Re: R 10 Overdrive

Posted by Tom Still On 2013/1/27 12:50:06

My 55 Deluxe has the R11.
One trait BW overdrives have is their dislike for sitting nose down for an extended period of time. Shortly after I got the car I jacked up the back to remove the very noisy rear end. It sat that way for several weeks while a replacement was located. The new one was installed and my son drove it about 35 miles on the freeway without a problem and pulled into a parking slot. Backing out didn't. He drove the car home and determined that;

A: We had completely lost reverse.
B: I had completely forgotten a similar issue 55 years ago involving my father and a 49 Lincoln.

We removed the Trans. And found the planetary gears completely defanged. The sun and ring gears were slightly worn but the planetaries were smooth. The problem, it seems, is the separate oil fill for the OD and trans. If it sits nose down for an extended time, the OD oil leaks in to the trans. but doesn't leak back in time when level. This accomplishes two things for you. It burns up the OD and it overfills the transmission, blows the front seal and soaks the clutch. The replacement parts came from a 66 Mercury, but using the longer output shaft and housing from the Packard. The rear end is from an automatic. It's a great road car but the speedometer is about 7 MPH slow and it eats up clutches.
Happy packarding, Tom