It all depends on whether or how badly the upper lever is already seized to the shaft. If you have the rod disconnected between the idler portion and upper lever have a helper pull the operator lever up toward the steering wheel as if going into first or reverse gear. As long as it is held up that will get the selector tongue out of the upper 2-3 lever so lever will then be completely free to rotate on the tube. With the operator lever being held or tied back and the upper retaining clip and washer removed reach down and try to turn the lever. If it moves then try and get a liberal dose of penetrating oil down in the space between lever and tube and work it until lever feels fairly free. Possibly it will free up enough you can slide it upward but depending on how much paint, crud, or any gouges that might be on the tube it may not want to go far. If it gets free follow up with a good dose of regular motor oil. I wish you success and some with not terribly seized levers have lucked out doing this freeing method with everything still in the car.
On my 47 I was not as fortunate and the upper lever was rusted so tightly it took penetrating fluid, heat, and some brute force to get it to break free. To apply the brute force I took the tube and lever assy off the column and removed everything needed to get the lower lever and selector tongue off. I then rested the threaded end of the tube on a block of wood and used a hammer and soft drift punch to alternately strike different places on the top of the lever to break it free. If you do this take care not to gouge anything. Took quite a few blows for the lever to budge followed by a lot of polishing to get the shaft in halfway decent shape.
I don't recall ever seeing a detailed description of the column shift assy when it was introduced in 39 but if you want to get an overall feel for the tube and shift assy construction and operation check out the
46-50 service manual, clutch and transmission section. Starting on page 45 is a photo and description of operation. I believe that except for a different idler assy and shapes of the levers plus maybe a couple of other parts that the detailed Clipper thru 50 tube and lever operation will be identical to that on the prewar conventional body cars. Other than slight variations in parts shapes Packard kept that same basic arrangement thru 54.
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