Re: 1956 Limit Switch on 1955 Packard?

Posted by HH56 On 2012/12/21 9:44:17

Your passengers should not have caused any problems. Surely those girls can't weigh more than Packard spec'd the car was capable of carrying and remaining level -- 6 passengers and over 300 pounds of luggage in the trunk. Even if they do exceed, the suspension should have just shut off and instead of being level, the rear would be hanging low with no damage.

A couple of questions would be the condition of the transverse bars and the mounting bracket for the limit switch. If either is bent, I could see where that could cause a problem. With 3 switches it is unlikely they are now the issue but there was a design change to lengthen the switch actuation bar to prevent what sounds similar to the issue you describe. The bulletin 55T-2 mentions the new switch. It sounds like no other changes except lengthening the horizontal part of actuation bar to 2 1/16 inches to prevent over travel and bars striking and bending the bracket was made.

Wish I had a 55 assembly to photograph to compare with yours. Perhaps at some time something on yours was damaged and never repaired properly.

If anyone has good photos of the 55 compensator and limit switch assembly showing the areas where the bars activate the switch I would sure appreciate having a copy.