Re: 1941 Packard 110 - Column Shift Adjustment Help!

Posted by DrewLA On 2014/6/5 1:55:51

Having just "de-slopified" a 1941 110 a few weeks ago, this is all pretty fresh in my memory. I may not be able to answer all of your questions, but I have a pretty good understanding of how the entire linkage system works.

If you're interested in a good explanation and deep dive into the issues Packard experienced with the Handishift system, check out the Packard Club Cormorant Magazine issue from the winter of 1971, page 22. Bud Juneau (still an active member of the club) wrote a great article called "The Not-So-Handy-Handishift."

In order:

1) You likely haven't done any real damage, provided you haven't forced it into reverse. If you've just "clipped" reverse when coming from 1st, keep in mind you're moving relatively slowly, the most you've probably done is just wear a little bit of the edges of the gear teeth down. It's not something I'd made a habit of, but the few times you've clipped reverse, it probably hasn't done any more damage than would be done by not being completely stopped when going into 1st, etc. But this is all subjective. The only way to know is to pull the transmission apart, which, unless you are now experiencing trouble with using reverse, would be complete overkill.

2) A transmission oil change couldn't hurt. You'll turn a "known unknown" into a "known known." Wouldn't you rather, having just spent all that money on a rebuild, KNOW the fluid is clean? You or someone will be under there anyway fiddling with the linkage, why not change it? Cheap insurance.

3) Synthetic is not recommended. SAE 140 GL4 gear oil is appropriate in warm weather. The owners manual recommended SAE 140 in summer, SAE 90 in winter, SAE 80 in extremely cold weather. Depending on how the transmission was rebuilt, it may be possible to use a GL4/GL5 multi-weight oil, such as a 85W-140, but GL5 doesn't protect yellow metals (think synchros) well, so ask your rebuilder what they recommend.

4) There is no way to adjust where reverse is, at least not in the way I think you want to. You can adjust where neutral falls on the column, but that adjusts where all the other shift points are on the lever. The distance between the detents, though, is fixed by the levers on the transmission and the way the transmission itself is manufactured.

There are two shift forks at the base of the column, one controls reverse and 1st, the other controls 2nd and 3rd. Each fork is connected through a system of turnbuckles, pivots, and rods to the levers on the side of the transmission. When the lever is pulled forward, the transmission is in one gear, when it's pushed backward, it's in the other gear controlled by that fork. When it's in the straight up/down position, that section is in neutral. The interlock block prevents the transmission (theoretically) from being in two gears at once, so one lever has to be in the neutral position before the other lever can be moved forward or back.

The distance the levers on the transmission move governs the amount travel the shifter on the column can do. I may not be explaining it clearly, but basically, the only adjustment you have is in the length of the linkage rods. No matter how short or long the rods are, the ultimate length of travel of the system within gears controlled by the same fork is fixed.

Now, of course, that doesn't answer your ultimate question, which is, "how can I fix this properly?"

The answer lies in eliminating the side to side motion of the linkage and removing slop and lost motion. Before you start, lock the two forks together at the base of the steering column with a 3/16" rod or drill bit. Then check each pivot point. The clevis pins should be tight in their holes, the rods themselves shouldn't be able to move side to side at all. Disconnect each connection point and insert thin flat washers between the walls of the lever ends, such that when the clevis pin is installed and the cotter pin is replaced at each connection, the linkage can't move side-to-side. There are, I think, three places on each rod system to check for slop. If the clevis doesn't fit tightly through the holes, you'll need to fashion or find a bushing insert to narrow the holes a bit. If you find spring washers or wave washers, throw them away -- they introduce slop and the factory told everyone to remove them.

If you find that there is no side to side motion of the linkage down below, then you've just got a minor adjustment issue with where the rods connect to the forks at the base of the steering column. Though, usually, when these are mis-adjusted you'll get the thing stuck in multiple gears at once rather than clipping the other gear.

In my experience, having done this twice on two different cars in the last few weeks, removing the slop in the linkage, especially side-to-side motion, and then adjusting the rods so that they are perfectly equal up top where they insert into the forks, gets these things shifting near perfectly.

There are several service bulletins on this in the service index, many of which have pictures explaining how the linkage works and how to adjust it.

I should mention, though, that usually 1st and 3rd are the ones with short travel, reverse and 2nd are the ones with long travel. You should come out of first with very little travel of the shifter up to neutral, at which point, if you let go of the shifter, it should spring forward (toward the front of the car) onto the 2nd/3rd fork, at which point you should then be able to upshift.