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There are 2 things on the side of the tranny, can someone tell me what they are, and wha they do??

Finely got the body off frame, what a chore.

Here's my blog

1949packardsuper8.blogspot.com

Thanks..

Sorry posted wrong pic at first.

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The entire assy is the transmission and overdrive and usually considered a unit. Technically the transmission stops at the silver cover, the adapter plate to connect the two is the orange item and the rest is overdrive. The larger item on the right side is the overdrive solenoid. The smaller item on the left is the governor.

The governor works both the Electro-clutch and the overdrive and should have two wires coming out the bottom. Up to approx 17-20 mph the governor will provide a ground which allows the clutch to operate. After that speed, contacts switch. The clutch is disabled and governor now provides a ground which brings in a relay to pull in the solenoid. The solenoid will partially pull in and as soon as you let off the gas momentarily will complete it's pull in and car goes into overdrive.

If the solenoid has 4 terminals you have the R9 overdrive. If it has 2 terminals, the R11. It's on the right so I believe that is the R9. Both pieces are getting scarce and expensive but more so for the R9 components. The R9 should also have a large relay on the firewall - a squarish box with 6 terminals about the size of the regulator. Take good care of that too.

The solenoid and a small adapter plate under it comes off with two bolts and the entire governor just unscrews. Unless you have lots of room or help to prevent any swinging or banging into the frame, suggest you remove both before pulling the engine and trans to avoid damage.

Thank you so much, you are a wealth of info...
So I take it, that all works with this photo??

So is it like a 4th gear, or what,

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They are independent options and totally separate as far as operation. The only common part is the governor which by virtue of the switch construction and needs of the options, had the capability to work both. The clutch and OD were often bought together on the more optioned or upscale cars -- but there were probably a lot more overdrives sold alone than with the clutch. The clutch could also be bought without OD but that was probably not a very common purchase.

The overdrive works just as the units of today do. On low power requirement places such as a nice flat highway when higher speeds are desired, it provides an under gear which allows the engine to loaf or run at considerably lower RPM than it could without OD. Saves wear and tear on the engine and gives better gas mileage too. If you did need that sudden burst of power, pushing the accelerator to the floor would kick it out of OD and you could do your passing or hill climbing as needed.

Just like you could turn off the clutch, you could also lock the OD out and have a conventional 3 speed transmission.