Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Howard, That is a distinct possibility, but if true go back to the shop manual and verify how tight the bolts should be. I've seen those castings broken because someone didn't realize those are just cast aluminum. Observe the mechanism in action and how the arms move.

Randy, that is an excellent point and one I should have mentioned. I edited the post to reflect the caution.

Thanks guys. We'll do these checks to see if we can narrow it down. I do think it's mechanical problem and so do the guys at the shop.

Just to be clear, should the compensator hold the car at level? If we can turn the adjusting bars by hand (when they're only connected to the compensator) is that a problem? If we drop the electric motor from the compensator and can turn the worm gear in the compensator with your finger, is that normal?

It was discussed in another thread sometime ago about getting the bars at rest. One way was to take the motor off and spin it with a drill and an attachment. I did it with a screwdriver.

When you or the shop are working on the TL, is it on a 4 post lift? Make sure that the 8 foot bars are at rest. See figure 22 on page 10,https://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/servicemanual5556/Sect16_Suspension_Steering.pdf

You should be able to take out the gearbox and motor, and the car should be level. See compensator removal on page 15.


Is it well greased? Page 4,https://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/servicemanual5556/Sect20_Lubrication.pdf

It's a dual stage planetary reduction system plus a worm gear so ratio is stated as 2762:1 -- ie it takes 2762 revs of motor to make 1 rev of output gear.

That's a fairly low load so wouldn't expect too much effort would be required around the neutral point. At either extreme it would take more effort. Several have had to remove the motor and crank the system to get the bars back in position after an electrical problem. Don't recall any of them stating it was hard turning -- just tedious and long.

Yes. I turned mine by hand. Nearly no effort. THe problem is that it would probably take an hour or more just ot get 1/2" of movement. I rigged up a simple driver to chuck in a drill motor and turned it that way. I still carry the driver in the back of the car just in case i need it out on the road.

Finally, success!

The shop replaced the front control arm bushings and that seems to have fixed the problem. They also report that the bushings were in very bad condition and look like they've never been replaced.

So, either I mistakenly thought the kit I bought from Kanter 10 or 12 yars ago included the control arm bushings or the shop never installed them. I haven't found the paperwork on the kit yet but I don't think the kit included those bushings. The control arm bushings alone were much more expensive than the entire front end kit I bought from Kanter.

The good news is that I have a completely new or rebuilt T-L system, and every part I replaced needed replacing. The bad news is it wasn't cheap! Oh well, it needed to be done.

Thanks for everyone's advice on this problem. And for everyone with a T-L system, if it's see-sawing on you and there's no resistance in the system, check those control arm bushings!

The upper control arm bushings are cheap. Perhaps paying for the labor to install them is expensive. I have eight of them in a box in the garage.

Randy,

I haven't seen the invoice from Max Merrit but my shop quoted approximately $600 for all the parts to do the control arm bushings.

Jed

I hope that is mostly labor. The bushings by themselves are common Ford product (Lincoln) items going for $10-20 ea. It is a PIA to change them without proper tools so maybe that's where the $$ comes in or why they weren't done in the first place. Kanters current kits show them as included. Their complete kits are $400+ but that includes lots of other items.