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

I know there have been many reports of sticking shift linkage. The recommendation which has helped some is to put a few drops of oil in the hole at end of column. Undoubtedly this helps but I think the real benefit is perhaps some oil missing the hole and running down the tube into the shift levers.

There is an illustration and description in the service manual but here is perhaps a better photo of exactly what is happening. Putting oil in the hole looks to have minimal effect. The inner rod is relatively thin at that point. Any oil runs down to a rubber anti rattle bushing where some may trickle past but doesn't do a whole lot unless it exits a slot in the tube. Most oil just drips down and out the open end. That entire rod is not a tight fit except at the very top where the ball at end of operator lever engages the rod.

My linkage was completely bound up -- to the point that sometime in it's life the end of the tube where the operator lever mounts and pivots was broken. That is another repair but not the purpose of this post.

As you see from these photos, the shift levers rotate on a machined surface at the end of the tube. The operator lever moves the rod which is spring loaded and pinned to a piece which rides on the splines. As the operator lever pivots it moves the rod and piece on the splines to move a tongue out of one shift lever and engage the other shift lever. Those shift levers are free to rotate and not actually tied to anything except the transmission linkage rods. As the operator moves his lever, the tube twists and the splined piece moves with it. Depending on rod action, the tongue on the splined piece engages one of the levers and rotates it on the tube pulling the transmission linkage along.

What I found was both levers were bound to the tube. The top photo is the before showing the condition when levers were finally off. The bottom lever was not too bad since it did have benefit of some oil leaking out of a slot in the tube where the splined lever rides. The splined piece also gets some oil but the top lever was absolutely bound solid to the tube by dirt and corrosion because no oil ever reached it. You can see the brown rust like appearance on the tube. PB or heat did not do anything so it actually took mechanical force to break it loose.

The point is that if either of those shift levers are not totally free to rotate on the tube you will have both moving at the same time. I'd bet a lot of shift problems are due to that top lever not rotating freely and trying to pull it's linkage when you are actually wanting the lower linkage. A liberal dose of oil periodically would be a good idea. If a car has sat for a long time as this one did, even oil alone may not free it up.

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As I had noted in an earlier post, my sticking shift lever was cured with a generous dose of 50/50 ATF/acetone. Initially, no change, but after it sat for several days everything freed up. Works fine now, and I added a squirt of light oil in the hole to keep it working.

What are the numbers on the bottom lever?

Is this the top lever?

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The top lever is 360419. Bottom is 360417. Those in my photo are 47 but without looking thru parts manuals couldn't say how many years used the same. The linkage hole in your lever looks much smaller than mine.

The 1948-54 parts books says that #360425 is the first and reverse (lower) shift lever for 22nd & 23rd Series with right hand drive.

The lever stamped 360425 is the 1st and reverse lever for right hand drive (RHD) vehicles. The parts book shows the application as 20th jr clippers, 21st, 22nd and 23rd series juniors.

Could someone post pictures of the LHD lever. I sold one and was told it worked just fine.

Here is 41-47 LHD Clippers and all 48-50. Note that these levers need a large bushing between the linkage and lever where the one you showed had a smaller hole so maybe did not.

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So there I was at a car show and got in my 53 Clipper to leave after winning "Best in Class" trophy. All the sudden my shifter became very stiff and had trouble shifting through the gears and had 30 miles to drive home. Good thing there were not a lot of stop lights but the last 5 miles I limped home in 2nd gear. I jump on this site and learned about the lube hole on top of the shifting tube (something that I had never noticed before). In a quest to do good at the show I cleaned the engine compartment the day before the show and I guess some of the cleaner got into the hole and cause the shifting levers to gum up anyway I put some oil into the hole and in between the levers. I worked the shifter for just a few seconds an now it shifts as smooth as a babies butt. I was just wondering if the hole on the shifting tube should have a plug in it to keep trash and water out?

It's possible some cleaner ran inside. Some kind of covering wouldn't hurt but don't know if necessary now you know to be aware of it.

The oil has helped many and should be done periodically. The inner rod moves up and down about 1/2 inch to engage the levers. If the 53 is anything internally like the 47 shown above in post 1, about the only thing the cleaner could have done to mess things up was run into the black rubber antirattle bushing just above the silver pin socket at the end of rod and cause that bushing to swell or seize.

IMO, a far better thing to do preventively along with oil in the hole is to look at the post 1 photos and apply oil between the levers and shaft in the areas pointed out by the black arrows. The bottom lever might have the benefit of a small amount of oil possibly running out the slot but the top lever has absolutely no lubrication other than what might run down from any applied or spilled around the hole. While they don't move up and down, the levers do have to rotate freely on the shaft so one can move while the other remains stationary. Don't have one to look at but suspect the overall arrangement on yours is very similar. I'd wonder if the cleaner had caused a problem in that area.

As mentioned, these levers were rusted and seized so tightly on my car the casting inside for the chrome operator lever had been broken trying to move the frozen levers.