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Hi, all,

I have a 1950 Standard Eight with a manual transmission and an R-11 OD. I find that my transmission sometimes gets stuck in neutral when I shift from first to second, or vice versa. I have replaced the levers and bushing on the shift column, but this really hasn't helped. I believe I need to replace the bushings and linkage rods that connect to the transmission.

I have tried sourcing these at Max Meritt, Kanter, Tucson Packard and Seattle Packards. No luck anywhere.

Does anyone know where I might find these items or if there is a cross-reference for some or all of them? I have attached the Packard parts info below.

Thanks much,

Mark

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If Kanter or Max no longer have any linkage repair or bushing kits (both Max's numbers say inquire) or the rods, then possibly you will have to custom make some. Packards1 has 3 only of the 360432 on his ebay store which leaves you 1 short. Didn't see any others. pack56 has a NOS dual bellcrank but doesn't appear to have bushings in it.

McMaster-Carr has a large variety of steel, bronze, etc bushings. It should be possible to mic the size of what you have, find the closest match and then drill or ream or cut them off to fit your parts and do them that way. Not sure how many rubber bushings were still used on the 23rd but they also have a few of those in reinforced rubber of varying diameters. Flat and belleville washers are not a problem either.

Hi, All,

Ever since I bought my 1950 Packard in 2004 I've had trouble with the shifting mechanism. When using engine braking while going downhill in 2nd gear the car would suddenly pop into neutral. My solution to this was very high tech: hold on to the shift lever!

A couple of years later the car started getting stuck in neutral while I was shifting from first to second or first to reverse. This was always a nuisance and was sometimes a dangerous nuisance if it happened in traffic.

Over time the situation worsened and I decided to have it fixed. Doing some research I read that I needed to replace the "First and Reverse Shaft Lever," (part 360417) the "Second and Direct Shaft Lever," (part 360419) and the bushing that fits between the two (part unknown to me). I bought these parts from Max Merritt and had them installed. Sadly, nothing changed.

My mechanic told me the problem was the linkages and bushings these shaft levers connected to. He reported they were just plain worn out. I tried to locate a linkage kit but could not find anything like that.

I posted the question above in this forum and Howard very graciously did a little research for me. Thanks, Howard! Turned out Packards1 had four of the 360432 bushings @ $15.00 ea. Not cheap, but a damn sight better than the alternative, which was to machine new bushings by guess and by gosh. I was seeking a total of 29 parts and ended up finding only four. I hoped they alone would be enough to solve my problem.

I gave these four little bushings to my mechanic and he installed them. He also fabricated a rubber bushing for the transmission housing. Bottom line: problem solved! The car has never shifted so smoothly and it never gets stuck in neutral. It also stays in gear when I'm going down steep hills.

This has been the first time I've been so unsuccessful when looking for parts for my car (I'd call 4 out of 29 a pretty low ratio). Apparently the good sets of these linkages are all gone. This makes me a little sad for the future of my Packard, but it's not going to stop me from driving it!

All the best,

Mark

Glad you at least found 4 of the bushings. Motor City Packards was going to invest money in reproducing a couple of the shift pieces for a project. Turned out Kanters had many in stock on those items. Sounds like if they want to reproduce some parts, bushings or repair kits would be a good place to start.

Side loader 4 and 3 speed muscle car transmissions (usually with hurst, etc shifters) suffer from the same issues (especially the 2-3 lockup) if the linkage isn't perfect.

Luckily hurst makes bushing kits for these for most trannys, but for some (such as my NP440) they don't make linkage OR bushing kits for, or the OEM setup is just a tad too sloppy anyway, or you can't find rods like is happening with the Packards.

A common, although not OEM looking fix, is using all thread rod (B7 grade works well, harder than grade 2 or hardware grade, but still bendable to form using a pipe like a jack or crane handle) and some heim joints. No slop and will practically last forever. Below is a pic of what i just got done doing on my NP 440trans. Now no more slop, and no more bushing wear.

I'd suspect it would work just as well on a Packard 3 speed column setup, although it wouldn't look that great.

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