Okay, as I get the Twin Turbine fixed on my 59 LeSabre, it's time to ask the experts... How the heck are you supposed to drive this thing? It has two speeds. Do I start in Low and shift to Drive? Or do I just put it in Drive? I've gotten different opinions from different tranny "experts" over the last couple of years. And the owners manual doesn't really address it... Thanks! ou:
All you need to do is put it in Drive and go. You can start it out in low and shift up for quicker starts off the line if needed, but it isn't necessary. Low was designed more for starting off in snow or mud.
For a really quick start, rev up the engine real good and THEN drop it into low. Then keep it in low until you the engine is absolutely screaming before you gently slide it into drive. Assuming the car is still moving on it's own you haven't shot the tranny yet. Lucky my dad was a Dynaflow mechanic when I was in high school.
Trans operation Buick designed them (Dynaflos) to be put in Drive range and left there. The Twin turbine torque convertor does the rest. If you are looking for better acceleration from a stop you can put it in low and 'peel out'. They later trannys hold up a little better to this. When you reinstall the trans, make sure to hook up the 'kickdown' linkage and adjust it correctly, this will make a BIG difference in how the trans works for you.
Twin Turbine One thing you don't want to do a lot, maybe never is use low range for a passing gear. It is hard on the Dynaflow even the later ones. If you want smooth they have got to be the smoothest. Good luck with your old Buick. Bob H.
Some interesting Dynaflow material can be found here, here and here in the Owners Manual at www.55buick.com. I have not finished it, but there will be some interesting stuff in the Buick Facts section. The "Buick Facts for 1955" guide for Buick Salesmen says this about Low: This extra-powerful range is used only for the heaviest demands - it is not needed for starting, even when extremely fast getaway is desired. It is available for starting trailers or when heavy cars are towed or pushed; for starting extra-heavy loads up steep grades; for extra engine braking down long, steep grades; or for "rocking" the car gently out of mudholes or snow. I must admit - when my car had a dynaflow in it - I used Low to launch off stop lights. Better this way than having the thing turn back to red when you only used Drive.
Bull! We all know that "L" stands for Leap. Abuse it, mechanics have to make a living too. Hey, if they don't want you to use it, why did they put it there?
Hi Camilla. Most of these comments are pretty much right. The one about slamming it in low to take off......well? I broke into drag racing in the mid fifties with Dynaflows and had pretty good luck both with performance and keeping them together. We would put it in low, apply the brakes, run the engine up to stall til one of the rear wheels would start to turn then back off a little. When the flagman jumped, so did I. Off came the brake and the gas pedal mashed to the floor. You don't want to stall it too long, five to ten seconds is enough, stalling heats it up pretty quick. The other thing, when you shift from low to drive, keep your foot in it. For some reason if you back off the throttle put it in drive then hit the gas again, it's real tough on the tranny. Something about too much pressure on something in the tourque converter. Sorry I don't remember all the details. As I remember, we found some roller thrust washers from a hydramatic that would fit in the place of regular thrust washers in the Dynafolw. This helped them live a little longer. One thing of interest, on a couple of occaisions I accidentally slipped my mom's (dad was a Buick dealer) '56 Century conv. into reverse while going forward. Once at about 100 mph. WOW! what a surprise. I put it right back in drive and nothing seemed to be hurt. I was a pretty scared 15 year old but I learned that this dosen't necissarily blow them apart.The book wil tell you it's ok to rock the car by going from low to reverse, to low, to reverse etc. etc in order to get unstuck. Not too much rpm though. You know somthing? I just remembered in the early 70's I had a "B altered" roadster, three hundred eighty somthing c.i. 364 coupled to a super turbine 400 And I put that thing in reverse just as I went through the lights at around 125 or so. I was trying for neutral. Cheers!
I just added a dynaflow secion at 55buick.com at http://www.55buick.com/dynaflow/. Make sure you hit the "Next" hyperlink at the bottom so you can navigate the entire booklet.
