Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Is that as far as the compensator will move even by grounding the buss bar to the solenoid as per the service manual? As I recall, it should be able to rotate farther so the limit switch touches approximately a quarter inch in from the end of the bar. The slender part of the transverse bar is almost touching the center of the compensator when it stops.

Where are the levers on the short bars. One limit direction stops the end of the lever and transverse bar about 1/4-1/2" away from the inside wall of the frame rail. The other direction stops the lever at about a 45-50 degree angle

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I see nothing wrong with the assembly. If the gearbox rotates a bit farther in either direction it will push paddle sideways and the motor will stop.

Not sure what was going on to cause the melt down of the red wire other than no fuse preventing it from happening. When I questioned the limit switch and how it worked, it was after running the motor by shorting out to ground contacts A & B. Before either side of the switch touched a transverse bar, the motor stopped. I was concerned about over torquing the motor and screwing up the gear box. I discovered that the fuse had blown but couldn’t figure out what had caused it.

Eventually I found that when the levers were moving outwards the frame, the top on the rear solenoid would short out against the motor. I’m guessing this is what led to the wire meltdown. That it would rub against the motor causing an intermittent short, but not enough to melt the wire.

I lowered the solenoid a bit and the motor can now run from one extreme to the other with the limit switches stopping the motor. The TL system has a problem so I’m in the middle of troubleshooting it. It works once in a while so I’m guessing that the contacts in the Compensator are corroded. I’ll pull it tomorrow, test it and clean up the contacts.

The compensator on the car is one that was modified. I went through my box of goodies and discovered that I had bought a NOS '56 compensator with a jumper wiring harness.

I see that the Yellow on the '55 goes to the Orange on harness and the Pink on the '55 goes to the Blue on the harness. With light green going tom light green.

Is it correct to assume that the wires on the harness get matched with the same colors on the Compensator and that the Yellow and Pink terminals are not used?

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Here is the official info on how to use the 56 switch on a 55 but it is odd the way Packard changed the colors on the conversion harness. The harness colors are the same as 56 colors and hooking up color to color at the switch would not work without additional jumpers on a 55. The three single center terminals, yellow, green, and pink are the three active terminals so match the colors in the old harness to those terminals.

The double terminals, orange and blue at each end are not connected to anything in the switch and are used only as tie points so the individual 56 limit switches can be connected to the solenoids with minimal effort. The limit switches complete the circuit from the single terminals to the double terminals so would have to be replaced with jumpers to use the conversion harness colors.

Note that even NOS switches can have an oxidation buildup on the contacts just from sitting on a shelf. The switch may be OK but if it acts up and seems like it will not work you will need to remove the rivets and cover to access and clean both sets of contacts. Be very gentle with the dual sided contact on the end of the bimetal strip and be careful not to snag one of the heater wires.

Here is the 56 diagram for the TL circuit so you can compare to the 55. Yellow is the 55 "A" terminal and pink is the 55 "B". Also posting a very nice drawing someone did showing the 56 switch in the 55 circuit.

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Torsion level was a novel idea, but seems rather finicky to keep working?? Though I guess 60 years doesn't help either.

Actually it was a very robust system, especially on 1956 where some of the moisture issues had been worked out. I have a very rough non-running (so far) 1956 Clipper Custom that had it working well after decades of being parked outside in the elements in my yard.

Torsion level was a novel idea, but seems rather finicky to keep working?? Though I guess 60 years doesn't help either.

I would guess 95 percent of problems are electrical with dirty connections or oxidized control switch contacts and failed brake switches being he most common and even those do not happen all that often. Age definitely is an issue along with road debris damage and water which can affect the 55 electrical items which are mounted under the car. 56 models moved or waterproofed the most vulnerable components.

I am surprised at how many people seem to have problems figuring out and understanding the electrical part of the operation. Some interesting and creative workarounds to bypass or "improve" a misunderstood or failed switch have been found. Add to that a few haphazard methods of adding manual control switches by having them completely bypass the limit switches adds another toll -- only that one leads to damaged parts and mechanical failure.

Removed the cover from the NOS ’56 Compensator to bench test it before installing. In order for it to function correctly I needed to clean ALL of the switch contact points (see the 4 blue circled areas in photo).

The TL system is now working thanks to all the support from PackardInfo members.

Thanks To All

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I measured the car’s clearance per Service Bulletin 55T-1. I determined that the while it is level front to back with a clearance of about 10 inches on the left side, the right side is about 8 inches.

Going through this web site I see that there may be a difference in the “Front Load Arm Link Assembly” between the ‘55’s and the ‘56’s. Am trying to determine if this is true or not. Also, before I try to find a lift to put the car up on, is it possible to determine what size link is on the car without removing them? In addition, are the Figures mentioned in 55T-1 available somewhere?