he said.

look for a small trans shop where the guy turning the wrenches (also typically the owner) looks like he's ready to retire, thats the guy that knows what he's doing.