HH56

I kind of agree with SaddleRider that you do need to be prepared when doing a long distance drive with a Packard. Many do it but they also know the cars weak spots and take some of the more routine service parts along that might be hard to come by on the road.. Things like fuel or water pumps and of course, common ignition parts. I doubt the TL itself would be an issue. Aside from old rubber bushings which other cars can suffer with too, most TL problems are electrical in nature with probably the most likely culprit to fail being the brake light switch. The original switch was a special 3 terminal which is not found except at vendors. There are now options and kits are available to enable substitution of an ordinary 2 terminal switch. Mechanical switches are also an option. The control switch gives very little problem as does the other TL components but most are not found at Napa. 55 was more prone to issues because the electrical is completely under the car where it was subject to moisture and road debris issues. In 56 all that was moved out of harms way. In a V8 Packard, probably the one item that would give me pause on using one for long distance trips would be the Twin Ultramatic. In good repair and driven with some degree of finesse, they will perform adequately but if anything was the weak spot in 55-6, that was it. Finding parts or even someone willing to look at one in an emergency is not something you will likely find. Many that want increased reliability have opted to convert to the GM 700R4. If you are seriously considering a Packard for long distance, even with conventional suspension, I would opt for the conversion or a standard with OD equipped car. To a lesser extent, the power brakes are another item that some take issues with. Packard used the Bendix TreadleVac and those have caused issues for some -- particularly when they have been sitting and then put into service. If you do get a car so equipped, make absolutely sure the entire unit is gone thru by a reputable rebuilder. There are a few we can recommend. Some who offer rebuilds have been found to do less than adequate jobs.

In 55, at the start of production the base Clipper Deluxe and slightly upscaled Super both were regular suspension. On Supers the TL became optional toward the middle to end of the production year and from most reports, the majority of Supers from then on were built with TL. The Deluxe stayed regular. The usually fairly well equipped Clipper Custom and all Packard models -- Four Hundred HT, Patrician Sedan and Caribbean Convertible were only offered with TL the entire year. In 56 all models had TL but there have been reports it was a delete option on the base Clipper so there could have been a few built without. AFAIK, there are no records of how many might have been regular suspension in 56 but I doubt few if any. It seems to have been a fairly well received suspension at the time and for something over 60 years old still gives comparatively little trouble today.

Thanks for posting the photo. I think a smaller permanent magnet alternator could be made to fit and work nicely in the more confined space of a later car.

That is an interesting approach and maybe something to consider for those wanting to have AC yet keep the electrical at 6v and engine compt as original looking as possible (aside from the compressor). Several who didn't want to convert have added a second 12v battery to run only the AC using varying approaches to keeping it charged. Extra alternators run off an extra groove in the compressor pulley is one approach as well as running the alternator off the same belt as the generator is another. Others just periodically recharge the battery manually using a battery charger. I would think a small alternator hidden under the car could work nicely in that situation. Any issues with the alternator running backwards when going in reverse and does the 29 have a driveshaft with a sliding coupling or flange at the transmission end? If not that slide action might be a show stopper on some of the later cars but would still like to know more about how you did it if you have any photos you could post.

One other thing sometimes overlooked if you are getting an open trailer is the height and location of the wheel coverings. It is annoying to get the car on the trailer and either not be able to open the door more than an inch or two if you need to reach in or else have the door bottom scrape over the top of the coverings.

That corrugated cap should pop or pry off and there is a special hex head bolt with a vent hole thru the center holding the brass block onto the axle. Be careful not to damage anything when removing the tube. It should be a normal inverted flare fitting but sometimes those tube nuts can be stubborn and trying to hold the block and get things loose causes damage. Take the opportunity to clean the hole thru the bolt to ensure no grease has congealed and is blocking the vent when you put it back on.

I can't speak directly to the 1901 models but on the 41 Clipper 1951 and later axles there is a felt seal that sits in a groove on the end of the shaft. The steel washer pushes it into a sort of recess that forms around the end of axle taper and the hub IIRC it is 3/16 or maybe 1/4 thick. I made mine but do not remember what thickness felt I used. It is labeled in the Clipper parts books as a shaft nut oil seal. No idea of its purpose as it seems unlikely there would be any oil getting anywhere close to the nut unless possibly something could run down the key groove from the axle seal.

The numbers on the rods may be casting numbers and not actual part numbers. Packard frequently placed a number in a casting or forging for identification purposes and then after a machining step or two would list the item in the parts book differently. Some would be a digit or two higher than the cast number and if subjected to even more machining would result in a part number with even more separation from the cast number.

