Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Guys, is there a way to re-set the torsion ride motor and arms to where level is. I think someone may have installed it wrong because there is does not have enough travel one way or the other. Like the motor is hitting a max. Is it as simple as taking the motor out, leveling the car and then putting it back in or is it somewhere in the manual to do this?

Thanks
Bill

If the front to rear level is off, that is a matter of adjusting the turnbuckle connecting the Left bar to the switch. Instructions are on page 15 of the suspension and steering section of SM.

If it is off side to side, some of the causes are detailed in tech bulletin 55T-1 you can download from the literature section. As the bulletin mentions. could be friction, wrong length front load links, improper assembly of the leveler components or, after all these years another thing might be a bent transverse bar or a bar might have weakened.

Look at the service manual, figure 22 on page 10 of the suspension section. It will give you a visual idea of the compensator bar with no load.

Does the car level itself? Does it stop going up and down?

As HH mentioned, look for bent compensator bars.

The car tries to level itself but seems to be too high on the rear. It is like it is maxed out and can't go any lower. I thought there was a way to disconnect something, let it unspool itself then re-attach so you have equal ride height change up and down from where your level is.

Bill

bill,

you can power the motor,

turn off switch, or pull the fuse ,,purple wire, ans main body fuse, big red wire, on driver side fender,

on the motor, the terminal, one goes up the other down,

run a jumper wire from the battery, instead of pulling fuses, you also can disconnect the battery ..

with the wire wire, jumper cables,, one to ground, the other to to post, see which way it goes,

if you can lower rear, then like howard said adjust the rod, you can can loosen that rod, and make it go up and down thru the compensator switch. with that you keep battery hooked up.

I would also suggest you compare your car very carefully to this overall layout from figure 21 in the suspension and steering section of SM. The view is as seen from the top so keep that in mind when comparing.

In particular pay attention to the orientation of leveler items in the center of the car. Make sure the transverse bars are not bent and are exactly as shown with the long bar in the rear. 55 limit switch brackets could get bent so see that the bracket is not twisted or leaning to one side and both bars can touch or actuate the switch as needed. Check that both transverse bars attach to the short compensating bars with the ball stud connection facing to the front. At the other end, check that the connecting "Vee" arm opening on the compensator assy is to the passenger side when the transverse bars are hooked up. IIRC, 55's with the external limit switches could be installed with that little arm 180 degrees out.

Any of these items hooked up out of design specs adds various pulls to the arms right from the start. Anything out would affect what the car considers level.

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Be very careful about that. There is enough energy stored in the system to cause harm/damage if you simply try to disconnect any bar or linkage - especially when the system is well out of level. When the lever between the end of either auxilary (short) bar and correspoonding link to the compensator gearbox is vertical, there is no load on the compensator. HOWEVER, there is still plenty of preload on the main bars - even with all four wheels off the ground.

The normal procedure is to manipulate the on-board electricals (as described in the service manual) to turn the motor, but you seem to indicate that the motor may not able to accomplish this. Yet, keep in mind that there is some delay in suspension's reaction to the motor running - especially when reversing direction. It take a few seconds to notice much movement, and this is independent of the 7-second delay designed in the compensator electrical control box.

Meanwhile, please advise of the condition of the limit switch and wiring on your 55; damage or even evidence of recent replacement might indicate past problem of overtravel, which could lead to other problems if not completely addressed.

IIRC, to manually zero out the leveller, one former member resorted to carefully removing the the motor from the gear reduction housing (still on car) and turning the worm shaft by hand with a screwdriver. If the bearing at the other end of the shaft is in good working condition, I suppose the process could be expedited if one had an air-powered ratchet and an appriopriate bit to engage the end of the worm shaft, but proceed slowly and carefully.

If the unit has been wound 180 degrees off then you need to bring it around using a jumper wire. The manual says it won't do that, but it will.

So, I have a question. People talk about overtravel and I have seen bent motor gears, I thought there was a cutoff bar that prevented this? Was it broke in those cases?

Second question, if let go will the torsion ride go as far down or up as it wants until pressure builds up and then it can go no more or break? or is there acutally a limit of just persay 4" travel up and 4" travel down (made up numbers) for the front and rear?

Thanks

I am just trying to figure this out.

There is no "bar" as such to limit anything. The entire limiting action is done by electrical switches.

In 55, switches are external and both are located in a single box on the compensator assy next to the solenoids. When a transverse bar is moved by the compensator, as a result of that movement it swings slightly at the compensator end. That swing movement is enough for the bar to hit an arm connected to the limit switch at a certain point. That action stops the motor. As was mentioned earlier, if the bracket gets bent then one direction does not work early enough and the other works too early. One that doesn't work in time can do damage and the one that works too early limits the compensation range.

An electrical problem such as a shorted solenoid or some of the wiring shorted to ground completely bypasses the limit switches which can result in the overtravel. If the fuse doesn't blow in time the motor keeps going and tries to rotate the transverse bars past the center. That results in the sheared off gear and bent bars some have mentioned..

As to the max travel, that is somewhat limited by the geometry of the system. You have the rear stabilizer assy which has limited range as well as the amount of twist that can be generated in the compensator bar. The amount of load at one end or the other also affects the range. If, for example the rear is heavily loaded the system can't raise enough. If the front is heavily loaded, the system will try to pull the rear down to match. Either situation might result in limited range -- for example, using your numbers it might be able to move 7" in one direction but only 1" in the other.