Power window motor R&R

[WCraigH]

While at Paul's on this last Monday, we also R&R'd the driver side power window motor in my 1955 Patrician. It had suddently quit a few days before. Paul had several used ones in his stock of parts (he never throws anything "Packard" away, especially parts that actually work). Here are a couple of points about this R&R for anyone that has to do this job in the future:

1) The motors are "handed", left and right and are NOT interchangeable. Front and rear on the same side (for the 4-dr anyway) ARE interchangeable.

2) There are 2 power wires (up/down) with a grounded body. The wires are color coded (yellow and black) with gendered connectors (male-female, female-male). BUT, in my case, the motor operated in reverse of the original, i.e., down position moved the window up and vice versa. We have no idea why. It's not the polarity difference between 1955 and 1956 because when I changed the polarity on my 55 Pat from pos to neg, the windows still moved in the correct direction. Of course rewiring the connectors fixed this problem.

3. The motor can be removed without removing the lever mechanism (we used a dime as a screwdriver because of the restricted space), but essentially cannot be reinstalled with the lever mechanism still in place. This is because there is a triangular 3-holed plate that the mounting screws screw into and this plate free floats, making aligning the holes and starting even 1 screw "in the blind" not really possible. You have to remove the lever mechanism and attach the motor on the floor or bench.

4. This job is best performed with a helper to hold the window in the proper position. The window will NOT fall to the bottom of the door because of metal stops, but getting the lever mechanism out and then properly aligned on reinstall requires moving the window up/down for best fit.

[Guest Randy Berger]

Craig, I have one replacement motor that is color-coded improperly and didn't know it till I powered the window up and down. This was a reece-neville replacement supplied with two external breakers (dated 1961). Realizing I couldn't have made a mistake (quit laughing Brian), I did the same as you and fixed the wiring.

YFAM, Randy berger

[Guest Randy Berger]

Brian, you may have been dealing with a replacement motor, which was

supplied with two external breakers. The original Delco units had a

small disc circuit breaker located by the brushes. I had to replace

the drivers door motor because of that breaker. I had a spare so

didn't bother trying to R&R it. Some of these had a place for a

bushing right where the worm began but it was never installed.

I believe it was Bob Arnold who told me he turned brass bushings for

them and that would prevent the shaft from flexing too much under

load and snapping. If it wasn't Mr. Arnold, he'll correct me and

if it was someone else, he'll let is know.

YFAM , Randy Berger