Here is a quick breakdown of events leading to epic failure.

Complete drain including torque converter.
Removed trans and replaced shift & throttle shaft seals on bench.
Tightened bands to specs in book.
Reinstalled trans to engine, confirming pump was fully seated in pump. 1/8-1/4 gap between flex plate and TC.
Added 5 quarts atf, started engine and added another 3 quarts.
Cycled through all gears and left in neutral.

At this point, trans fluid is still halfway up dipstick.
Checked cooler lines at radiator, fluid present in both lines.
Let engine idle in neutral for roughly an hour, occasionally cycling gears and ending in neutral.

YES, THE LINKAGE IS CORRECTLY HOOKED UP.

Still no engagement in ANY gear and fluid level has not gone yet.

I lifted the rear end of the car and one tire began to slowly turn. As long as no brakes, this happens in EVERY gear, PRND21, tire turn same direction.

If I put the car in 2, can I just keep tightening the lockdown band until I see engagement with the driveshaft? (car is on stands now)

_________________
Washington, Jefferson, Twain, Luther, King, Peewee Herman.

There are two different adjustment specs for the 904 depending on the year. I forget which is which, but one is something like three turns and the other is something like seven turns. I recommend verifying the band adjustment was correct for your year transmission.

Any way this can be done for the front band only for testing? I really don’t want to drop the pan and make another mess if it won’t work.

Put it in drive and adjust front band while running?

_________________
Washington, Jefferson, Twain, Luther, King, Peewee Herman.

If the fluid level is that much too high it's likely the trans isn't pumping fluid. I would remove the cooler lines from the radiator, start the engine, place it in neutral and see if fluid is delivered to the cooling circuit.

_________________
Joshua

Yep it sound like it is not pumping. It may have broke off the pump ears off. Ask me if I have a transmission setting on my floor that did the same thing.

_________________
2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Are you sure the manual valve, is engaged with the "rooster comb"? It sounds like your not filling he converter. If the converter was filling, the fluid level would drop. If the trans had fluid pressure, and the manual valve was working, you would have 1 st gear, even if the 1st/reverse band was not working. the sprag would hold the drum, and the clutch would be engaged. And the front band is not being used in 1st.
Also as stated could be broken pump drive lugs.

PS: I'm assuming you reinstalled the converter you removed. If you tried using a converter for a 68 up trans, on a 67 down trans, the input shaft splines will not engage.

_________________
Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 225 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170

Thanks everybody. Here’s the update, pulled the pan off again and there is debris EVERYWHERE. Didn’t feel anything let go, but my clutches appear to have disintegrated. Rebuild kit in now in the mail along with a tf-2 reprogram kit. Also bought the Tom Hand rebuild guide and read halfway through so far. Looks like I can do this one myself (celebration dance), but if it all goes sideways I found a backup trans for $150 bucks that “ran when I pulled it”.

_________________
Washington, Jefferson, Twain, Luther, King, Peewee Herman.

I just did a TF904 rebuild with TF2 install using Tom Hand’s book. The book was a huge help for me and enabled me to complete this project with confidence.
I found that some parts of the internals aren’t exactly as they are pictured in the book; my advice is to take lots of pics during disassembly for use as reference for reassembly. And since the book applies to both the 904 & 727, read and re-read the text for your application.
The TF2 kit can seem a little intimidating at first, and the instructions are not as good as the trans rebuild instructions found in Mr. Hand’s book, it’s very doable if you take your time, get lots of pics of the valve body disassembly and keep all the parts bagged and tagged during your work.

_________________
1975 Dodge D100 225 c.i., HEI, Parallel Offenhauser, Motorcraft 2150, 904 auto, 9.25" 3.55:1