Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Hello Folks,
My throw out bearing went out on my 1934, so I had to pull out alot of stuff, including the transmission. Some have told me to not mess with it unless its broke. Common sence tells me to have it looked at or rebuild it while its out. Anyone have any experience with this?
Please help
Roberto

It's a fabulous transmission and should easily go 100,000 miles or more without a whimper. Some service parts are available but not inexpensive, it uses many ball bearings including one exotic one, I believe a new bearing set is about $700. New repro synchronizer brakes are also available, about $700 or more each. The synchronizers may have some adjustment left (procedure in the Service Letters) if that's your problem, but I suggest it's a job best left to someone familiar with that gearbox which was essentially the same on all Senior Packards (except early 1932 Custom and Deluxe Eights) 1932-38 and the Twelve thru 1939.

If it's functioning fine, no noisy bearings, chipped gears, synchronization OK, all I'd do is flush it thoroughly with kerosene or charcoal lighter fluid, and just refill with a good grade of gear oil.

On your throwout bearing, if you replace it with a sealed bearing, don't forget to plug or otherwise disable the Bijur oil feed to the throwout bearing or you're going to get an oily and slipping clutch down the road. Obviously if you replace the bearing with an open bearing, make sure the Bijur oiler is functional.

Do you know who has the bearings? and/or replacement parts?
Thank you

Dear Roberto:

like Dave says:

If the unit doesn't grind or make noise you don't need to do anything to it. In fact you may not like the results. The transmission was a hand fitted affair and service parts were intended to repair rather then restore original performance.

Rebuilding the unit requires making shims by hand in gradients of .002 of an inch. But when it was built it was tested at the factory.

A lot of people think they know how to rebuilt something like that, but they have never driven a low mileage car.

I've repaired rebuilds gone wrong and it is rather time consuming.

Do you get any of the hobby publications in print form? It seems evry time I'm looking something else I run across the ad for the bearing sets - I don't recall who the supplier is but I'd be surprised if Max or Kanter don't sell for them. The synchronizer brakes are made by a shop up in Michigan and he sells them thru Max, maybe others.

Complete bearing set for 32 thru 39 senior Packards is available from, Pacific NW Region of Packards International.

Complete set $695.00

John

Quote:

I will second Dave's suggestions. When you clean the transmission, carefully check for chipped or uneven wear on the gear teeth. Also check for lateral movement. If you have not previously had problems with the tranny, and the above checks show an ok gear box, then I would not go any further. Rebuilding these transmissions can become quite the ordeal of frustration, regardless of the experience level of the rebuilder.

If u have it out the least i would do is set 2nd gear syn. Typ. thats the one that needs it the most. Believe the SHIM PACK is off the shelf for 2nd. U can get a pretty close SHIM PACK for 3rd which u have to machine out the ID.
mcmaster.com/#shim-packs/=n8zn83

Dear All,
Wow this is great information and I think everyone is right.
It sounds like it could turn into an bag of worms. I will flush the transmission and put it right back in and let you know what happens after. The only time it was giving me problems was when the car had warm up and it was difficult to shift. Someone told me to change the oil to heavier grade and after that it was much better.
I will keep everyone posted,
Thank you Roberto

Dear city:

Now that is a useful symptom. That indicates wear, that probably will be improved significantly by adding shims to adjust the synchros.

That process is involved enough to make disassembly and inspection a worthwhile addition. If the difficulty is only in the 1-2 shift that can be done on the car, but 2-3 problems are corrected on the bench.

Whomever does that needs to follow the proceedure outlined in the Packard manual.