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I have recently put a 47 clipper deluxe back on the road. Car ran and drove fine after maintenance and adjustments. Recently the shifter became stiff and now it is impossible to put the car in reverse or first gear. No problem at the transmission--shift arms work perfectly. Second and third gears work fine until you try to use reverse or low gear. Unable to shift and watch what's going on at the same time. Guessing this is a well understood problem with a straight forward fix. Any recommendations?

Most likely a lack of lube and possibly some rust and corrosion on the upper 2-3 shift lever at the bottom of the shift tube near the steering box. There is only a tiny hole provided in the side of the tube for adding a few drops of oil which will run down inside the tube. As that drip of oil runs down enough leaks out the slot where the pin engages the selector tongue that the bottom R-1 lever is somewhat lubed. There is absolutely no provision for the upper lever. In addition to no lube any moisture and dirt that condenses on the shift tube also runs down and gets between the lever and tube where it can corrode and rust the metal. Both levers must be absolutely free to rotate individually on the tube. With the upper lever stuck to the tube, even if R or 1 is selected the upper lever will want to move at the same time. Any slight motion of both levers at the same time will activate the interlock in the trans. The linkage geometry sort of favors the 2-3 motion first which can lock out R or 1.

With luck you can get some penetrating oil to run down between the upper lever and tube to free things up. If not you may have to resort to some light tapping and even disassembly and cleaning if the problem is severe. Remove the half clip and slide the shims and/or upper washer up the tube to be able to get enough oil around the lever so it can run down in the space and do some good.

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G'day danorris,
to PackardInfo. I invite you to include your '47 Clipper Deluxe in the Packard Vehicle Registry.

EDIT - When I got my '50 Eight Touring Sedan the shift linkage was very, very stiff. Although not the same Packard as yours it is very similar. A little oil, added where Howard showed, together with very vigorous working of the gear lever while sitting in the garage and after a number of repeat actions a much better shifting action.

Did Packards of this era not use the little disk at the bottom between the spring and the cotter pin? The photos don’t show it.

They did use the little disc. Mine was missing.

I did not realize something should be there when taking the photo. Wes Boyer is the one who first brought my attention to the disc after seeing something in factory photos in the parts or service manuals. He asked what it was and mentioned something in my linkage appeared to be missing. By that time he mentioned it my photo was already taken and the linkage was back together and in the car minus the disc.

Probably be a good idea if I edit the photo and note the disc and where it should go.

It turns out that by accede the, I can make some! Working on a remodel at my California and mounting the security cameras, I bought a punch press that seems to make them perfectly! If you want to test one, let me know and I’ll make once for you.

Thank you so much. I was also able to find earlier posts on the forum too. Hoping to free up both shift levers without having to remove the steering column.

From what I remember it wasn't all that difficult. Mine was froze from sitting and had to partly disassemble to get it cleaned out and relubed. I don't think the steering column has to come out. Probably in the shop manual.