Removed the governor. Appears to have been installed correctly. Valve moves freely. Has a very light spring that doesn't require much effort to move the valve. Everything appears to be in good shape. There is a very slight amount of side-to-side play in the piston. Is that normal or should I be concerned?

Any recommendations on where to go from here? I'm at a loss as how to solve this late-shifting issue.




Kent — Round Rock, TX
'56 F-100  | '56 Crown Vic  |  '57 Fairlaine 500  |  '57 Thunderbird

Yblock57, I don't remember a spring being part of the early FOM governor assembly. Checking the 56 - 57 FOM shop manual shows an exploded view with no spring and no spring is mentioned in the text. You might try installing it with out the spring and see what it does. Also, a line pressure test would be very helpful.  Hope this helps, JEFF.............edit:  This also raises another question, like, where did this spring come from?


64F100 57FAIRLANE500

Jeff --

Thanks for chiming in. This is my first time inside this thing. The shop that supposedly rebuilt it must've done that. I found an NOS governor and bought it. Was concerned about the small amount of side-to-side slack the piston had. 
Will be interesting to see if the NOS one has the spring. All I'm using is the top piece so will be sure to post my findings.

Bought a gauge to pressure test and will also get some #'s posted as well.

Thanks again!
Kent

Kent — Round Rock, TX
'56 F-100  | '56 Crown Vic  |  '57 Fairlaine 500  |  '57 Thunderbird

If you determined that spring does not belong in the governor, then more than likely it belongs somewhere in the valve body.  Keep us posted.................


64F100 57FAIRLANE500

I think I might be onto something here. After watching a ton of tear-down/rebuild videos and looking at diagrams, I think the governor was installed backwards at the time of rebuild.

Here's a link to the video I made. Apologies on the quality. Working under a '57 bird without a lift is no picnic. I pulled the top part of the governor off previously to check the piston operation.



This is from someone else's youtube account on reassembling a cruise-o-matic with a similar style governor — in the opposite orientation.


If anyone can confirm that the governor is indeed on backwards, that would really help! Also if anyone has ever pulled a fordomatic tail shaft on a 55-57 thunderbird in the car — that would be good to know if it's even possible.

Thanks for all the help!
Kent

Kent — Round Rock, TX
'56 F-100  | '56 Crown Vic  |  '57 Fairlaine 500  |  '57 Thunderbird

I'm assuming you have a 57 FOM.  The trans governor pictured in your last post is a 2 stage gov. as used on a cruise o matic. FOM is different and is installed with cover plate facing forward as shown in the pictures I'll try posting.  Also, it's difficult for me to see for sure but the phantom spring shown with your 57 governor appears to be broken. All springs in these transmissions have the ends finished by winding the end coils together to form a square so uniform/equal force is applied around the entire circumference. I don't know where that spring came from but it may be part of another spring. Therefore, the rebuilder may of had an "extra" spring and it looked logical to install it in the governor????  The pics I'll try sending are true 56/57 Ford illustrations. I'm never very good using descriptive text so hope this makes sense. Otherwise, send me a PM with contact number and we can discuss this in real time. It's been eons since I last rebuilt one of these but the information here is in referenced to 57 published material. Hope this helps, JEFF.........


64F100 57FAIRLANE500

Jeff —

What you said makes sense. Good to know pulling the tail shaft is not necessary. Didn’t think I’d be able to do it in this car anyway.

You are correct that this is a water-cooled ‘57 Fordomatic I believe to be original to the car. Can’t find much online info regarding these so that’s why I referenced the cruise-o-matic. Much different animal obviously.

I have a NOS governor on order and am planning to use just the top valve assembly and reinstall on my existing gov body.

The knowledge being gained here is invaluable. Will post my findings.

PM sent.

Thanks again,
Kent

Kent — Round Rock, TX
'56 F-100  | '56 Crown Vic  |  '57 Fairlaine 500  |  '57 Thunderbird

Kent, I am no auto trans expert or novice for that matter but I have a 56-57 Ford0matic manual and looking at photos ant trouble shooting for the governor on pg 26 the show it mounting with the plate forward, but does not show the part left in the trans with the actuator off. There places in the manual showing the removal of the governor from the shaft and there is a drive ball involved. I’m not sure on its function but I’m sure it’s your 90* of movement.
From your video it looks like the longer slant is towards the rear of the trans and this “ appears” to be correct in the figures I can see.
There is also a way to used air pressure thru a hole in the case with the pan off to listen for the governor working. I’ll take a photo of a figure in the book but it may not help. I bought this manual on the net.
I would get this correct manual first before taking any more apart.
I have new case of type A trans fluid. Hope this helps.



56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

Hey DryLakesRacer —
Appreciate the info. I did get my hands on the same fordomatic manual. Not as nice as yours, but should be a big help in the right direction. Thanks for posting the pics. 



Found the right governor on eBay and should be here sometime this week. Will give it a try (without spring) and report my findings. Hopefully will get lucky.

Thanks again,

Kent — Round Rock, TX
'56 F-100  | '56 Crown Vic  |  '57 Fairlaine 500  |  '57 Thunderbird

Hope it all helps. My manual is a repop along with the car manual and blow apart manual.

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.