Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Making a little progress. I think I have located everything I need. Then And Now auto parts seems to know what they are doing. Got a fuel pump repair kit, carb kit, gasket set and those studs on their way from them. Another day or two and I'll see if they are correct. Kantor sent the correct brake shoes and master cylinder kit. Got a set of new 4" wide white walls, today I removed the 28 year old 3" wide whites and sandblasted the wheels. Tonight and tomorrow I'll paint them.

Going to take the shoes and drums to my local shop and get them arched to fit. Water pump is off to the rebuilder. Water distribution tube came out with little effort and was fine. I'll pull the freeze plugs and clean that out.

The only thing missing is time!

This isn't very important, but I'm curious. Most wheels of this era were what I think they called "safety rims", built so that the tire bead stayed in place if it went flat. These seem to not have that ridge that holds the bead of the tire where it goes. They just press off with little effort. Makes removing tires by hand much easier, but seems to be of a much older method.

Did Packard not go to safety rims until much later than most, do I have older wheels or?

Looks like safety rims were introduced in Packards with the 1951 models.

Attach file:

---

  (56.74 KB)

Because my '40 doesn't have safety rims, I had to install safety tubes when I ordered radial tires. Well worth it.

I'll have to admit I never heard of them. Google search came up with the patent for Firestone, which didn't help much. Also, explained the "safety tubes" in the "Hot Rod Lincoln" song, but they were referring to tube shocks.

Please tell me more - I'll be mounting new radials later this week. Even my 1940 Dodge has safety rims, so it's never come up before.

You will find there is no need to run any sort of tubes on those rims. Just be sure the beads are nice and smooth and painted. Yes, if you suddenly loose pressure the tires will roll right off the rims but I assure you no tube will stop that from happening. The risk of a blowout is actually quite small these days. Visiting Baltimore or Chicago for a week is probably statistically more dangerous than driving your car coast to coast without safety rims.

Just to add further to Ross' point, there are just hordes of folks happily running radial tires without tubes on non-safety wheels. Whether it's a "good" practice or not I don't know, but it surely is a very common practice.

After doing several google searches using various terms and finding nothing, that was my take. But I've been wrong before, so I figured it was prudent to ask wiser sources.

I have a big cut in my cheek right now from the little crowbar I was using as a tire iron slipped and sprung out at me. So, I do screw up occasionally. Gave my wife plenty of fodder to rag on me on Facebook, but I now will get no flak when I go buy propper tire irons! There is a silver lining in most things.

First coat of paint is on the wheels, in a few minutes they will get the second coat.

One of my very first auto tool purchases as a kid with little $ and lousy tires - a set of good tire irons, and they got lots of use in those early years. Still have them, been a long time since they saw use on a tire.

We used the ends of leaf springs that had been cut to length from old/broken ones. They were broad, flat, and tapered on the ends which served the purpose of removing the tire from the wheel.

(o[]o)