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SAE TECHNICAL
PAPER SERIES 2007-01-1095
General Motors Hydra-Matic & Ford New FWD
Six-Speed Automatic Transmission Family
Charles Lewis
General Motors Powertrain
Bryce Bollwahn
Ford Motor Company
Reprinted From: Tr ansmissions & Drivelines
(SP-2134)
2007 World Congress
Detroit, Michigan
April 16-19, 2007
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ISSN 0148-7191
Copyright © 2007 SAE International
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Printed in USAABSTRACT
The Hydra-Matic 6T70 is General Motors first model of a
new, two-variant front wheel drive (FWD) six speed
automatic transmission family. The second variant is a
higher capacity model, the 6T75. The transmission was
co-developed with Ford Motor Company. The 6F50 is the
Ford variant that aligns with the GM 6T70 transmission.
Approximately eighty five percent of the hardware is
shared or common between the GM and Ford
transmission variants. Ford will also have a higher
capacity variant the 6F55 to align with the GM 6T75.
The first GM application is the Saturn Aura for the 2007
Model Year. The Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX in MY
2007 will be the first applications for the 6F50.
While the Hydra-Matic and Ford FWD six-speed family
was designed with two variants in mind, the designed in
modularity requires only changes to the second and third
axis and case housings depending on specific torque
requirements. This modular design enables a
tremendous amount of part sharing. Modularity
minimizes engineering resources, improves quality and
reduces investment, piece cost, time to market and
allows for a wide bandwidth of vehicle and engine
applications. The current bandwidth of applications
ranges from 3.0 L to 4.6 L engines. The planned engine
torque capacity for the family ranges from 280 lb.-ft. to
301 lb.-ft. (380 Nm to 406 Nm) with flexibility for future
growth.
The FWD six speed family is expected to improve both
fuel economy and acceleration performance. As an
example, the 6T70 is expected to improve fuel economy
by as much as four percent, while improving 0-60 mph
times by as much as seven percent when compared to
the current four speed automatic that it replaces. This is
accomplished by a wider overall ratio spread of 6.04:1
compared to the typical 4.0:1 for conventional four-
speeds.
By developing the transmission jointly, General Motors
and Ford Motor Company were able to reduce the engineering cost each had to invest bringing a new
transmission to market. Furthermore, synergies with
having more “eyes” on the engineering, helped speed the
development and assure a robust product when