Torque converter stuck in transmission
 

Hello All, I recently became the 3rd owner of a 1981 300d. Car is in good condition except for the fact that the transmission is broken. So after negotiating a fair price with the previous owner, I had the car towed home where I promptly removed the transmission.

The previous owner said that she was pulling away from a stop sign, heard a clunk and the car would not move anymore. Her mechanic said it was internal problems in the transmission, so she decided to not fix it.

I did some searching here and came up with a little bit of information, namely the pump drive tabs breaking off of the torque converter, causing a no go situation. The transmission is a 722.118.

So now I have the transmission removed from the vehicle and the torque converter will not come off of the front of the transmission. I even tried turning the transmission up onto the bell housing and hitting the back of the converter with a brass drift through the slots in the bell housing. It only moves about an eighth of an inch and gets stuck. If you push it back in it turns freely but binds up when drifted out.

Every other transmission I have worked on, the converter just pulled right off. Is there something different about these that I should know? Thanks!

Welcome to the Forum.

The transmission out of my 85 300D, has a black plastic piece that slips in on the left side. it is a pin that holds the convertor from falling out as it is being bolted back to the engine.

looking at it on the bell housing end, will be on the right side. other than that, it should slide out. not much holding it in as I remember.

Charlie

Trying to knock it out with a drift is a waste of time.
best you tie the trans to one end of your shed & then with a lifting block attached to the TC & the other end to something strong, pull it out.
It does sound like the drive tabs are broken & the edge is not wanting to come through the seal etc.

Strange, I have the same transmission and I had no problem pulling off the torque converter:-

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=2550237&postcount=8

Is the shaft damaged?

You didnt have no drive did you Army? Most likely the 2 key pieces at the end of the TC tube are damaged, probably one is broken off & the other twisted out of shape. All you can do is use gentle brute force, no bashing. If the front cover gets damaged that is just the luck of the draw. Normally the front seal takes the damage.

Naah I didn't have any problem with it - you know me I just take it all apart anyway...

Thank you all for your replies. I haven't had a chance to try and remove the torque converter again, but it sounds to me like the drive tabs are broken off. So I will try to pry it out later this week, and see if I can avoid damaging the front pump in the process. Wish me luck!