Re: CLUNK !
Posted by Leeedy On 2017/6/21 11:34:01
Quote:
My07Bobber wrote:
So......spent most of the morning pulling wheels, up on jack stands now. Cleaned off the hubs, cleaned the fuel bowl, switched the air filter to element instead of oil bath, stopped the minor leaks. Put the water pump on yesterday. Get her all dialed in, drizzled a little fuel down the carb and lit her off. She stumbled coughed and stalled. Hit the key again and she fired off and purred like a kitten. Let it idle a few minutes......stepped on the brake and put it in gear....rear hubs are spinning...all looks good. Step on the brake, go to put it in park and hear a big clunk. Still idling but shifter won't budge out of park. It is locked in place.......shut it down, started it again....no joy on the shifter. Any ideas on what the problem is, short of the transmission being trashed ? All inputs, questions and solutions welcome.
Thank you in advance.
When the arm on the trans itself reaches a certain position, it has everything locked in almost a straight line (think of a football player locking his elbow to give his opponent a "straight arm"). A trans locked like this can usually be unlocked simply by reaching under the car and pushing up on the linkage (be sure the car won't roll away while doing so). Usually pops right out.
Problem is usually solved with adjustment and there was a Packard factory Service Bulletin issued on this matter. And yes, if anyone has adjusted (or mis-adjusted) the kickdown linkage, the trans linkage will be kittywhampus.
As for the pushbutton system locking in Park position, one of the greatest tips on combatting this was given to me in the 1970s by my good friend, the late Joe Clayton-who owned a ton of V8 Packards-most of which were driven daily. One of the things he did was to ALWAYS go from Park to Neutral first. Then to Drive. This prevented over-travel of the pie segment and subsequent bending of contact fingers. I also learned that it seemed to prevent locking of the Ultramatic in Park. Neither Joe nor myself ever had a 1956 with pushbuttons ever lock in Park. By the way, I rebuilt two of my own Ultramatics after learning how from the old mechanic at Los Angeles Frost & French dealership... along with tips from the former Earle C. Anthony Los Angeles dealership service manager.
Of course, doing all this with a 1956 with pushbuttons pre-supposes you have disconnected the "Automatic Park" feature. Many people, including tow-truck drivers have had the mistaken notion that 1956 Packards with pushbutton Ultramatic will be in-or remain in-Neutral... just because that button is depressed. Not so. Encountered more than one person over the years uttering choice language at the belief that the Packard they were moving was in Neutral just because that button was pushed. Fellow from one of the big tow companies was attempting to rock a 1956 Four Hundred out of Park and onto a flatbed while the owner uttered obscenities at the "awful Ultramatic" that he was convinced needed to be replaced by a Chrysler automatic trans. All that was wrong had nothing to do with the Ultramatic. In fact, the vehicle had a nicely working automatic Park system. And the minute the key was turned off... came the nice "click-click" sound and there it was... in Park-regardless of the fact that the "Neutral" pushbutton was depressed. But these guys didn't understand this system at all and blamed the poor Ultramatic for doing exactly as it was supposed to do.
Anyway, I am sure that some of these Ultramatics do indeed lock in Park but I also believe that it is best to know the functions and features and factory remedies to these problems. All of the above can go a long way to reducing headaches-many of which are merely misunderstandings.
Perhaps I am only lucky, but in all my years of owning and driving 1956 Packards, have yet to have one lock in Park on me. My 55 Patrician with selector lever and incredibly low miles was exception and locked in Park once after a carburetor adjustment. Used the factory Service Bulletin to remedy the issue. First unlocked it by reaching under the vehicle and pushing up on the linkage. Worked like a charm. Of course, the linkage was mis-adjusted after the mechanic fiddled with the carb.
For what it's worth...This Post was from: https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=193247