Re: 35 12 will not shift in to first and reverse when warm

Posted by JeromeSolberg On 2021/11/12 22:49:10

An earlier poster suggested a problem with the clutch, and from my experiences with other manual transmission cars and motorcycles, that would be where I would look first. I had a motorcycle that would become very hard to shift when warm, the clutch was out of adjustment because the cable was stretched. When it was cold, everything had not thermally expanded and so the clutch could still be disengaged, but when warm the tolerances had all closed up and the clutch would drag and it became very hard to shift. I think on the Packard the first and reverse gears are not synchronized, at least on downshifts, whereas the 2nd and 3rd gears are, so the clutch that is part of the synchronizers is helping you out on the upper gears, but not on first and reverse.

Could also be a binding action in the transmission as was suggested earlier, also perhaps caused by parts heating up and thermal expansion closing up tolerances, but I would double-check the clutch first, especially when it's warm. Might put the rear-end up on jackstands and see how much clutch drag you get when warm versus cold.