I had my Clipper on stands for many years and it seems to have survived. Not sure how much difference there is between a conventional and Clipper body frame but I used the heavy crossmember under the engine to raise the front. It is fairly wide and heavy on the Clipper. Placed a pair of front stands under the side rails staying on the flat bottom in the area where the X meets the side rails before the rails kind of slant up. On the rear I used the differential case or pumpkin to raise and placed the rear stands as far back on the rails as I could to still be on the flat bottom before the rails kick up to go over the rear axle.

Congratulations on acquiring what appears to be a nice station sedan. One thing I see is the heater is bypassed -- probably due to a leak in the core or thermostatic valve. When you get around to repair, it appears the car may have the hoses reversed at the valve. Heater will work the way it is now and with other noises in the car the reversed valve may never be noticed. Just in case, here is the correct routing and explanation of why the hoses should be changed around.

When you get the new solenoid check the large terminals. One will have BAT stamped next to it so be sure that is the one connected to the copper strip and red power wire. I seem to recall someone saying his new solenoid had to mount upside down compared to the original. If that is the case there is another solenoid where the coil internally connects to the large terminal on the other side of case making a mirrored pair. I do not know which one is correct for the bracket in the 55. In 56 believe they were both the same but 55 may have had one of each.

Cole-Hersee 24046 Note the solenoid coil has one side connected internally to the battery input. The other side of the coil is grounded by the TL switch. They are not the same as the usual starter solenoids sold at parts stores. Some ebay vendors carry them as well as Elecdirect.com

What year?

Here are the specs. If you need Packard's service and rebuild instructions you can download them by going to www.Packardinfo.com. On the literature page that opens the site, select the Service Letters, Counselor and Bulletin heading. At item 44 are the 1955 Service Counselors, The detailed info is in Volume 29 #2.

You might check with Hirsch Auto and see if they still carry them. http://www.hirschauto.com/HALOGEN-BULBS/productinfo/BULB2/ They advertise Halogens and I know several have bought from them in the past but can't give any direct experience.

Assuming the voltage difference happens all the time -- with or without headlights -- what is disturbing is in a circuit that should have minimal load with everything off you have a voltage drop of .6 volts over approx 10 feet of wire. The voltage at the battery should be essentially what you are seeing at the generator. I don't have a Cadillac diagram to see if they do anything different with the charging circuit than Packard but basically, once the regulator cutout relay closes the generator output is fed thru what for all practical purposes is straight pieces of wire to the battery. If Cadillac uses an ammeter that should be the only thing in the middle and those can also be considered a piece of wire. To get that much voltage drop would seem to indicate a resistance somewhere in the circuit or a battery that is pulling a considerable load. Have you verified all the connections are clean and tight -- battery, generator, ammeter, solenoid -- and used a hydrometer on the battery to see if there is a bad cell?

Your test would indicate the problem probably is in the regulator but the fact the field is reading as grounded on a VOM is misleading. Here is a fairly typical diagram of a regulator controlled charging circuit. There are minor differences between brands but the principle is the same. Note there is one resistor grounded at one end and tied to the field terminal on the other end. The other resistor is tied to a point which has voltage coming from the generator. There is also a direct connection to ground via the normally closed contacts in the current and voltage sensing parts of the regulator. With the regulator just sitting the closed contacts are why you are reading the field terminal as grounded. When the unit is operating the grounded resistor always provides some connection of the field to ground so there will always be some output. As the generator starts providing voltage the other resistor provides a bit of voltage feedback into the field circuit and contacts in the current and voltage sensing portions start rapidly opening and closing to provide the solid ground for max output. By virtue of the contacts rapidly changing the amount of resistance the field sees to ground the voltage output is stabilized at the set level.

And as O_D pointed out, it could also be wiring. Having everything connected and in the car and then doing the tests in the order he suggests you can soon narrow things to a place of interest. If it does point to the wiring and regulator side, after making sure none of the field wire terminals might have gotten bent to accidentally touch ground verify the mounting of the regulator. Some regulators have an exposed resistor on the back side which is in the field circuit. If something happened and that resistor was bent where it can touch metal and became shorted it would provide the symptom you describe.

Looks functional. The original style http://julrichpackard.com/fuel_radiator_gas_caps.htm had a notch or cutout for the gas line at the front which you could duplicate on yours easily enough if you want to but yours looks like it will do the job, probably cost less than a repro, and definitely better than nothing.

