Just so I'm clear, to remove the motor there's just the two wired connections and the two through-bolts, then the whole motor with armature can be pulled away?

BTW, there is a large hole in the rubber boot on the tailshaft of the transmission and due to a bit of leakage over time and evidence this car was driven extensively on dirt/gravel/rock/mud roads the gearbox, limit switches, bars and the surrounding area are heavily covered in hardened grime. The limit switches can't even be seen and along with the bolt heads will have to be extricated like a fossil. On the upside none of it is rusty but it's a big, hard grease ball. I've chipped and scraped the grime and rocks away from the bars so they should be free to move but they don't move in either direction in the slightest.

I assume the car continued to be driven in these conditions after the leveler system failed. Part of my immediate difficulty (and resulting questions) is having so much of the system concealed from view.

This job is going to make me really wish I had a lift.

Also, do you think an auto-electric place that tests and rebuilds generators and starters will be able to test this motor if I brought it to them, or is this thing so unique they wouldn't have a clue?

When I ground each limit switch terminal the motor armature moves slightly in each direction but doesn't spin at all, only taking up the slight play.
The compensator arms don't appear to be bent.
It appears the compensator gearbox is jammed. Without an ability to move it, one can't relieve the torsion bars which I would expect makes the gearbox removal rather difficult and dangerous.
It also looks like the motor may not be removable with the exhaust pipe in place.

This looks like a job for the dealer.

The TL system isn't working on my newly acquired 1955 400. Brake lights work. I found the inline fuse by the starter blown and replaced it with a 30A AGC. With that after the 7 second timer there's a solenoid actuation but no movement. Current is being drawn as the lights dim somewhat.

I found a rock jammed between the right compensator bar and the frame. Removed it but still no movement.

Grounding each limit switch terminal activates the solenoid but the motor won't turn either way.

With the band removed from the motor armature I can turn the armature a very tiny bit each way, presumably the free play in the gearbox teeth, so I assume the motor isn't frozen.

Does this leave me with a seized/broken gearbox as the cause or is there something else I can check?

Thanks for the information.
This unit looks to have leaked some into the vacuum section, but not a large amount. There was a puddle of gunk almost two inches wide and an inch front to back, rusty underneath.

The piston shaft looks quite good actually but I have a new one that I'll use. The relief passage was packed solid with crystalized fluid.

Still cleaning things up but will start reassembling soon.

What I'm not looking forward to is trying to hook the brake lines back up during installation. They were difficult enough just to disconnect but I expect starting those threads is going to be a pita. Very difficult to reach and is virtually blind.

Scott

I hadn't tried a rocking motion so thought I'd give that a go, but in a different way than suggested. Rather than trying to grab the casting, I took a large rubber mallet and tapped around the protruding casting around the pedal shaft. I alternated that with some prying and twisting and banging it outward with the help of the internal spring. Via the vacuum line holes as reference I could see the power piston was ever so slightly coming farther out. The rocking motion had helped break it free but it was still tight separating from the brake piston.

Eventually, success. Here's a picture of it just as it came out. There's some white, chalky casting corrosion in the socket. Some of the goo at the bottom is due to the PB Blaster but there's debris with perhaps a little crystalized brake fluid mixed in. It could be worse. The bore looks fine.

I should mention this car lived it's life in the wet Western Oregon where all pot metal castings have rather short life.

Onward... thanks for the help.

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The unit does not appear to have any corrosion or leakage but it seems the two pistons are locked together. I'm open to ideas how to separate them without breaking anything. Gunpowder and a fuse?

I've recently acquired a '55 400 with about 54K miles on it but having sat in a barn for the past 30 years.

I've removed the treadle vac unit as the brake fluid was all crystalized and am disassembling per Ross Miller's instructions but have hit a snag. The power piston moves freely but it appears solidly connected to the master cylinder piston. If I remove the compensator valve the power piston comes out a bit more but still hits a hard stop at the end of the master cylinder piston travel.

I've tried prying out the power piston as much as possible without risking breaking something but it won't let go. Am I missing something?

Scott

I recently picked up a new (to me) low mileage '55 400 that has been in barn storage for 50 years. Of course one of the basic items to get it driveable again are hoses and belts. Of particular difficulty is the upper transmission cooler coolant hose, being the gap between cooler and water pump manifold is only about a half inch. Removal is not difficult as the hoses are like glass and break up pretty easily. However, either the pump manifold assy. or the cooler assy has to move to get the new hose in place. Suggestions?

I've noticed that the gas pump makes a big difference too. Ones that pump just liquid work faster as it's more dense (heavier) but some seem to aerate the gasoline and it goes in almost like a foam. With the light density it just quickly fills the filler tube and trips the shutoff.

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They aren't at all dangerous to be around. Radium is primarily an alpha emitter, which even a sheet of paper or your skin will block. It's only hazardous to ingest (or inhale). It's the people that painted the instruments by hand that were thus exposed so the paint is no longer made to protect workers.

There are alternative luminous pigment paints that glow under UV exposure but they degrade relatively rapidly.

What is noteworthy is that the dimming of radium dials over time is not due to the decay of the radium, which has a half-life of around 1600 years. It's due to the degradation of the phosphors that the radium excites. If the paint is still intact and not flaking off, recoating with a very thin layer of the phosphors will restore luminosity for some time.