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53 Clipper Brake Pedal
#1
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qbert
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Hi Guys,

I'm doing a complete brake job on my Clipper. Manual brakes. With the master cylinder out the pedal should move freely but it is stiff. I would like to pull the pin it rotates on so I could clean it up but cannot figure out how to do it. Does any one have any experience with this?

Posted on: 2017/3/8 11:35
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Re: 53 Clipper Brake Pedal
#2
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Owen_Dyneto
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There is a pretty good illustration in the 48-54 Parts List, Plate #63. Also as I recall the shaft has one or more grease fittings which have probably been ignored for years and may be the reason for the stiff pedal motion.

Just as an aside it's always a bit of a mystery to me as to why so many folks lubricate their own cars but don't consult the lubrication chart in the owner's manual, or elsewhere. And ff you have a commercial garage do it for you, do them and yourself a favor and take the chart to them. Another notorious missed lubrication point is the somewhat hidden center oiler on the 356 engine AutoLite starter motors. And yet another, ignition distributors - both the external oiler or grease cup and the internal lubrication points of which there are several; the felt wick beneath the rotor, the pivot pins for the centrifugal advance, and the breaker plate motion points (for example, thelarge ring ball bearing on some AutoLites, bronze sliders on many Delcos).

Sorry for digressing.

Posted on: 2017/3/8 12:01
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Re: 53 Clipper Brake Pedal
#3
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HH56
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Does the shaft just go thru two holes in the frame or is there a bracket bolted onto the frame at one end? If a bracket, that comes off too. If the shaft just goes thru two holes in the frame I believe it is held by a snap ring in a groove around the shaft. There may be a ring at each end or one end of the shaft may be D shaped and just fit into a shaped opening in the frame to keep the shaft from rotating.

IIRC, the retaining rings are on the inside or the pedal sides of the frame but my memory could be faulty. If on the inside, you will need to move the pedals and any spacer washers inward slightly and compress the spring separating the pedals to access the rings. There is a lube fitting on one end of the shaft but I don't remember if anything there has to come off or if the shaft will just slide thru the holes as is.

Posted on: 2017/3/8 12:20
Howard
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Re: 53 Clipper Brake Pedal
#4
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HH56
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Quote:
Also as I recall the shaft has one or more grease fittings which have probably been ignored for years and may be the reason for the stiff pedal motion.


Amen. I believe the fitting is on the clutch side on 51-4 whereas it was on the brake side on the Clipper body 41-50s. If qbert's situation is like mine, the fitting was lubed but grease starts pouring out of the nearest pedal long before it moves down a hole in the shaft to reach the pedal at the opposite end. As soon as grease starts coming out the person doing the lube job thinks it has enough and stops. In my case the brake pedal side was fine but the clutch pedal had received little to no lube because the hole was long and filled with hardened grease. Lack of lube had worn the shaft so badly there was a side to side wobble in the pedal. I would not be at all surprised if there is a similar problem on the 53's brake end along with the stiff pedal.

I think that single fitting and hole down the shaft was a bad design by Packard. For mine I drilled and inserted a zerk fitting in each pedal so grease could lube the shaft directly. It effectively greases in the same location -- a space between two bushings -- but instead of a hole feeding grease from the shaft side, the zerk fittings supply it directly.

Posted on: 2017/3/8 12:40
Howard
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Re: 53 Clipper Brake Pedal
#5
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Owen_Dyneto
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I think that single fitting and hole down the shaft was a bad design by Packard

I think that's an unduly harsh assessment. The fact that it failed to overcome owner negligence and/or didn't provide adequate service for 50+ years beyond the expected service life of the car doesn't make it a bad design. If something lasted satisfactorily for 15 years, then it was a good design because that was the expected life expectancy.

Posted on: 2017/3/8 15:17
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Re: 53 Clipper Brake Pedal
#6
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HH56
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Harsh, maybe but IMO a design that relies on visual indicators to tell an operator an operation is complete should not show that indicator before an operation is actually complete. In this case, grease coming out of a near point long before it ever reaches a distant point gives a false impression the grease job was satisfactory. I'd wager that was an issue for some lube jockeys even when the car was within design expectancy.

I think a better way would have been to put the zerk in the middle of the shaft so grease could go to both ends at the same time. Granted, it would be a bit more work in machining the shaft because they would need to add a plug on the open end and the fitting would have to be threaded in after the shaft was installed but neither job requires much more effort than it took to do it the way it was done.

Posted on: 2017/3/8 16:26
Howard
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Re: 53 Clipper Brake Pedal
#7
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qbert
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It does go through two holes in the frame, no fitting in the end, probably should be one. That end that looks like it should have a fitting is serrated. I'm guessing it has internal snap rings. That helps a bunch.

Posted on: 2017/3/8 20:12
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Re: 53 Clipper Brake Pedal
#8
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Brenda
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I just bought my 53 Clipper Delux and was told that I could get Bendix brakes from Pep Boys. Is that true? Can any decent brake place do my brakes?

The car will be towed in 9 days to a mechanic. It has a cracked head and the seller said I could use "cylinder seal" to seal it, only about 2 inches or less.

I'd rather get it magnefluxed and repaired but this is his fix to save money for now. All the fluids will be changed, brakes done and hopefully it will start. He said he felt the car missing, pulled into his garage and looked and saw water on the head near the radiator hose that shorted out the 2 spark plugs. He turned it off and later got ill...it sat for 7 years in his garage. It just could be the radiator hose, maybe, hopefully.... though he thinks not. Any advise you guy could give me on waking up a beauty is most welcome. Brenda

Posted on: 2017/3/25 22:08
1953 Packard Clipper Deluxe
She starts on the first crank in the morning and purrs like a kitten all day.
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