Packard Motor Car Information

Re: Henry's 55 Constellation

Posted by Cli55er On 2010/2/27 0:45:56

well bad news bears everyone........i got around to taking the individual pieces apart on the "new" transmission and well....it wasn't that pretty.

couple of things....the ring gear housing on the new transmission has this lip on it where the band goes. (running change by Packard???) you can see it in the pic vs. the old one that doesn't have it. and as you can tell i wont be using the "new" one for obvious reasons.....so the old one is getting recycled after a good clean up to get the rust off.

also the splines on the shaft have a grooved area in them....see pic.....as compared to the old transmission's pieces....so recycle time again for that part. you can see the metal lip on the "new" one....that is where the excessive rubbing occurred.....then up about 2 inches from there. no pretty.

then we get to the roller bearing on the gear set......cracked and broke, so recycle time again.

you can also see the "0" on the gear box piece that tells you how to line up the top piece and you will also notice it is weighted for balance. and this piece on the "new" trans is kind jacked up too.....so i am thinking about cleaning up the entire old gear box and housing w/ ring gear from the old one and recycling the whole thing if i can get it clean enough. obviously there was a HUGE problem with this "new" unit.....probably why the trans was sitting. LOL!

luckily i have the old parts to fall back on instead of ordering more for more.... $$$$

i will also get with www.ultramaticdynamics.com because i need a new pin as you can see in the pick it broke in the machined area. the above website talks about that in the "improvements" section. i plan to talk to Peter about getting some of the improved parts. i already have new bands and direct clutch from him.

you can also see that the steels and clutches are not too bad, still have original black material on them too. but i have new ones coming with the more modern orange material on them. (i hope they aren't the black ones anyways.) i believe the kit from Max Merrit has the newer material on the clutchs...

also, i had to fix one of my rims. it hat a HUGE pitted area where i fixed it. i was worried it may have been too thin there, so i welded a bead across the affected area and then ground it down until it matched the original form of the wheel. not too bad for an amateur I'd say. i was pleased anyways. ;0)

i also tried to band out that dent on one of my rims, worked a little, but not perfect. i had to heat it up and the hammer it hard to move it as much as i could, but it still isn't perfect, so i am going to use it as the spare tire's rim and take the red one off the spare that was in the trunk when i bought the car and use it for the driver rim. it looks straight.

my friends at discount tire are going to let me use one of the balance machines for free to check the rims before i get them done up in black. if they can be balanced i will be good to go. i hope.....

well enough rambling....enjoy the pics from tonight's adventures. ;0)

later,

Hank

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