Trimatic issues

**buck** · 31-03-2012, 08:38 AM

They dont call them traumatic for nothing, my dad had a 308 with traumatic when new, (1979) blew up in 40,000klm and replaced under warranty at extra cost with a stato turbo 350 i think, did 400,000klm no problems.
every person i have known with a traumatic has blown it up and they dont seem to be able to fix them properly for long term use, i have a m20 4 speed which has been rebuilt twice in 200,000klm quiet normal my mechanic says they are just weak as piss in the bearings.

**Taily** · 31-03-2012, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by buck

They dont call them traumatic for nothing, my dad had a 308 with traumatic when new, (1979) blew up in 40,000klm and replaced under warranty at extra cost with a stato turbo 350 i think, did 400,000klm no problems.
every person i have known with a traumatic has blown it up and they dont seem to be able to fix them properly for long term use, i have a m20 4 speed which has been rebuilt twice in 200,000klm quiet normal my mechanic says they are just weak as piss in the bearings.

The cluster and layshaft (and the needles rollers) used to start losing their case hardening after about 100K - normal. On the other side of that I have seen Trimatics go for over 140,000 miles (220,000+km) without a rebuild as long at they were serviced regularly and not driven hard all the time. Thrash something (standard) and you'll break it, it is as simple as that. I can't imaging your father was easy on it or even had the auto serviced for it to "break" that quickly. A well built trimatic is well capable of handling 350-400hp very reliably and for a very long time.

No trimatic was ever replaced by a TH350 under warranty in a GMH dealership... Steve Dunne-Contant would have rejected the claim outright. Different engine blocks for starters. It wont fit, the selectors are all different, the tailshaft is different, the speedo drives are most probably different, etc etc. So they changed the engine as well? I doubt that very, very much. If it was done at all it would have been a full retail job, or probably done external to the dealership by your old man.

**HK1837** · 31-03-2012, 09:50 AM

Originally Posted by Taily

The cluster and layshaft (and the needles rollers) used to start losing their case hardening after about 100K - normal. On the other side of that I have seen Trimatics go for over 140,000 miles (220,000+km) without a rebuild as long at they were serviced regularly and not driven hard all the time. Thrash something (standard) and you'll break it, it is as simple as that. I can't imaging your father was easy on it or even had the auto serviced for it to "break" that quickly. A well built trimatic is well capable of handling 350-400hp very reliably and for a very long time.

No trimatic was ever replaced by a TH350 under warranty in a GMH dealership... Steve Dunne-Contant would have rejected the claim outright. Different engine blocks for starters. It wont fit, the selectors are all different, the tailshaft is different, the speedo drives are most probably different, etc etc. So they changed the engine as well? I doubt that very, very much. If it was done at all it would have been a full retail job, or probably done external to the dealership by your old man.

Agree. Plus there was no 1979 Holden fitted with a 308 and trimatic. The last would have beem an auto SLR5000 or LX SS 308 about 7/77. There wasn't another until about 11/81 (WB Statesman or VH).
Trimatics are great boxes if rebuilt properly and serviced. If I ever have an auto standard 308 HQ-WB tonner ever again for towing i'll use a VL trimatic unless the 308 is a TH pattern then i'd use a TH400. TH350 were a terrble box when first used by GMH, ask Dr Terry about them. In basically standard form a trimatic is actually a stronger box, and both can be built to handle decent hp too. The trimatic got its bad name in HT and HG when it was just an old cable kickdown TH180, GMH redesigned them for the HQ and LJ.

**thatotherguy** · 31-03-2012, 03:13 PM

why would you use a vl trimatic ? are they different

**Taily** · 31-03-2012, 09:19 PM

Originally Posted by thatotherguy

why would you use a vl trimatic ? are they different

A couple of design changes during its lifetime meant that apart from being the youngest of the type they have a few extra bits such as stronger round edged servo piston and a long skirted top gear hub amoung other things. The younger pumps and their plates are likely to last longer then the earlier ones.

Regards,

Dave

**buck** · 01-04-2012, 07:45 AM

Originally Posted by HK1837

Agree. Plus there was no 1979 Holden fitted with a 308 and trimatic. The last would have beem an auto SLR5000 or LX SS 308 about 7/77. There wasn't another until about 11/81 (WB Statesman or VH).
Trimatics are great boxes if rebuilt properly and serviced. If I ever have an auto standard 308 HQ-WB tonner ever again for towing i'll use a VL trimatic unless the 308 is a TH pattern then i'd use a TH400. TH350 were a terrble box when first used by GMH, ask Dr Terry about them. In basically standard form a trimatic is actually a stronger box, and both can be built to handle decent hp too. The trimatic got its bad name in HT and HG when it was just an old cable kickdown TH180, GMH redesigned them for the HQ and LJ.

You are both right, spoke to the old man, he said it was a 77 kingswood sl with 253 and trimatic, blew the traumatic at 40,000klm towing a 19 foot caravan to queensland, he cant remeber what deal was struck with the holden dealer ie compensation(may have been out of warranty) but was swaped out for a full statemans 5.0 litre/ turbo 350 set up from a crashed one, very expensive at the time he remebers but, never had a problem again.