It was my understanding that the Torqueflite 3 speed was tough. Unfortunately, by the time I entered the car repair business, most Chryslers were using a 42TE. The most common Chrysler I would see was a T&C van, and they got about 80,000 to 90,000 miles out of their transmissions. The longitudinal transmission in the Dodge Ram wasn't much better. There were not nearly as many Honda Odyssey vans as Chrysler T&C vans, but I heard many of them weren't much better. They were only more expensive to repair. I don't know how many instances led to the sale of Toyota Sienna vans and Chevy Silverado trucks. I was good in several auto repair situations, except that I never learned automatic transmission repair. If a scan tool couldn't help me, I was out of luck. I left before automatic transmission class because I was in a hurry to get out of school and into the workforce.
Remember, less than 10 years ago, Chrysler claimed that the PowerFlite was the best automatic transmission around, one reason being that it had fewer parts, oh, and it didn't have that troublesome parking mechanism. Oh, boy! And during the middle of the 1956 model year, the new 3-speed TorqueFilte was introduced, multiplying the number of parts, but still lacking that troublesome Park mechanism, yet still having to rely on that unreliable parking brake. You still had to carry that brick with you so the car wouldn't roll away. Although, in this video, it shows the A-904 aluminum-cased TorqueFlite(introduced for the 1960 model year), what was new for 1962 was that Chrysler finally added that pesky Park mechanism. What was really new for 1962 was the introduction of the A-727 aluminum-cased TorqueFlite, which also included the Park mechanism. As it would have been difficult to add a Park pushbutton, it had to be lever actuated. It was a manual cable-operated mechanism, unlike the column shifters of other makes or the electrically servo-actuated pushbutton shifter common in Edsels and Mercury's. Sadly, I don't think that they mentioned the new Park mechanism, nor did they mention the new A-727 automatic which after the switch to column shifts in 1965, truly became the standard of the world. The introduction of the A-904 TorqueFlite put all the other transmission and car manufactures on notice. With the introduction or the A-727 TorqueFlite in 1962, The other automakers went scrambling. It wasn't until 1964 that GM came up with the ST/TH400 and it took Ford until 1966 to come up with their C-6 automatic. GM floundered with multiple other automatics in the early-60's, but they couldn't match Chrysler.
These videos are real gems.
So lucky to be able to watch them.
Torqueflite was a very good transmission.
It was my understanding that the Torqueflite 3 speed was tough. Unfortunately, by the time I entered the car repair business, most Chryslers were using a 42TE. The most common Chrysler I would see was a T&C van, and they got about 80,000 to 90,000 miles out of their transmissions. The longitudinal transmission in the Dodge Ram wasn't much better. There were not nearly as many Honda Odyssey vans as Chrysler T&C vans, but I heard many of them weren't much better. They were only more expensive to repair. I don't know how many instances led to the sale of Toyota Sienna vans and Chevy Silverado trucks.
I was good in several auto repair situations, except that I never learned automatic transmission repair. If a scan tool couldn't help me, I was out of luck. I left before automatic transmission class because I was in a hurry to get out of school and into the workforce.
Remember, less than 10 years ago, Chrysler claimed that the PowerFlite was the best automatic transmission around, one reason being that it had fewer parts, oh, and it didn't have that troublesome parking mechanism. Oh, boy! And during the middle of the 1956 model year, the new 3-speed TorqueFilte was introduced, multiplying the number of parts, but still lacking that troublesome Park mechanism, yet still having to rely on that unreliable parking brake. You still had to carry that brick with you so the car wouldn't roll away.
Although, in this video, it shows the A-904 aluminum-cased TorqueFlite(introduced for the 1960 model year), what was new for 1962 was that Chrysler finally added that pesky Park mechanism.
What was really new for 1962 was the introduction of the A-727 aluminum-cased TorqueFlite, which also included the Park mechanism. As it would have been difficult to add a Park pushbutton, it had to be lever actuated. It was a manual cable-operated mechanism, unlike the column shifters of other makes or the electrically servo-actuated pushbutton shifter common in Edsels and Mercury's.
Sadly, I don't think that they mentioned the new Park mechanism, nor did they mention the new A-727 automatic which after the switch to column shifts in 1965, truly became the standard of the world.
The introduction of the A-904 TorqueFlite put all the other transmission and car manufactures on notice. With the introduction or the A-727 TorqueFlite in 1962, The other automakers went scrambling. It wasn't until 1964 that GM came up with the ST/TH400 and it took Ford until 1966 to come up with their C-6 automatic. GM floundered with multiple other automatics in the early-60's, but they couldn't match Chrysler.