727 Push Button Trans Exploded

My buddy's '63 Satellite broke a trans. (FYI, it's a supercharged 440, high stall converter, manual valve body, etc.) I'm not exactly sure what happened, but the bell housing is broken as well as the starter. Also, the front u-joint came apart. Possibly that happened first and caused this. We're not sure.

He obviously needs another trans and the problem is, he nor I know anything about the push button 727s.

How different is it from a normal trans?
Are they year specific?
Are they offered in "crate" form able to handle 500+HP?
Is this a common failure?

I have to say, I've been around cars for a very long time and I've never seen anything like this on a street driven car. He babies it mostly and he was just cruising at 50 mph when it broke. So, there's nothing I can add as to a cause.

I appreciate any help or advice....

I would bet money that the Ujoint cup flew out unbalancing the driveshaft which threw the driveshaft way out of balance and out of round,whipping the output shaft around which broke the tranny. I had the exact same thing happen during a burn out, one of the front U joint cups came out in high gear and split the trans case from the right rear corner across the top to the left front corner IHTH, as far as finding a push button these days, good luck If it doesn't have, which i'm sure it does, the slip joint trans yoke and standard Detroit type U joing make sure and convert it now Call a good custom trans shop like CRT, Turbo Action or your favorite Hi Po tranny bulider to get it built to hold your freinds paoer level safely, NO CHEAP PARTS BTW, 500 HP is not hard to make with mostly stock 440 parts, add a blower and look at 750 HP + very easily

Its a little different as I believe that year uses two pumps in the trans. I dont have the 63 trans in my 63 as I use a 1970 trans and just have a shifter on the floor. He can do that if he likes as its harder to find the 63 trans. There are a few racers who use the push button trans and race with it. Seems to be alot more of the newer like 66 and up trans around. But they make a performance vlave body and converter for that trans. I dont know if anyone offers that trans complete from a trans shop. Oh and also they did not make a Satellite in 63. Savoy , Belvedere , Fury and Sport Fury. Ron

I forgot to mention that I do have the original trans out of my 63 as it was behind a 383. It needs a coplete rebuild before anyone could use it. Ron

Contact member 727specialists. He used to keep one in stock.

Just so you know, that trans didn't expode. 727's make a lot bigger mess when they boom. Driveshaft failure bit that one.

Thanks guys! After some research, I agree. It seems the u-joint failed and caused this. Wow, pretty catastrophic u-joint failure. Live and learn...always replace the u-joints, eh?

Thanks for the help!

not really a u-joint.
ball and trunion.

older cv type joint.

they always seemed to die on me. the spherical bearings didn't hold up well over time, and no one at the time I had one made new one's. you were lucky to find nos stuff in a few places to repair or replace it.

that is why the go to trans was the 65 so you got the regular slip yoke and u-joint setup everyone else ran, but still keep your push buttons.

All '62-'65 BB 727 cases are the same, the tailshafts and tailhousings are different depending on the year/body.

Front u-joint failure often causes case failure due to the leverage factor of the long tailshaft...the pic below is of a case that broke after a front u-joint failure.

I killed a '62 PB 727 once aswell with a front U-jointfailure.
As luck would have it, 1 cup exited during a highspeed overtake-manouver, but the driveshaft was contained by the remaining parts of the joint.

It rotated heavily out of balance for a while and ripped the tailshaft-housing loose from the transmission and bent the outputshaft.
Besides a fully covered coat of ATF on the underside of the car and a fullthrottle heartrate test, there was no further damage besides the transmission and the driveshaft.

You can buy ball and trunnion setups from www.oldmoparts.com if anyone needs one.

Ran a B&T 727 behind a warm 413 for years with no B&T failures. Ripped the ear off the 8 3/4's yoke once but the 727 and the B&T were not affected.

Good info. Thanks guys

Let me know if you can use the SB push button trans from my 65 coronet.
It is in fine working order and I would gladly give it to you.
Im sure I will never put a Small block back in the car.

Very generous, thank you! I will keep it in mind.