My 1969 Pettibone Super 6 is running great with fully functioning brakes (yay!) - but, I have a question about the torque converter in the Funkomatic transmission. No matter how gently I feather the pedal to move it, it always seems like the torque converter is slamming into full engagement, such that it causes it to lurch every time I move it, which is not real good for precision forklift work and even worse when using a man-basket (scary!). Any ideas on what may be going wrong? Is it a bad torque converter? Is there an issue with the fluid (I replaced the fluid and the filter with the correct type modern equivalent)? Is there an adjustment I'm missing? I did have to really lube up the forward and reverse linkage to get it loose (it is now) and I'm in low range, but no matter what I do it wants to lurch forward and backward every time it moves.
Have you checked the idle speed of your engine? The old Funk reverse-o-matic called for 450-550 rpm idle speed.
Ah, I bet that's it. It seems to be stuck on high idle until just after the pedal is engaged, so either something is sticking in the linkage or out of adjustment.
Do you have a machine serial number? IDE like to see if it is still in Pettibones log records.
It is, mostly. SN#711. Parts manual wasn't available so the dealer substituted a slightly higher number with the Super 8 axles (that mine has). Sold in 1969 from a dealer in Knoxville TN - I bought it last year from northwestern Minnesota and my brother delivered it down to east Texas last spring. I did a complete brake system rebuild (took a lot of tries to get all the right components and was able to get the brake booster rebuilt).