Repairing a Broken Stud - Not for the Squeamish
 

Hello All,

Is it possible to weld new stud sections to a torque converter? The studs are where the converter mounts to the flex plate ... flywheel? Or would welding damage the converter?

Preparation could involve bevelling off the remainder of the studs and preparing a similar bevel on the replacement threaded sections of the new studs.

An aid to keeping things in alignment during welding could be using a small drill bit as pin that goes down the centre of the new stud and travels down into the stub.

Would this approach work - or is welding something that should not be performed on a torque converter?

I had to butcher two studs on a torque converter for an automatic gearbox to be able to mount the motor on an engine stand. I am now left with two stubs of the studs. One nut travelled so far and then stripped and it just kept turning without coming off. The second nut rounded off through a progression of a standard socket, a hex socket; vise-grips and to the final attempt of a small cold chisel and a hammer. All sockets were turned by hand without any impact drivers AKA "rattle guns" being used. After all other attempts failed I had to resort to an angle grinder.

I did not use heat on the nuts as I was unsure of how the torque converter would react to it.

The other two studs - I started off with a hex socket first and it worked a treat - lesson learnt! Even though using a hex socket would not have prevented the first nut stripping itself flush to the end of the stud.

A previous owner had fitted a Ford V8 302 engine with an automatic gearbox to a International four wheel drive ex-Australian government truck. I am bringing the truck back closer to its original driveline. This meant that the Ford engine and gearbox had to come out. I would like to have both the Ford engine and gearbox running so a potential buyer can see and hear both components running.

So where to from here?

Kind regards
Lionel

Replacing broken stud- Ford transmission torque converter
 

Hi Lionel,

I have virtually no knowledge of automatic transmissions but the link below may help answer your question. I assume it is an older C4 or C6 transmission in the truck.

I'm thinking replacing it with a rebuilt torque converter might be the safest way to go after reading all the posts.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...broke-off.html

Cheers,

Hello Jacques,

Thank you for finding the posts Jacques - it is much appreciated.

Having read the word from the technicians I might follow a third option. Sell the engine with the gearbox - without a torque converter - as a free part of a job lot.

For no extra cost, not only do you get the engine; you get the main section of a gearbox too!

In the meantime I will cast a casual eye over different wreckers stock - just in case a second-hand one comes along. If that does not happen - well it is just too bad, how sad.

It was good to read that the nuts on the torque converter studs are finicky and give other people trouble too! I am not Robinson Crusoe with the nuts - which brings a bit of consolation to me

Kind regards
Lionel

Hello All,

After taking advice from this forum I looked at some more alternatives. I found a business that sells re-manufactured torque converters. They accepted my converter with the mangled studs as an exchange - without having to pay any extra. So I now have a factory rebuilt torque converter to fit to the gearbox.

I also bought a set of new nuts to fix the torque converter to the flex plate.

That was an expensive introduction to the area of automatic gearboxes!

Kind regards
Lionel

Lionel, good call. If a torque converter gets out of balance it can create all kinds of havoc with your transmission and even your engine. Not that a couple studs re welded into place would do that but you never know. New or rebuild units come prebalanced so all is well

I would suggest using blue Loctite on the studs and of course torque the nuts with a torque wrench. I cannot count how many loose torque converters I have seen over the years, and the elongated holes they make in the flexplates.