That long pin arrangement doesn't look familiar. Packard usually had a separate page or two of install info or other documentation shipped with the accessory and didn't publish much info in the readily available parts books for those years. I do know a lot was bought from vendors and while overall they looked identical to other mfgs, on a lot of things small details were somewhat unique to Packard. The chrome nut on yours looks identical to what I have on my 47 antenna but hard to know if they used the same antenna in 41 as they did in 46-7. The radio connection is quite different. Here is typically what is seen on Packards (some years the pin is on the cable side and slides into antenna receptacle) but the nut and socket attachment is fairly constant and much shorter than that one..

The original special grease was a high contact pressure moly compound. Sta-Lube SL3303 comes highly recommended by posters on the packardinfo forum as a superb replacement. http://www.crcindustries.com/ei/product_detail.aspx?id=SL3303 It should be available at most parts stores or on Amazon. I believe those who did their compensators reported Max Merritt has some if not all of the rubber seals. You can go into the parts manual and get the group number for those pieces you need and do a search on his site and see what he has available. There were some reports the dust seals over the ball studs were a problem to install because the replacements were just a tad small, Some resorted to drilling the opening larger and others greased the balls and heated the rubber to make it more supple and then managed to slip them over the balls.

Not sure I am following the question you are asking about the photo.. If that is the passenger bar, when it is assembled to the compensator it should be on the rear side of the compensator as was mentioned to check and illustrated in the birds eye photo of the system in post # 2. If a failure of a component or a manual bypass of the limit switch allows the motor to keep running and it runs long enough to reverse the bar positions so the passenger side bar is on the front of compensator, the system gets confused -- and the bar frequently gets damaged. The level switch will be wanting to level by turning the motor one direction but the linkage being reversed will be doing the opposite to the car from what is needed. The system keeps trying to level and runs the motor until something fails. It is easy for a failure to reverse bars on a 56 because the limit switches are internal and nothing is in the way. On a 55 with the solenoid bracket and limit switch assy mounted to the compensator, not sure if it has enough clearance to swap sides without the drivers side bar bending or damaging the bracket. If there is no damage to the bracket then it is possible it was installed incorrectly. If it was assembled so the "Vee" portion of the ball lever was pointing the wrong way (toward the drivers side) but passenger side bar was on the rear it should still work but I believe the limit switches would be activated a bit sooner than normal. If it was installed with the passenger bar in front no matter which direction the Vee pointed then it should never have leveled or worked correctly after that service.

It was discussed on another forum the transverse bars are ordinary steel and not hardened or brittle. Some said they can be straightened more or less to a straight bar again in a hydraulic arbor press. I haven't tried it but would give it a go before cutting them. The splines being bent like that are weakened but have seen worse still in service. Because you do not have the 56 internally operated limit switches the slight offset will not be noticed on your car. Since you get to a point the bars stop moving with the motor running the pressure related to bending the bar could have put a lot of stress thruout the compensator. I would disassemble a bit further and pay attention to the worm gear as described in the bulletin 55T-1 attached in post 18. Disassemble the compensator internals so just the worm gear remains in position. See if there is any significant back an forth movement of the worm or remove the motor and do the measurement check as the bulletin details. Possibly the stress as it bent the bar was enough to force the lock ring loose and now the worm can slide on the motor shaft. It doesn't take much movement to where the worm gear disconnects from the shaft pin.

Modern replacement solenoid is Cole-Hersee 24046. It is available thru many parts stores or occasionally on ebay. Note that it is what is called an insulated solenoid and needs a ground provided by the circuitry to operate. It is NOT the same as a typical starter solenoid. The red ones in those photos I sent you a few weeks ago are the PVC coated equivalent 24077. Some prefer those for the additional waterproofing but some of the PVC has to be scraped off to mount properly with the other components on the Packard bracket.

As bent as the arm is I would wonder what failed to let it bend. It appears the motor fuse did not blow so wonder what amperage it is. The limit switch should have stopped the motor unless the solenoid was stuck or somehow electrically activated without going thru the limit switch. Both are possibilities so when you put it back together make sure to check things out thoroughly. Water getting into the solenoids when they were under the car causing internal rust and corrosion issues was a concern even when new. That was the main reason they were moved under the hood in 56. If the solenoid and circuitry is OK the limit switch may be faulty or the actuator or bracket is bent out of position and could not prevent the motor from going past the end point. With the compensator moving the end of bar far enough to bend the bar the bracket must have been shoved aside.