Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

My rebuilt tranny with overdrive is acting up after about 350 mile of driving since rebuild. it has trouble staying in gear, lever jsut pops. I thought it might be linkage but maybe not. This tranny was done by a packard man who has an excellent reputation

any ideas????

john

Your car must have been converted from an Ultramatic to the overdrive at some time in its life as I believe all the '54 convertibles came with the automatic transmission. This conversion makes for a super driving car. My suggestion would be to take it back to the Packard expert who did the rebuild and have him first check the shift linkage for wear and adjustment. Good luck.

(o{I}o)

Quote:

I agree it is most likely an adjustment or linkage wear issue and yes, contact the person who rebuilt it and see what he says.

I've seen one other 5479 (white) with 3 speed & OD and it looked original, (but odd) with a clutch next to the EasaMatic brake pedal. But of course it would look original if properly converted with all factory parts. Many export cars were special ordered with manual transmissions due to the lack of service expertise and parts overseas on automatics. I spent some time in South America in the late 60's and often was surprised to see a late model Caddy, Buick or Lincoln with a "four on the floor".

Hey, JW, Thanks for the info.

You're right, this was a conversion. I had it done as i thought that it wouild be easier to service, esp since i was movng across the country and unsure of resources in the mid 90-s. It came with a twin ultramatic.

WIth the gearing for overdrive this has become a very responsive care. its gone from sedate to fast!!

thanks again for the support.
john

Gear-Start was the name for a "Twin" Ultra in 1954. Your car must have been very late production run as was my car.

I havent run across too many '54 Seniors that had Gear-Starts in them. The Clipper line seamed to be the "Guinea Pig" line of choice for those transmissions.

i have only driven one other gear start and it was a 54 caribbean in the late 60s.. It had the final drive buzz that let you know taht the converter wasnt completely locked out. I ran into the same problem over an over on my 56 patrician. I finally gave up on that and put in the conversion for the torque flite that turned out to be even more trouble that the ultramatic

I was lucky enough to have driven the 55s and 56s new as a teenager and they were great transmissions. totally reliable and responsive. the 2 speeds were very reliable and never were ever a problem in the family. In college i had a 51 convert that i got for 100 bucks that ran like a top. the tranny was never ever a problem. the GM fluid hydramatics that came out in 56 were total dogs. when packard stopped production the family switched to caddys and the trannys were terrible. lots of rebuilds and terrible performers.

In college i had a 51 convert that i got for 100 bucks that ran like a top.

If you treated your car and trans like I treated the 51 I drove in HS trying to keep up with Chevies and other popular cars, then I heartily concur. In spite of anything a broke teenager could do to abuse, mistreat and under-maintain a car, I never had to walk because of anything the car did (or didn't) do..

I treated the 52 Mayfair brutally. I should have had better sense, but was constantly being goaded by my peers. I finally broke down and raced a 53 Olds Holiday. beat him soundly and that relieved the BS for a while. That didn't help the tranny though. It finally gave up.
I had occasion to visit friend Chris today who gave me both exhaust manifolds (Thank you Chris). He stated he knew of one 56 Pat that was stick w/overdrive from the factory. The fellow had three Packards and wanted to sell them as a group. Too much money at the time for Chris. The Pat also had factory air.