Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

So......spent most of the morning pulling wheels, up on jack stands now. Cleaned off the hubs, cleaned the fuel bowl, switched the air filter to element instead of oil bath, stopped the minor leaks. Put the water pump on yesterday. Get her all dialed in, drizzled a little fuel down the carb and lit her off. She stumbled coughed and stalled. Hit the key again and she fired off and purred like a kitten. Let it idle a few minutes......stepped on the brake and put it in gear....rear hubs are spinning...all looks good. Step on the brake, go to put it in park and hear a big clunk. Still idling but shifter won't budge out of park. It is locked in place.......shut it down, started it again....no joy on the shifter. Any ideas on what the problem is, short of the transmission being trashed ? All inputs, questions and solutions welcome.
Thank you in advance.

Sounds like the parking linkage or the pot metal roller issues. I believe it has been discussed on here.

Since you have it up on jackstands, crawl under the car and try to maneuver the linkage by hand. The original lever on the transmissions- at least on the 55- had a bad habit of sticking in park. I believe Howard discussed this in a prior posting and indicated that there was a replacement offered to correct the problem.

Thank you for the tips !

If the rod and lever on the drivers side is almost in a straight line the car has the early linkage and that may be the problem. It was enough of an issue at the time that they revised the linkage in late 55. If it is early and the linkage has worn at the pivot points it could be worse now.

I would visually check the linkage on the drivers side. When in park, if it is the early type the lever at side of trans will be almost horizontal or even pointing downward slightly with the end just barely off level. There is also a setscrew inside the transmission that could be loose and letting the lever drop. If it has the revised linkage and everything is tight inside, the end will be off horizontal and pointing upward maybe 10-15 degrees.

Disconnect the rod from the lever and move the lever by hand. There were a couple of things inside the trans. One is the early 55 pawls would stick in the gear, another is a pin that prevents the pawl from traveling too far would break letting the pawl slam and wedge into the park gear. If the setscrew is tight there will be almost no slop between detents when reversing the lever to change gears.

If you cannot move the lever out of park with linkage disconnected or there is any slop or lost motion you will have to remove the pan and see what is going on.

If the lever moves it out of park when disconnected and there is no slop, the problem is in the linkage before the trans. There is a bellcrank piece bolted to the frame roughly below the accelerator pedal that transfers motion from the vertical rod to the horizontal rod which could have a problem. There was another fellow not too long ago which had a problem with the shift tube inside the column not being free to move and preventing it from getting out of the park position.

Last week, the Esquire and I were the last to leave a local car show because of the "dreaded clunk." Because of a parking space slope, I had set the parking brake first, then did what I normally would not do, I put the button into Park. After the show, I may have released the parking brake first, with foot on the brake, but that's when my clunk moment happened. Nothing worked in any gear, but the relay under the hood was pinging in a normal fashion. Reluctantly, I called my AAA for a tow home after the other 160 cars had left. With the hood still open, parking brake set and miraculously in Neutral, I grabbed the top tank of the radiator and rocked the car forward. This time it was the right kind of clunk. The transmission, now unlocked, behaved itself all the way home. The shame of a nice Packard aboard a roll back carrier was cancelled.

For the past few years, I have behaved myself with both 1956 hardtops by almost never trusting the Park buttons. The parking brake works well enough to not need it. I think it was O-D who gave us that counsel. With automatic V-8s, we'd all do well to keep following it.

There is an easy fix in the service letter, can be done with trans in car. Someone here can find it for you. You may have a broken pin that holds the retracting spring for the parking pawl, that can be checked and fixed without removing the trans

Twice with Park problems was enough for me. For my '56 Carib with pushbuttons, despite a Ross Miller rebuild with all the upgrades and the like, I still NEVER use Park. I have a nice wheel chock left behind by some utility company that comes out of the trunk if on much of a grade.

Thank you all for the info and the tips "after the clunk is solved. One thing I noticed when I crawled under was, the rod that goes aft towards the rear of the vehicle had fallen out. I had a eureka moment! I attempted to move the lever on the trans...no movement. I reinstalled the rod, no joy. Still seems to be locked in place. If it helps. 5567 4599 is the VIN. Middle of the model year. It was getting dark and I haven't been under since. I'll crawl under after work tomorrow. It only has 85388 on the odometer. From the looks of it, it appears to be original. I'll disconnect the linkage again and see if the shifter will work then work my way back. Pulling the trans pan will be the last resort. Wish me luck. Not a lot of room in the budget for a trans rebuild at this time......just sayin.....

Quote:

I've posted a few times in the past on this matter. Most of the V8 Packards with trans selector lever that have this problem usually turn out to have a linkage out of adjustment. Sometimes from improper adjustments or just plain wear.

When the arm on the trans itself reaches a certain position, it has everything locked in almost a straight line (think of a football player locking his elbow to give his opponent a "straight arm"). A trans locked like this can usually be unlocked simply by reaching under the car and pushing up on the linkage (be sure the car won't roll away while doing so). Usually pops right out.

Problem is usually solved with adjustment and there was a Packard factory Service Bulletin issued on this matter. And yes, if anyone has adjusted (or mis-adjusted) the kickdown linkage, the trans linkage will be kittywhampus.

As for the pushbutton system locking in Park position, one of the greatest tips on combatting this was given to me in the 1970s by my good friend, the late Joe Clayton-who owned a ton of V8 Packards-most of which were driven daily. One of the things he did was to ALWAYS go from Park to Neutral first. Then to Drive. This prevented over-travel of the pie segment and subsequent bending of contact fingers. I also learned that it seemed to prevent locking of the Ultramatic in Park. Neither Joe nor myself ever had a 1956 with pushbuttons ever lock in Park. By the way, I rebuilt two of my own Ultramatics after learning how from the old mechanic at Los Angeles Frost & French dealership... along with tips from the former Earle C. Anthony Los Angeles dealership service manager.

Of course, doing all this with a 1956 with pushbuttons pre-supposes you have disconnected the "Automatic Park" feature. Many people, including tow-truck drivers have had the mistaken notion that 1956 Packards with pushbutton Ultramatic will be in-or remain in-Neutral... just because that button is depressed. Not so. Encountered more than one person over the years uttering choice language at the belief that the Packard they were moving was in Neutral just because that button was pushed. Fellow from one of the big tow companies was attempting to rock a 1956 Four Hundred out of Park and onto a flatbed while the owner uttered obscenities at the "awful Ultramatic" that he was convinced needed to be replaced by a Chrysler automatic trans. All that was wrong had nothing to do with the Ultramatic. In fact, the vehicle had a nicely working automatic Park system. And the minute the key was turned off... came the nice "click-click" sound and there it was... in Park-regardless of the fact that the "Neutral" pushbutton was depressed. But these guys didn't understand this system at all and blamed the poor Ultramatic for doing exactly as it was supposed to do.

Anyway, I am sure that some of these Ultramatics do indeed lock in Park but I also believe that it is best to know the functions and features and factory remedies to these problems. All of the above can go a long way to reducing headaches-many of which are merely misunderstandings.

Perhaps I am only lucky, but in all my years of owning and driving 1956 Packards, have yet to have one lock in Park on me. My 55 Patrician with selector lever and incredibly low miles was exception and locked in Park once after a carburetor adjustment. Used the factory Service Bulletin to remedy the issue. First unlocked it by reaching under the vehicle and pushing up on the linkage. Worked like a charm. Of course, the linkage was mis-adjusted after the mechanic fiddled with the carb.

For what it's worth...