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Can't tell exactly what needs to happen or what is available in the area structurally but any chance of a loop of chain strung in such a way that it could go under a floor jack and the saddle press against the lever? With the chain supporting or preventing any movement of the jack away from the saddle you should be able to get enough to raise or rotate it.

Thanx Howard, Ill give that a try tomorrow. I have been pondering how to pull the fame and axle together to get some T/L movement. Once I can get the thing centered I can go back to how to safely unload it.

Troy,
Were you using a centering tool while you were using your ratchet?

You might THINK about using downward pressure on the 8 foot torsion bar in front of the bracket that the arm is in. I'm thinking that with out a centering tool for the arm to rotate on, when loading or unloading, the arm is pushing down on the saddle, and up on the outer side. Maybe an anchor in the concrete floor and ratchet the bar back, so you can put the bolt back.

Just something to think about?

I could be wrong!

nope, that is from just trying to move the arm up a little as the hex is off by 1/2 hole to get the centering tool inserted.

I wonder what would happen if you jacked up the front arm, would it rotate the back arm any?

EDIT:
The centering question is addressed in the service manual, top of page 12,
https://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/servicemanual5556/Sect16_Suspension_Steering.pdf

So jacking up on the rear end might center the bar?

Page 12 also mentions the J bar hole is in front of the brake drum. Something else to factor in your design?

Could you use a car ratchet strap, loop around the frame and axle and pull them together until the arm was in position?

Ok, here comes the question of the day....Is It POSSIBLE for the T/L arms to become Frozen?

Two tons of jack force and 800 pounds on the frame and ZERO movement of the rear arms, Not even able to lift out of the stirrup. In this configuration, I have all kinds of T/L spring and you can see the fronts moving but the backs do not budge.

Tried rotating with the compensator and no movement so I know their are internals with the compensator. 1" wrench directly on the compensator rod totally disconnected from the Compensator drag links and Zero movement on the rears.

I am about ready to break the cutting torch out and kiss the T/L bars good bye. Actually I am gonna try to raise the fronts, remove the pins and let the front unwind as far as it will travel to the lower suspension and then see if I can get any movement out of the rear.

Today is throw a wrench and yell at the dog day.

The pivot bolt does support a pair of roller bearings so I suppose it is possible for it to freeze. They were fairly well lubricated so unless it was submerged for a long period, can't imagine anything destroying them to the point of seizure. There is not a lot of clearance between the sides of the support and the arm. Is there any sign the support has been damaged so it is shoved against the arm or with all the body rust you have found, possibly some rust has seized that area.

On your trying to move the compensator bars directly, I'd be surprised if you could do much. The gearing on the compensator is almost 3000:1 and you can hear the motor start to strain as it starts moving them much past neutral.

thanx Howard,

2+2 is starting to add up.

I found when I got the gunk cleaned off that the Compensator housing mounting tabs were broken off. So, something hit a massive limit or some kind of failure to mess these things up.

I think I certainly got a false story on this car with as much Rust damage as I am finding.

The frame all around the read T/L is heavy rust so their is no way this hasn't seen water at some point v.s. sitting in a climate controlled factory for 40 years.

OK well, some progress made. What I did is removed the front shock. I used a 5/8 x 1/2 bolt hook and ran the shaft thought the shock mount, Perfect fit and alignment. I then jacked up the front arm, removed the load arm link and lowered it all the way down to the bottom load arm.

This still did not make any difference or allow the rear T/L to move in any way, still stuck solid.

The game plan is to raise the front load arm just a bit and then remove the upper and lower load arms and then unload as much as possible from the front. It looks like I should have plenty of room to do so after removing the suspension.

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