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I bought GL-1 mineral oil from Napa. There were the only parts store that could get it for me.

I'm very happy to announce that I have found a Miller distributor in Ontario that has the 140 gl-1 in stock and ready to ship. Not sure why the Miller distributor closer to me in Calgary refused to do so...but it is what it is.

It wasn't terribly priced either...about $80cn/$60us for a 5L jug. I'm going to see what volumes are required and place an order. Maybe I'll have a car I can actually shift soon.

In case anyone needs...https://ultraraymotorsports.com/millers-oils-products/

Sorry folks...I've been very busy and my project has taken some interesting twists.

I got the correct fluid as I mentioned in my last post...I went and drained the fluid out of the trans a few days ago and then really struggled to get the fill plug out of the car. This was probably for the best as it allowed me to digest the scenario more than I probably would have if it had gone according to play.

What I have put together is that virtually no fluid came out of the transmission. I have several fears/thoughts on why that is...but first and foremost, I need to find an exploded diagram or workshop manual that shows how to take the top off the transmission so I can peer inside. I'm pretty sure its as simple as unbolting the 6 bolts along the top of the transmission and lifting...but I need to confirm that before proceeding forward.

My thoughts are that either 1) the fluid leaked out of the transmission, which seems unlikely. However, someone earlier in the thread pointed out that the transmission would always leak fluid (seals versus gaskets) so it is possible?...

...or 2) the open ends of the transmission have "splash lube'd" the fluid everywhere BUT the transmission.

IF...IF...#2 is the case, I am not sure what to do as the trans fluid required by the Packard transmission is not the same as what is required by the driveshaft/differential and clutch.

Of course, I won't know until I get the top off this thing and figure out exactly what dad...did...to make it all work.

Aside from the senior models, the regular Packard transmission was virtually unchanged from the mid 30s thru 54 so if you have the junior floor shift transmission the transmissions are very similar between column and cane shift. If it is the large senior model used with Super and Twelve engines unit then I do not know if that statement is true. There is a serviceman's training book published in 48 on the column shift version which covers service, disassembly and troubleshooting etc.

Some years ago there was an article posted on converting between floor and column shift. That has some photos of the cane section that might be of help.

Just undo the 6 bolts and lift the cover off.
You will need to line up the shift forks with the matching gears when you put it back together.

Can anyone who's far more knowledgeable than I (thats ALL of you!) tell me...when viewing this link, does the shifter come off with just the 6 bolts? it loooooks like it does?

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/199674-identify-this-packard-transmission/

reading the manuals...they seem to want me to use a drift through the fill/drain
internally before taking it apart, which I'd rather not do. I just want to see inside it. Any suggestions you folks have would be much appreciated!

Wonderful. It looked like it was that easy, but the information from the manuals definitely had me second-guessing myself.

thanks for the help!

Thanks again for the help. As you predicted, the cover came off easily.

Here's what we found. It appears that the trans is sealed on the front shaft (which is good to know), so I don't think the clutch is getting splash lubed as i feared.

However, it IS as a feared on the other end...the tail shaft is directly connected to the torque tube via an open bearing. If I had to guess, the gear fluid is splashing around inside the trans, bypassing this bearing, running down the torque tube and into the dif. Once there, the rear dif vents the fluid through a breather, coating the differential in goo. It certainly explains what I'm seeing.

I think the simplest course of action is to drop the torque tube, pull the open rear bearing out of the trans and replace it with a sealed bearing. That would allow the trans to run the correct fluid and prevent drain-back into the torque tube/differential.

I haven't had a chance to stick a boroscope into the joint at the tailshaft to see what we are up against there...but I can't see it being anything other than a slip-on fitting.

Otherwise, the trans seems to be fairly used-and-abused...but functional. I note the braising is wearing off the forks on the shifter...so I may have some material added to build it back up.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what they see here?

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As Ross pointed out, someone apparently adapted the torque tube to the transmission. There should be a seal on the original universal joint flange so if oil is getting into the tube I would wonder if he is also correct that during the adaption the flange or tail housing was changed to one not able to seal or seal was removed or destroyed.

No idea about the rear end with a torque tube but I would think most, just like with axle seals, would still have some kind of pinion seal to keep the differential oil in the case and not running out into the tube. For transmission oil to be running down the tube and getting inside the rear end seems like there would be some kind of issue there too.

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Ive gotten progress!

Sorry for the delays...life keeps taking over. Between dealing with the city about permits for a garage we're building, emergency rebuilding furnaces, cutting podcasts...its been busy. As a result, time spent on the car has dropped to a few minutes here or an hour there.

Having said all of that, we got the transmission tailshaft contraption apart. The layer-cake of fabricated parts, weird use of sealants and gasket papers...it was complicated to say the least. We undid the coupler that held the ball-end of the torque tube to the tailshaft housing only to find that there wasn't clearance to undo the saddle bolts that held the u-joint on. Once that was delt with, we couldn't get the u-joint/yoke off the shaft due to the angles involved (picture undoing a bolt at the bottom of a bowl, but you can't use a ratchet due to clearance issues).

Eventually we got through that and got the first layer of the contraption off to find a perfectly flat piece of steel with no fasteners...that wouldn't come off. We found two screw threads inside the transmission, which was the clue we needed. Dear ol' dad had placed a sheet of gasket paper over the entire plate, fasteners and all...so we had to go dig for them. Once we found the fasteners (big countersunk slot screws), they had to be dug out and extricated. Turned out there were actually 4 of them...but two were cut to the exact length of the holes they screwed into so they were flush with the inside of the trans. Very fun treasure hunt to say the least.

Long story short, we got to the bearing and removed it. Sure enough, she is a wide-open roller bearing and clearly where all the oil is leaving the transmission from. I've purchased a new bearing that is double sealed, which should fix most of the issue and we will RTV-up the rest to try and slow it as much as we can. I've gotten a breather muffler to attach to the transmission so the pressure has a direction to vent. Hopefully this bearing is the solution to the issue and I can actually drive the darn thing!

Pictures of the torque-tube-to-tailshaft contraption enclosed.

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