At the Kent Island motoring tour, my OD cable snapped when i pulled it out of OD. Ross and Chuck helped me. I moved the OD level under the car rearward to engage the OD for the ride home and re-inserted the OD rod and knob to trip the OD switch. This worked as far as driving home 70 miles with OD, but my reverse was disabled in the process. I had 1st 2nd 3rd, but not reverse. Reading Howards recent Pawl post, i see its a good thing it wont go into reverse. Ive asked Bill who rebuilt the OD if there is something i can do before a replacement cable arrives from John Ulrich Packard Parts arrives next week to regain reverse.
I know how to peel back the rug and open the transmission access plate on the floorboard and to take the lid off the tranny, but i dont know what to look for or how to fix it.
Chuck took this of our cars at the motel. I won Peoples Choice!

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I want a flying lady casket and grave marker like that sculpture. Maybe a big bequest could get it for me.
Thanks for sharing, Mr. Potatohead.

If you need someone to fix the clock, I highly recommend Jerry at ClockWorks in Eagle River, WI.
He fixed it in Feb. 2018 and it has been running every day ever since, so 5+ years. My only problem was the hour hand slipping an hour every 2-3 months. It was loose, also running a minute per day fast. When I re-worked the dash this year, I took it to a local clock and watch shop locally and they fixed it on the spot.

I love telling the story of how it works. That it has a clock movement and that the electrical part is just to wind it. It ticks! It's my personal hearing test. And almost everyone remarks that Wow, it still works.

Thanks for the tip, Don. Because I'm slow and take photos, I've asked for more time in prepping a post. And I learned to copy before submitting. I just didn't do it that time.

I reposted the video above. You can see it charge after the batteries were run down. So I think that's to answer as to why I thought it was not charging. The batteries didn't need it, yet.

At any rate, twin batteries may be more trouble than they're worth without an alternator. I took one out. When the new VR arrives Monday, I'll install it and hope all remains good for a long time. If not, alternator goes in. Thanks again for the help.

I'll check the marine multi-battery thing out. I might have to do something special.

I disconnected the ARM and the FLD wires, both ends, and each has continuity to itself alone.

I disconnected the under-seat charger, started the car and backed it out, turning on high be ams. radio, 2 heater motors, fog lights and leg it run. The meter showed a fairly strong discharge. I let it idle until it warmed up hot enough to turn on the parade cooling fan. Then I shut off the accessories except for the headlights and videoed the meter.http://www.mktx.com/packard/RechargeRedBatt.MOV

So I started with fully charged green light batteries and after the test, the under seat charged showed red at 6.4V. So I think the system is working and the double battery (both brand new, so prob matching) is telling the VR it doesn't need anything until it's down a bit. But it takes it longer to drop than a single acid battery.

I might have to run a single battery on the diagonal to use the existing cables and take one battery out.

Thanks for your help Tex and Howard. -Emily Latella (maybe)

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So what is suggested is
1. Revert to acid battery.
2. Just run one Optima with new working VR and see if that burns out. (The guys with one Optima probably don't drive their cars every day as I do. Maybe the Optimas last 15 years because they mostly are on a trickle charger in the garage. I don't know, either.)
3. Install the Alternator if I want 2 Optima batteries

I didn't want to go on an Easter egg hunt, but to summarize.

Generator functions. It was recently rebuilt by Jeff at Moose Motors and installed by Ross at Speedwell Garage. He verified it charges, but at the time the VR may have been faulty and the battery meter was shot. The battery meter was replaced and works. The generator charges as confirmed by grounding the FLD terminal and the Battery indicator showing positive charging.

VR is well grounded.

I'm going to test continuity of generator-to-VR wire, though I believe they are perfectly good.

I'm going to draw down the batter by turning on the radio, high beams and heater motors, then see if that's enough to make the VR recharge the battery. The batteries at the moment are fully green-light charged.

QUESTION: From photos, does anything physical appear to be wrong with the new Brillman VR? When polarizing the generator according to the instructions sent by Brillman for Chrysler/Willys with a drawing of a different VR, the spark was barely discernible, unlike the spark from my old VR now re-installed. (The cover is an original cover from several VRs ago.)

Mike suggested I get an alternator years ago and I got one from Antique Auto Battery, Youngstown, OH. Mike sent me pix of the installation showing the bracket I'd need, which I don't have.

QUESTION: From photos, does anything physical appear to be wrong with the new Brillman VR? When polarizing the generator according to the instructions sent by Brillman for Chrysler/Willys with a drawing of a different VR, the spark was barely discernible, unlike the spark from my old VR now re-installed. (The cover is an original cover from several VRs ago.)

Everything I wrote was just wiped out when I tried to load a photo. It asked me to copy a code and then to sign in again. I didn't copy my text. Dang. Pix first this time.

Checking that VR is grounded. Grounding wire has been on there for 2 years.http://www.mktx.com/packard/VRGRD.MOV

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