Wikipedia

List of GM transmissions

(Redirected fromTurbo-Hydramatic 180)

General Motors (GM)is anAmericancar designing and manufacturingcompany. It manufactures its ownautomobiletransmissionsand only occasionally purchases transmissions from outside suppliers as needed. GM transmissions are used inpassenger carsandSUVs,or inlight commercial vehiclessuch asvansandlight trucks.

While there is much variation within each type, in a very general sense there are two types ofmotor vehicletransmissions:

  • Manual– The driver performs each gear change by operating a gear shift lever combined with a manually operated clutch.
  • Automatic– Once the driver place a gear range selector in its automatic position, usually "Drive" or "D," the transmission selects gear ratios based on many factors, including engine speed, vehicle speed, engine load, accelerator position, gear range selector position, road incline/decline, and more.

For the purposes of this article, there are two primary types ofengineorientation:

  • Longitudinal– These transmissions are designed to work with engines that are mounted in the vehiclelongitudinally,meaning that the engine's crankshaft is oriented in the same direction as the length of the car, front to back. The transmission is often designed separately from the final drive components, including the rear axle differential. In rare cases (such as the 1961-63Pontiac Tempest,as well as rear-engined cars such as the originalVolkswagen Beetleand theChevrolet Corvair) the transmission and rear axle are combined into a single unit called atransaxle.
  • Transverse– These transmissions are designed to work with engines that are mountedtransverselyin a front-wheel drive vehicle, meaning that the engine's crankshaft is oriented in the same direction as the width of the car, left to right. These vehicle applications combine the transmission and front axle intotransaxles.Many such vehicles orient the engine/transmission combination so that the transmission is on the left side of the vehicle and the engine is on the right, although exceptions may exist. Often the transmission and the final drive portions are combined into a single housing because of restricted space.

Several types of automatic and manual transmissions are described below, all of which may be found in both longitudinal and in transverse orientations, depending on engineering need, cost, and manufacturer choice.

Automatic transmissions

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Early models

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The General MotorsAutomatic Safety Transmission (AST)was asemi-automatic transmissionreleased in 1937. The first mass-produced fully-automatic transmissiondeveloped for passenger automobile use was the GMHydra-Maticintroduced in the autumn of 1939 as a (very likely subsidized) $57 option for the 1940Oldsmobile.[1]The Hydra-Matic was then offered byCadillacstarting with its 1941 models, and byPontiacfor 1948. It enjoyed wide success. Also for 1948,Buickintroduced itsDynaflowautomatic transmission, and for 1950,Chevroletoffered thePowerglideautomatic. This meant that, by 1950, GM marques offered three automatic transmissions at a time when most of its competitors still offered none.

Throughout the 1950s, allGM Marquescontinued developing automatic transmission designs, both jointly and independently. Early models included:

