Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I know that there are many diagnosis and repair posts for the TorsionLevel system but I am out at my rural shop with virtually no Internet and have a quick question.

My 1956 Clipper Custom has been up on stands so I hadn't realized how low the rear was until it was moved outside last night. It was working when the car was first transported here twelve or so years ago but I was showing it off to a family member when it got stuck. I know I need to check that it hasn't over-traveled but once I do that, is there a way to manually crank it or even hotwire it from a battery? I can probably figure it out but am hesitant to risk breaking anything so thought it best to ask first.

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Here is the complete schematic. If nothing has gone wrong before and caused the transverse link bars to be on the wrong sides of the compensator then grounding the pink wire at the control switch should raise it. If you cannot get to the pink wire then grounding the orange wire at the solenoid in the engine compt will do the same thing but use extreme caution if you do it there. If you ground the orange wire YOU BYPASS THE SAFETY AND WILL NOT HAVE A LIMIT SWITCH IN THE CIRCUIT TO STOP ANY DAMAGE FROM HAPPENING. It would be best if you can do any manual work from under the car so you can watch the compensator and see exactly what is happening.

If the solenoid etc are having issues you can disconnect the wires off the motor. The motor case is ground so if the battery is disconnected you could run jumper cables from the battery posts directly. One to the frame and the other touching against one of the motor terminals. To raise it should be the A terminal which held a red wire. AGAIN, NO SAFETY if doing that procedure so definitely watch what is happening to make sure the correct terminal is being energized.

Before doing any manual work verify the transverse bars are on the proper sides of the compensator per the birds eye photo. Sometimes a previous short or stuck solenoid will cause the motor to run past the limit and reverse the transverse bars. If that has happened hopefully the fuse blew before any damage but any correction by moving things manually if the bars are on the wrong sides will be opposite of what you want to happen.

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Thank you, Howard. That's exactly what I needed to know!

Yes, the up and down solenoids are under the hood in the drivers side inner fender, above the vacuum reserve tank. The upper solenoid is the one to raise the rear, just ground the primary wire to activate. Just remember by so doing you have bypassed the safety (limit) switches.

PS - what happened Don, I responded to your question about underhood access and on coming back, I see you deleted it so you leave my response hanging put there with no context.

Sorry, I deleted it before there was a response because you had already answered it. With my poor connection, I am barely online!

Anyway, working in the dirt, I lifted the driver side as high as I could but couldn't get my eyes far enough away to see anything. I tried blindly taking some photos but only one MIGHT show if the arms are reversed or not. Can you make sense of it?

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I tried grounding as suggested but nothing. I already checked the two fuses and they're good so I guess I'll have to get it up onto the rack at some future date where I can properly diagnose it. Incidentally, does grounding the terminal also bypass the under-dash disable switch?

Checking the voltage on the fused side of the upper relay, there was nothing so I checked the fuse again. It was fine before but clearly burned and blackened now!

Quite by accident while working on something else, I found the short! Several years ago, as is typical, the ignition switch bezel's ears snapped off and the switch fell behind the dash. I've had a good used bezel for a while and finally just went to put it in when I saw a terminal laying against the glovebox door hinge. In fact, it was jammed there and took some work to extract it.

Reattaching the switch and replacing the burned 30a fuse, the relay clicked on its own and the motor ran but unfortunately the back did not budge much (maybe in inch or two) so there is a mechanical issue that will need to be checked.

Don

Yes there is clearly a problem with your Torsion Level system, if the relay activates and it moves, hopefully not too serious.

Mine works fine after attention from someone here who I presume had no knowledge of all this beyond the Manual description. In addition to the on/off switch under the dash, mine has a manual level switch which raises and lowers the rear as required. Very handy for raising the (very long) rear to negotiate steep driveways etc. I've been told it is an accessory, but whatever the case it's a very handy thing. Here's a pic of it. Presumably it would go under the dash on the left hand side of your car.

Cheers

Brian

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The accessory switch is in the schematic that Howard posted but I've never seen one like your. Very interesting! Most aim straight down under the edge of the dash and I believe have a knob that matches the rest on the dash.

As for damage on mine, I heard a snap and I'm hoping that it was just the air cleaner falling as it was balanced off the carburetor under the hood.