Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Hello all !.

How do I remove the horn ring from the steering wheel ?.I don't find it in the 1955-56 service manual.

Not sure exactly what part you want to change but the first step is removing the steering wheel. If you are changing something in the shift assy the horn ring does not need to be removed from the wheel. If you specifically want to remove the horn ring, then once the wheel is off screws holding the ring assy are accessed in the hub space on the bottom of the wheel.

The nut holding the wheel is under the emblem which is held on the wheel by a compression fit provided by a rubber O ring. The emblem just pries up BUT here is a warning. Packard used a sponge rubber piece under the emblem and in most cases it will be fine. There are some of the sponge pieces that may have turned into glue. If that has happened the emblem will be very difficult to remove and if you try to pry it free using something hard like a screwdriver you will undoubtedly chip or break a chunk of plastic off the edge of the emblem.

Once the emblem is off use a socket to undo the nut and then a steering wheel puller to remove the wheel. After the wheel is off you will see the horn contact assy and turn signal switch. I believe both of those will need to be removed so you can access and remove the portion that those bolt onto and the items farther down pertaining to the gearshift.

Check out the trans and overdrive section of the 55-6 service manual. Starting on page 11 is instructions on accessing and removing the rotating collar the gearshift lever fits into. The illustrations are for a standard trans shift linkage but I believe the Ultra lever in that area is very similar with the exception of there only being one lever in the engine compt. You can see the differences by looking at plates 34A & 34B in the parts book. The mechanism for moving the indicator needle in the quadrant will also need to be removed to pull the shift tube. That assy is positioned around the shift tube just under the rubber covering the opening in the ventilation control panel under the column. Depending on what you are actually changing will determine what needs to be removed.

Here is a photo showing the emblem removed and wheel retaining nut under. This wheel is one that had the sponge rubber melt into glue which you can still see on the nut. The other photo was posted by Marty and shows the horn contact and turn signal switch.

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Thanks Howard for your help

When you get it apart you might also check out the condition of the Park and Reverse block. This article mentions a missing stop on the lever as a possible cause if you can go into those gears without lifting the lever. There have also been reports of serious wear both in the stop on the lever as well as the ledge in the switch and horn ring housing above the lever and collar assy where the stop needs to hit to prevent the issue. Wear could also be in your car. The park end is not as big a deal since it takes deliberate effort to go that direction but if an accidental bump downward to the lever happened while driving down the road and that sent the car into reverse things could get interesting in a hurry.

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Howard (HH56), to improve readability, I removed the "frog eyes".

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Now is the steering wheel off.Very stuck. We got the turn signal switch out but we can't figure out how we remove the collar who keeps the turn signal switch in away ?. Any ideas or photos ?. This car is with automatic transmission

Are you referring to the collar the arrow is pointing toward or to another part. If you can identify the piece in the parts illustration or post a photo of how far you have gotten in your car with the problem part identified it might help with suggestions.

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Yes I am trying to take this collar with the red arrow

I believe Studebaker used essentially the same column arrangement. While it has been a long time since I worked on mine I think removal is the same as described in the Stude manual. They show a standard shift column but the Automatic column is the same at the top end where you are working.

The collar is held by two basically upside down screws with flat square heads. The heads slide into slots on the end of the steering column metal tube. As I recall, the metal tube sort of fits inside the moving gearshift section and screws go thru openings in the gearshift part to reach the metal tube

Referring to the Packard parts illustration in the post above, one of the flat head screws and the slots they fit into are circled in red. The photo of a 55 column below shows the threaded end of one screw. The other is still hidden under the turn signal switch.

With the turn signal switch out there should be two threaded ends of the screws sticking up. The roundish dark grey object with flat sides at the bottom of the threads in the photo is actually a nut and that unscrews so you can pull the collar straight up and off the screws. Once collar is off remove the screw heads from the slots in the metal tube so they do not fall or cause problems when working on the gearshift part.

Here is a page from the Stude manual. The flat headed screws and nuts are circled in red. Arrows point to the slots in metal tube. 55 column photo is one someone posted on the forum.

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I can't never send in photos here.Always comes attacking error. But the turn signal collar is finally off and the broken shift collar and the new one on his place.