  • 1937–1939 GMAutomatic Safety Transmission (AST)— Offered byOldsmobilefor 1938-1939, and byBuickin 1938 only. This was a semi-automatic transmission that required the driver to use a clutch to get the car moving, but once underway, the AST shifted itself. The clutch was only needed if the driver needed to use the gear selector lever, for example, to shift into reverse.
  • 1940–1967 GMHydra-Matic— The first automotive automatic transmission, a 4-speed unit, introduced for 1940 byOldsmobile,and ultimately also offered byPontiacandCadillac.Except for its name, it bore no relation to the later GMTurbo Hydramatic,3-speed automatic transmission that was introduced in 1964.
  • 1947–1952 BuickDynaflow— The firstBuickautomatic transmission, a 2-speed unit, introduced for 1948. It was designed for smoothness and shifted without any perceptible gear changes, somewhat similar to modern continuously-variable transmissions. For this reason, vintage car enthusiasts today sometimes call it "Buick's 2-speedCVT."
  • 1950–1973 ChevroletPowerglide— The firstChevroletautomatic transmission, a 2-speed unit, introduced for 1950 and offered on both passenger cars as well as Chevrolet and GMC trucks. The Powerglide automatic transmission was also offered at different times byPontiac,Holden,VauxhallandOpelpassenger cars.
  • 1953-1955 BuickTwin-Turbine Dynaflow— For 1953, Buick introduced the 2-speed Twin-Turbine Dynaflow, a redesigned Dynaflow automatic transmission employing two turbines and a single stator for improved responsiveness and efficiency.
  • 1956-1957 BuickTwin-Turbine 2 Dynaflow— For 1956, Buick offered the 2-speed Twin-Turbine 2 Dynaflow, a second redesign of the Dynaflow automatic transmission. The Twin-Turbine Dynaflow included turbines and a variable-pitch stator that changed pitch angle based on accelerator position for better responsiveness.
  • 1956-1964 GMDual-Coupling/Controlled-Coupling Hydra-Matic— For 1956, GM offered the first substantial redesign of the 4-speed Hydra-Matic automatic transmission. Along with numerous technical improvements, this new Hydra-Matic automatic transmission also included a Park position, something previous Hydra-Matic units did not offer (drivers locked the transmission by shifting into Reverse and turning the ignition switch off). This new Hydra-Matic was also called the Cadillac 315/P315 Hydra-Matic, the Oldsmobile Jetaway/StratoFlight, and the Pontiac Super Hydra-Matic.
  • 1957-1961 ChevroletTurboglide— For 1957,Chevroletoffered a new kind of automatic transmission that employed a constant-torque design that offered imperceptible shifts. The 3-speed Turboglide was not popular, as buyers thought it felt odd. It had poor reliability until a 1959 redesign (which helped, but came too late). The Turboglide was only offered on V8 models. TheCorvetteonly offered the Powerglide automatic at this time.
  • 1958-1959 BuickFlight Pitch Dynaflow/Triple Turbine— This was the third redesign of the Buick Dynaflow automatic transmission, a 3-speed automatic transmission that featured three turbines. It bore more than a passing resemblance to the Chevrolet Turboglide, even though Chevrolet and Buick worked separately on their transmission designs. It was called the "Flight Pitch Dynaflow" in 1958, and for 1959 it became the "Triple Turbine," as Buick moved away from the "Dynaflow" name. Beset with many teething pains, this transmission was only offered for 1958 and 1959.
  • 1961-1963 BuickDual-Path Turbine Drive.This 2-speed automatic transmission was used by Buick after it discontinued the Triple Turbine automatic.
  • 1961-1964 GMRoto Hydramatic— A compact, 3-speed automatic transmission based on the GM Hydra-Matic. It was used at different times byOldsmobile,Pontiac,Holden,VauxhallandOpelon various models.
  • 1962-1972 PontiacTempestTorque— This was a 2-speed automatic transmission that was based on the Chevrolet Powerglide.
  • 1964-1969 GMSuper Turbine 300— This 2-speed automatic transmission was a lower cost unit that was used on someBuickmodels as the "ST-300," someOldsmobilemodels as the "Jetaway," and somePontiaccars as simply the "Automatic."
  • 1968-1971 ChevroletTorque-Drive— Offered for a few years byChevrolet,this was a two-speed semi-automatic transmission based on the Powerglide. There was no clutch, but drivers had to use the column-mounted shift lever to shift between low and high gears. Only available with 6-cylinder engines, the Torque-Drive didn't cost much less than the Powerglide, and did not sell well.

Turbo-Hydramatic 3-speed Automatics

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Introduced in 1964, the GMTurbo-Hydramaticwas an entirely new 3-speed automatic that featured a torque converter, as opposed to the standard fluid coupling that the original Hydra-Matic used. Buick, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac began offering the Turbo-Hydramatic fairly quickly after its introduction. By contrast, Chevrolet took much longer to replace the aging Powerglide with the Turbo-Hydramatic in its lineup, at first not offering the Turbo-Hydramatic at all, then only offering it on the most costly and powerful V8 engines on full size models, then finally offering it with all engines on full- and midsized models... but not in the compact Nova. It finally took until 1973 before Chevrolet finally phased out the by then badly outdated Powerglide automatic transmission, long after the other GM divisions discontinued their old automatic units.

Across the GM divisions, the Turbo-Hydramatic was called simply the "Hydramatic, "with a few exceptions, such as Buick's use of the term "Super Turbine 400." In Argentina, the Turbo Hydra-Matic was marketed as the "Chevromatic" in the 1970s. Starting in the early 1980s, the Turbo-Hydramatic was gradually supplanted by four-speed automatics, some of which continued to use the "Hydramatic" trade name.

Originally a medium-dutylongitudinalrear-wheel drivedesign, other variants were later developed, including both light-duty and heavy-duty RWD versions, and bothlongitudinalandtransversefront-wheel driveversions.

Medium-duty rear wheel drive

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Heavy-duty rear wheel drive

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  • 1971–19943L80HD(heavy duty version of TH400)

Light-duty rear wheel drive

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Longitudinal front wheel drive

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Transverse front wheel drive

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Turbo-Hydramatic model designations

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Initially, models were designated with the letters TH/THM/ST followed by the series/version number. In 1987, GM switched to a simpler naming scheme for their transmissions (Example: 4L80E)

# Forward Gears Orientation GVWRRating Suffix
3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10 L = Longitudinal
T = Transverse		 ## E = Electronic
HD = Heavy Duty

Electronic Hydra-Matics

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The next-generation transmissions, introduced in the early 1990s, were the electronicHydra-Matics,still based on theTurbo-Hydramaticdesign. Most early electronic transmissions use the "-E" designator to differentiate them from their non-electronic cousins, but this has been dropped on transmissions with no mechanical version like the newGM 6L transmission.

