TorqueFlite
automotive part
TorqueFlite (also seen as Torqueflite) is the trademarked name of Chrysler Corporation's automatic transmissions, starting with the three-speed unit introduced late in the 1956 model year as a successor to Chrysler's two-speed PowerFlite. In the 1990s, the TorqueFlite name was replaced with alphanumeric designations, although the latest Chrysler eight-speed automatic transmission has revived the name.
History
Torqueflite transmissions use torque converters and Simpson gearsets, two identical planetary gearsets sharing a standard sun gear. Chrysler Corporation licensed this gear set from Howard Simpson in 1955.
The first Torqueflites offered three forward speeds plus reverse. Gear ratios were 2.45:1 in first, 1.45 in second, 1.00 in third, and 2.20 in reverse.
The transmission was controlled by a series of push buttons on the vehicle's dashboard. The buttons were generally located at the extreme driver's side end of the dash, i.e., on the left in left-hand drive vehicles and on the right in right-hand drive ones. Exceptions included the 1962 Dodge Phoenix, a right-hand drive export model sold in Australia and South Africa, which used the standard 1962 U.S. Plymouth Valiant model year instrument cluster assembly, with the transmission push-buttons integrated on the left side.
The button arrangement varied by vehicle model and year; the sequence was reverse, neutral, drive, second, and first, arranged top to bottom with vertically aligned buttons, from left to right with horizontally aligned buttons, and clockwise, starting at the upper left with clustered buttons.
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This entry incorporates text from “TorqueFlite” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.