Today I took the plunge and made a start on stripping my steering column to swop the selector forks. Using Howard's excellent advice as a guide, I took off the steering wheel and bulkhead blanking plate, and stripped out the column fasteners. I had two issues in getting the column out; first the levers caught on the bracket that bolts to the bulkhead and carries cable clamps etc. : unbolting this (3 bolts) allowed me to push the bracket out of the way to clear the forks no problem. The second issue I found was the upper column bracket that bolts up under the dash. When unbolted, this was still behind the dash outer metal plate (with my carefully regained finish..). By carefully pushing the outs column towards the bulkhead I was able to finagle the column clear and then the column sleeve and gear selectors came out easily.

Both on the car and on the bench, it was clear that the lower selector arm was bent, and that the brass bushes at the end of both arms were unevenly worn, clearly two separate issues that cant have been good for my gear changing. On the bench, whilst the upper arm was pretty tight to the column, the lower arm was able to move off the axis of the shaft quite a bit (see pic), which if nothing else suggests its inner brass bush may be well worn.

In stripping the selector Forks, Howard was right - removing the split pin frees the inner spring to fly off if you're not careful -mine didn't have a 'spacer' between the pin and spring either, I guess the victim of poor maintenance in the past. I marked the column to not where the 'U' clamp fit on the column, and noted the number of turns (20) to unscrew the bracket from the shaft, just in case I needed to return it to its exact position on reassembly. The bracket came off followed by a spring with a washer at either end; the spring is narrower at the end facing 'up' the selector shaft. The lower fork then came off in good order.

At that point I was hit a snag as the detent wouldn't come off - it has a spring-loaded pin that moved freely a few mm but no amount of my fiddling could get it to come off the shaft, so I couldn't get the upper selector arm off -so; anyone know how to free the detent arm ?

I also then unpacked for the first time my 'NOS' selector arms, a cue for 'enter snag number two' .....-.Both were bagged and numbered (360425 & 360426) but apart from the bore of their shaft 'hole', seem exactly the same. Also, they appear to be cast from different (rough) metal to the nice aluminium originals, don't have any brass bushes, and the arm ends are too small to take bushes; their bases are also a different shape to my original (see pics).


So whatever these are they are not original NOS.... which begs the question has anyone else come across these type of arms and do they fit/work on the '41 19 series Packard. I should have checked by opening the package when I bought them 93 years ago...) -my bad, but if these are no good then I'll have to either find some replacements or re-bush my original arms (and bend the lower one back into shape).

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Many thanks Howard - as always your encyclopaedic knowledge is matched only by your willingness to help - IOU. I'll follow your guide see what I find, and report back.

Many Thanks for this Howard -I'll try what you suggest and report back on success or otherwise !

Best Regards

Howard.

Hi David,

Hope this finds you well sir !

Apologies for the 'silence' since I first ran the restored car for my sons wedding. After the marathon getting it ready for that event I needed a rest, and in the meantime got tied up renovating four houses and completing my PhD..... -so, almost two years later, I'm now back tinkering where I left off -and starting to address the various mechanical issues that 'running' the car for the first time revealed. I will of course be posting again on the blog, but thanks for your response -it does me good to know you're still there

Hi everyone,

My much-loved 1941 110 Touring Sedan Deluxe has always suffered from the usual sloppy/jumpy/sticking gearchange despite adjusting as per the owners manual, caused I think in part by the two selector arms on the steering column being worn and loose on the column, which can't be correct.

I now have NOS replacements ready to fit, but can't find any information as to how to strip out the column to remove and replace the old levers with the new. Has anyone any experience or advice re. this task please ?

Many thanks in anticipation

Howard (UK)

Hi Vin;

Thanks for the update and no worries : UK Customs etc. will result in much longer delays. I will keep you updated, and have my 'chromer' on standby.

Thanks again for helping me with this part; rest assured its going go a good home and will be treasured.

H.

Hi Vin;

1) $349 just sent via paypal ($250 parts & $99 shipping); could you check and make sure you've got it ?

2) My address is correct, but my name is 'Howard Atkin' (analyse is just my forum avatar)

Best Regards,

Howard.

Hi Vin,

Slower option is fine thanks ($99); UK customs will crucify me on cost of item plus postage (about an extra $100 in this case) so anything I can do to reduce the purchase cost plus shipping total to them is a good move.

Let me know your Paypal email and I'll send total payment by return, no problem.

Many thanks,

Howard.

15, Leeds Road, St Johns, Wakefield,WF1 3JW, United Kingdom

Hi Vin;

That will be OK; do you want to get a shipping quote then I'll send you payment (Paypal ok ?)

Regards,

H.