Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

The retainer 15.955 was the subject of the early problems. If it slipped it allowed the bearing and worm to move back toward the end cap and away from the pin in the motor.

Believe you said you could hear the motor run but no action. One thing you can do is bring a long jumper wire (jumper cable works well) from the hot side of the battery. Remove the wires from the motor and while you are under and watching, touch the jumper to one of the terminals on the motor -- only touch one at a time. Doing it with the jumper will let you bypass everything electrical and run the motor directly and see where the problem might lie. If motor runs, touch the jumper to the other terminal so the motor will run the opposite direction just to verify it works. No need to do it more than long enough to see if things move.

If things do move, be careful and watch to make sure it is not trying to rotate the bars thru the center of compensator. If the bars move all is most likely well mechanically. If nothing happens check the center ring 15.947 and see if it is rotating in the housing while bars are doing nothing. If it is not rotating and motor is running but no bars moving, then the spines twisting off of 15.922 is the most likely problem.

If everything checks out mechanically and fuses are good but still no good action from the level circuit then you will have to check every wire and connection.

Edit: On the ring problem, that bulletin says the armature end of the worm should be extended 3/8" from the seal when all is good. When the ring had slipped the end of worm could be pushed or worm turned or threaded in so it was almost flush with the seal. You might verify that is OK.

You should not be able to remove the worm gear as is. Their are two Cir-Clips in the bearing end. The Larger one, is to retain the bearing OD and the smaller one attaches to the worm shaft to keep the shaft from coming out of the ID of the bearing.
I have found this clip often rusts out as bearing failure is common on the idle end. I would recommend removing the Plug on the end and put a new clip on the shaft.

Thanks once more for the help. I left the motor off, the worm gear out, wires taped and a plastic cover over the opening for the motor, for now. One question that I have is shouldn't the car eventually settle back into it's normal riding height (if there is no mechanical restriction)?

As for the manual powering of the TL motor, I'll try that when I re-mount the motor (now that I know what to look for).

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Not necessarily. Friction may have a big effect and If the gear box is OK -- or at least if the problem is higher than the final splines, the bars alone would be at a disadvantage in trying to move anything in the gear box because of the extreme reverse ratio they would be against in the planetary system.

The "normal" may also surprise you. A lot depends on weight distribution and accessories. I know my heavily accessorized car will sit with the tail up if the transverse bars are disconnected.

As always HH is spot on, lot of factors. My 56 sits flat, while my 55 will drop its tail after a few days, I think it thinks it is a low rider.

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I know that there must be NO load on the Torsion bars to disconnect the transverse bars. How can I be sure there is no load on them? I can easily rock the transverse bars with my hand. Does this mean that the load is absent and it's ok to disconnect the bars?

Traverse Bars yes, you are ok if you can wiggle

Their is Always load on the Long Bars.

You can safely remove the two short bars that go to the Compensator but unless you have the correct holding tools, do not try to take the front end apart, you will unleash a violent beast.

On the rear, DO NOT remove the bolt that that goes through the rear load arm, again you will release the beast.

You will be safe compensator and short bars. again, Long bars are always under load unless properly unwound.

Always move slowly and be familiar with the system for Safety.

Thanks Troy, I don't want to unleash 'the beast'! At least I have the wisdom of all at PI to keep me safe.

Speaking of Torsion Level Ride, I saw a program on the Velocity channel called "SEMA: Battle of the Builders". In which one of the builders used a "Torsion bar suspension" that sounded like the Packard's. He mentioned the torsion bars going front to back going through the car's frame.

That being said, has any manufacturer produced a vehicle using the Packard TL system since the demise of Packard?

Bhappy,
Look at the service manual, (post #5 of this thread), page 10 figure 22, hopefully your bars are in similar geometry.

If your motor is out and the gearbox is still attached to the car and bars, you can try and spin the gearbox without the motor. There are other theads on this site that describe how they did it. I have taken the armature out of the motor and used it to spin the gearbox. Others made an attachment for their drill and spun the gearbox. This gives you the ability to see the mechanical part of the system in action, or inaction.

I spun the worm gear, both manually and with the motor, still no movement of the yoke or bars. The limit switches are still installed. Can they actually stop the movement within the compensator, even thought they have no power? I'll try again with the limit switches removed. I just noticed that in the parts diagram, part 15.916 doesn't come out with the limit switches. If there is still no movement then the fault must be with the splines on the yoke part 15.922.