Re: CLUNK !

Posted by HH56 On 2017/6/18 18:34:49

If the rod and lever on the drivers side is almost in a straight line the car has the early linkage and that may be the problem. It was enough of an issue at the time that they revised the linkage in late 55. If it is early and the linkage has worn at the pivot points it could be worse now.

I would visually check the linkage on the drivers side. When in park, if it is the early type the lever at side of trans will be almost horizontal or even pointing downward slightly with the end just barely off level. There is also a setscrew inside the transmission that could be loose and letting the lever drop. If it has the revised linkage and everything is tight inside, the end will be off horizontal and pointing upward maybe 10-15 degrees.

Disconnect the rod from the lever and move the lever by hand. There were a couple of things inside the trans. One is the early 55 pawls would stick in the gear, another is a pin that prevents the pawl from traveling too far would break letting the pawl slam and wedge into the park gear. If the setscrew is tight there will be almost no slop between detents when reversing the lever to change gears.

If you cannot move the lever out of park with linkage disconnected or there is any slop or lost motion you will have to remove the pan and see what is going on.

If the lever moves it out of park when disconnected and there is no slop, the problem is in the linkage before the trans. There is a bellcrank piece bolted to the frame roughly below the accelerator pedal that transfers motion from the vertical rod to the horizontal rod which could have a problem. There was another fellow not too long ago which had a problem with the shift tube inside the column not being free to move and preventing it from getting out of the park position.