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With a 12v battery, jumper cables and a good ground, I can’t get anything to move when touching the positive to one or the other terminal. Nothing at all but if I install the battery and ground one or the other relay under the hood, then it actuates. I think I’ll have to put in the battery, then use a remote starter switch to do the same thing while I’m underneath watching the direction it moves.

With a remote starter button I was able to get the motor to turn but the arm shows no sign at all of moving so will likely need a new actuator. Is there a clutch or anything else inside to account for the lack of movement or is a stripped gear the only possibility?

Someone in the past posted a picture of the motor completely twisting the shaft off. Did you try it both ways?

No clutch but a couple of possibilities. It is possible but I don't think as likely in a 56 that strain during the reversal caused the snap ring holding the worm screw bearing to jump out of place. The worm is driven and connected to the armature via a pin thru the armature shaft which fit in slots in a sleeve which is part of the worm gear. If the ring came loose and bearing moved allowing the worm to shift it is possible the pins slipped out of the slots and armature is disconnected from the worm. This issue is detailed in bulletin 55T-12.

Another possibility is when the bars reversed, during the reversal process the bars ran into the case and with the lever prevented from moving, the huge amount of torque developed in the compensator caused the splines connecting the V shaped lever driving the bars to shear off. If there is any sign of bent bars that is the more likely scenario and the compensator needs to be removed and taken apart so the lever can be checked.

Here is what the lever from one compensator with that issue looked like.

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Kev, yes I tried it both ways starting with the Up solenoid.

Howard, it may have to wait until the lift is available before I can do anything about it unless there is a relatively simple (not necessarily easy) way to do so while it’s still high up on stands. I don’t grovel well under cars anymore even on a creeper but getting back up after I do is even worse! I’ll have to look into the process better tonight once I’m back where I have WiFi.

How do those joints-come apart and is there tension on them with the wheels hanging or supported?

In the meantime, I found a gas receipt from 1965 under the front seat (35.2 cents a gallon) and some old coins under the back seat. The coins are: 1962 quarter, 1954 nickel and a 1950 King George Canadian penny. I believe that the quarter is silver as they all were up to 1964. On the gas receipt, it shows the station was in Cupertino (Apple’s home town) and the car was in next door Campbell when it was found and bought back in the ‘70s so hasn’t strayed far from home until I took it up to my Oregon shop!




Coins found under the back seat and on the quarter, the back side isn't readable.
Probably just damaged but MAYBE a rare double-stamping!

If the spline on the lever is sheared there is likely very little if any load from the transverse bars. If you can grab them and twist them to feel the play at the ball socket then there is none. If you cannot twist I would remove the motor first and see if it is disconnected from the worm. If it is you can follow the bulletin to either fix the snap ring and bearing to get the worm back in place or else try to manually move the compensator by using a large screwdriver or rig up some kind of drill attachment to turn the worm. With the dual planetary gear reduction in the compensator, turn ratio is something like 3000 to one so it takes a lot of turning on the worm to see much movement at the lever.

Alternately, there is a procedure in step 5 of the bulletin where you LOOSEN but do not remove the 7 screws holding the compensator halves together. The center ring gear between the halves is only held by friction so with the upper and lower halves loosened enough the tension on the bars on the lever will just rotate the ring until tension is gone. When loosening the screws keep your hands free of the lever and bars because if there is load and it breaks free things will move in a hurry.

After tension is gone the ends of the bars have screw on caps that are most likely staked in place. The caps and a spring provide tension to the sockets which hold the bars to the balls on the lever. You will need a ratchet and drag link socket sized to fit the screw slot in order to loosen and remove caps. Easiest to take off is at the short bar or frame end and leave the bars on the compensator while it is removed. Then you can easily get to the screws at the compensaor end after removal but one issue you may have is access.

Sometimes due to various reasons the levers on the end of the short bars will want to bury themselves in the frame and if that happens you may not be able to get the drag link on the screw slot. I usually lay a piece of scrap wood in the frame large enough that the center of the short bar lever will hit it and stop so it does not go all the way into the frame.

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I took out all the seats and removed the upholstery as SMS needs them as a pattern. During the COVID lockdown, I took advantage of a sale by making a large deposit and taking a raincheck and it was only last year that I finally sent them the door cards and now the seat skins.

While doing so, I discovered that the back set springs are not usable due to considerable rust on the front and side lower rail and also due to some broken bits, one of which appears to have had a repair at one point unless it was made that way. However, I noticed an embossing on the rear seat cushion's formed foam which had the part number and was surprised to see it was the same back to 1951. If the seat itself was the same, then I may already have a good one from my 1954 Patrician parts car!

Enlarging the photo, the embossing is visible in the center which includes the part number.






Barely visible in this photo of the rear seat cushion standing upright is the very rusty bottom edge.

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Thank you, Howard, for those wonderful tips! I think for now it's a bit much at this time on the cold floor so will wait for the lift although I am really curious so we'll see how much time I have here.

Approximately how large is that flat bladed tool?