First-generation longitudinal (rear wheel drive)

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  • 1991–20014L30-E— 4-speed light-duty (used in BMW, Cadillac, Isuzu, and Opel cars)
  • 1992–4L60-E/4L65-E— 4-speed medium-duty (used in GM trucks and rear-wheel-drive cars)
  • 1991–4L80-E/4L85-E— 4-speed heavy-duty (used in GM trucks)

First-generation transverse (front wheel drive)

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  • 1995–20104T40-E/4T45-E— 4-speed light-duty (used in smaller front wheel drive GM vehicles)
  • 1991–20104T60-E/4T65-E/4T65E-HD— 4-speed medium-duty (used in larger front wheel drive GM vehicles)
  • 1993–20104T80-E— 4-speed heavy-duty (used in large FWD GM vehicles, only withCadillacNorthStar V8 and Related Oldsmobile V8)

Second-generation longitudinal (rear wheel drive)

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Second-generation transverse transaxles (front wheel drive)

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Transmissions for hybrid andPHEVvehicles

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Other automatic transmissions

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Manual transmissions

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Longitudinal orientations

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Transverse orientations

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  • F23— 5-speed transverse manual transaxle manufactured byGetrag.
  • F25— 5-speed transverse manual transaxle manufactured byGetrag.
  • F35— 5-speed transverse manual transaxle manufactured bySaabin Gothenburg, Sweden.
  • F40— 6-speed transverse manual transaxle manufactured byFGP Germany.
  • Getrag 282— 5-speed transverse manual transaxle designed by Getrag and manufactured by MuncieGetrag.
  • Getrag 284— 5-speed transverse manual transaxle designed by Getrag and manufactured by MuncieGetrag.
  • M17— 4-speed transverse manual transaxle manufactured by Muncie.
  • M32— 6-speed transverse manual transaxle manufactured by Fiat-GM Powertrain in Turin, Italy, since 2004.
  • MP2/MP3— 5-speed manual transaxle developed bySaturnfor use in the S-Series from 1991 to 2002.

References

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  1. ^"Hydra-Matic History: The First Automatic Transmission".Ate Up With Motor. 2010-05-29.Retrieved2014-01-15.
  2. ^Panait, Mircea."GM Hydra-Matic 9T50 Transmission Confirmed for Chevrolet Cruze, Malibu, Equinox".autoevolution.Retrieved2016-12-07.
  3. ^Colonna, Wayne (February 1, 2010)."GM's 2ML70 Hybrid Two-Mode Transmission".Transmission Digest.Retrieved6 September2024.
  4. ^Colonna, Wayne (June 1, 2010)."GM's Hybrid Two-Mode 2MT70 Transmission, Part 1".Transmission Digest.Retrieved6 September2024.
  5. ^Rosebro, Jack (9 May 2009)."GM Previews First Two-Mode, Front-Wheel-Drive Hybrid Transaxle".Green Car Congress.Retrieved6 September2024.
  6. ^Hendrickson, James; Holmes, Alan G.; Freiman, David (2009).General Motors Front Wheel Drive Two-Mode Hybrid Transmission.SAE World Congress & Exhibition.doi:10.4271/2009-01-0508.
  7. ^Miller, Michael A.; Holmes, Alan G.; Conlon, Brendan M.; Savagian, Peter J. (2011). "The GM 'Voltec' 4ET50 Multi-Mode Electric Transaxle".SAE International Journal of Engines.4(1):1102–1114.doi:10.4271/2011-01-0887.
  8. ^Garrett, Steve (June 6, 2017)."Tackling a 4ET50 Hybrid".Gears.Retrieved6 September2024.
  9. ^Conlon, Brendan M.; Blohm, Trevor; Harpster, Michael; Holmes, Alan G.; Palardy, Margaret; Tarnowsky, Steven; Zhou, Leon (2015). "The Next Generation 'Voltec' Extended Range EV Propulsion System".SAE International Journal of Alternative Powertrains.4(2):248–259.doi:10.4271/2015-01-1152.
  10. ^ab"GM Service Insights, pg 23"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2019-01-09.Retrieved2019-07-16.
  11. ^"Preliminary Information Bulletin PIP5390E Malibu 5ET50 (MKE) Hybrid Transmission Restriction Program"(PDF).General Motors. September 18, 2018.Retrieved6 September2024.
  12. ^"Cadillac CT6 PLUG-IN Delivers Efficient Performance"(PDF).TechLink.Vol. 19, no. 9. General Motors Customer Care and Aftersales. May 2017.Retrieved6 September2024.
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