Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Was hoping I wouldn't have to crawl under there from someone with experience of this OD and the sound they hear with engine off and energizing the solenoid.

IF "Hold-In" coil is the coil that the kickdown switch disables, how does the "Pull-In" coil get energized?

I don't see a governor switch anywhere

There is no governor or switch. The "governor" in the R6 is a centrifugal clutch that mechanically engages the OD mechanism when car is at engagement speed. The solenoid comes in to disengage the OD.

I don't have a diagram of the internal windings for this solenoid but on the R11 which also has both coils and two terminals, the solenoid terminal is wired to power both the pull in and hold coils. When the solenoid is activated and plunger moves almost to final position an internal set of contacts opens to cut off the pull in coil leaving just the hold coil in operation. At about the same time the plunger moves another set of internal contacts changes the state of ground connecting to the IGN terminal. Not sure of the timing and specific operation of that contact on the R6 solenoid.

Thanks again Howard, you must be 2 pages ahead of me in reading
I just found the internal contacts of the solenoid. One side of the Hold in solenoid is grounded and the other terminal is a post externally mounted.

Everything I am reading indicates the Pull In solenoid has the external terminal and then the other side of the coil goes thru some more internal points to an external governor on the speedo cable that kicks in at 22MPH. I don't have any external terminals, switches or solenoids other than the large one we are talking about here

I do want to mention, OD kicks in fine, just wouldn't kick out. Found teh OD switch was bad, which I repaired and the OD relay on the firewall was not working. Opened it up and it was rust encapsulated but was able to rebuild and get it to work too.
OD solenoid now clicks again when the OD kick out is depressed, can't take it for a drive, up on blocks waiting for the artillery wheels to come back from the powder coater and then put new Firestone 4" wide whitewalls on her, another week or two.

I am wondering if the book you are reading might be describing the R9 engagement. Packard switched over to that unit for the 40 models and it has a governor which does close a switch to bring in OD at around 22mph. The governor runs off the same drive setup as the speedo cable.

There are a few pages on the R6 or semi electric ODs in an old Motors Manual. Will scan and post it tomorrow if you don't already have it.

Awesome! You must be right, wrong manual, thanks!

Thanks again Howard, you must be 2 pages ahead of me in reading
I just found the internal contacts of the solenoid. One side of the Hold in solenoid is grounded and the other terminal is a post externally mounted.

Everything I am reading indicates the Pull In solenoid has the external terminal and then the other side of the coil goes thru some more internal points to an external governor on the speedo cable that kicks in at 22MPH. I don't have any external terminals, switches or solenoids other than the large one we are talking about here

I do want to mention, OD ki8cks in fine, just wouldn't kick out. Found teh OD switch was bad, which I repaired and the OD relay on the firewall was not working. Opened it up and it was rust encapsulated but was able to rebuild and get it to work too.
OD solenoid now clicks again when the OD kick out is depressed, can't take it for a drive, up on blocks waiting for the artillery wheels to come back from the powder coater and then put new Firestone 4" wide whitewalls on her, another week or two.

Here are a few of the pages from an old Motors Auto Repair Manual covering the 39 R6 type 1 semi electric kickdown overdrive. Other models and later cars with R9 full electric type ODs are also mentioned in the article. I did not post most of the later stuff but what info there is can be mostly ignored on yours.

Attach file:

---

overdrive2.pdf Size: 495.19 KB; Hits: 58

Thanks Howard! Bottom of page 213 explains what engages the OD. For my sanity, I will crawl under there and be certain I don't have the wires reversed.
I had the entire engine and transmission out 2 years ago and too advantage of that time to replace most of the wiring with "modern" vintage cloth covered wire.

I didn't even consider looking for my Motor's manuals as I had used the Serviceman's training booklet transmission and overdrive from Packard and used it as "bible"
Many thanks again Howard

Even with my newer cars (‘60s and ‘80s), the aftermarket manuals often give better detail than do the factory manuals. I suppose that’s due in part to the factory manuals expecting more than a little training of the mechanic while the aftermarket manuals were written for people like us doing our own work.

In addition to the overall R6 info from Motors Manual, found a different volume that had a cut away view of the R6 solenoid and the contact that disconnects the pull in coil. Still haven't found anything showing the IGN contact and when it operates in relation to plunger position to change the ground at the IGN terminal .

Attach file:

---

  R6 solenoid Internal.jpg (31.50 KB)