Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Once again, I find myself, trying to trouble shoot my ride height problem. I did get a 4-grove link pin from max, but I thought it would be a good idea to go over the previous comments found in SBT-1. Not having a lift, I use concrete solid blocks under each wheel and under frame jack stands as a safety precaution.

The photo of the car in its current condition, high in the back. It can’t be seen, but there is a 2-inch difference driver to passenger side, with the driver’s side lower.

Photos of right and left levers show them to be about one-half inch in towards the center of the car, but the bottom flat of the hex is NOT horizontal!

I have ‘no idea’ as to what is going on or how to correct this. The photo with the ruler shows the lever would have to be straight down(vertical) for the flat to be horizontal.

Is there any thing that I can do to ensure that the long torsion bars are truly unloaded?

I do not have the special tool (j-6065), but plan to use a one-inch steel angle along with some u bolts to hold it in place when an attempt is finally made to install the longer pin.

Any help is as always DEEPELY APPRECIATED!!!

Happy

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The position of the levers of 1/2" toward center for an unloaded car as mentioned in the SM is somewhat misleading. I believe that may be the case for a Clipper with a minimal amount of accessories but the senior models with most of the added accessory weight biased toward the front tend to have the levers want to be in different spots. In the case of my heavily optioned 56 HT the levers are actually an inch or so towards the frame.

No need to unload to change a load link but if for some other reason, there are some options in making sure the short bars are unloaded. If you have a manual switch or want to use a jumper wire at the control switch to manually energize the solenoids make sure the dash TL switch is off. Then you could move the suspension until you hear the load change pitch and then in small amounts move in one direction or the other while you try to rotate or slightly twist the transverse bars . When they are unloaded, you can grab one and twist it slightly in the ball sockets because there will be no pressure pulling the ball ends tight. Another option is to follow the procedure in bulletin 55T-12, step 5, which consists of loosening the nuts -- but not removing them -- on the 7 bolts holding the compensator together and letting the tension on the short bars pull the transverse bars and compensator mechanism until they reach a neutral point. If you do this procedure be sure to keep hands away from the bars and levers. The compensator ring is held by friction and once the ring is free to turn it can move quickly. The last option would be to remove the motor and use a screwdriver or modified ratchet to manually crank the compensator to the unloaded spot.

It's been a long while but I think I had a similar problem because the levelers were 180 degrees off and I fixed it by bypassing the limiter switches via running the motor with a jumper wire.

Tim has a good point. Make sure an improper assembly or some electrical issue did not drive the compensator so the transverse bars reversed sides. The short bar on the drivers side must be on the front side of the compensator and the long bar to passenger side is at the rear. Also note the subtle "V" shape to the lever on the compensator where the bars attach. Referring to the birds eye view illustration you can see the V opening, when correct, points to the passenger side.

Once you get the 2" side to side height difference corrected you should be able to adjust the turnbuckle in the link to the control switch to correct the front to back difference.

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Yes, by all means make sure that the short bar links are properly positioned as shown in Howard's diagram. You can use a good battery charger or a spare battery and some jumper cables to accomplish that. Leave the car battery disconnected whilst you play.

Then while you are under there, go ahead and jockey the car to dead level. I'm guessing you won't find as much difference side to side if you do. It doesn't make any difference where those arms are relative to vertical. Only the result matters.I think we talked about this before--make sure the compensator links aren't noticably bent.

I'm confused by your comment that you want the long bars to be unloaded. The compensator will not affect them and they remain under many hundred foot Lb torque no matter what. But while the car is level front to rear it will not be too difficult to brace up the front load arm so you can put in your #4 pin.

Thanks for the comments and information, VERY HELPFULL !!! Had a chance to crawl under today and verified that the short bar link is front and the long one is in back with the inside of the V dog bone points to the passenger side. So that’s good.
Shorted the down terminal that advanced the long bar far enough to contact the limit switch (it works!). With the limit switch activated the car is very close to level, with less than a quarter full gas tank. I am not sure that would make a difference or not.
If all goes well tomorrow, will try to remove short, drivers side, link pin
Happy