I'd have to agree that if you disconnect the ground cable from the battery and if you hook a voltmeter on the battery ground and the ground cable, and you have voltage then you have a short somewhere or what is referred to as a parasitic draw/leak. But the question is where, and how do you isolate it? Most importantly though is heat generation and whether the short could cause a fire.

Ordinarily, if you have a fuse box and turn everything off, you can pull fuses until the voltage goes to zero, then at least you can figure out what circuit is involved. You might not have a fuse box though to work with.

How many volts are present when everything is off?

I HAVE NOW UPDATED AND POSTED OVER 170 PACKARD PARTS WITH PICTURES ON WEBSITE RPLAND.COM/PACKARDPARTS. THERE ARE SOME VERY INTERESTING PARTS RECENTLY ADDED.

Very good and detailed explanation! In todays automotive world it would take a computer to figure all of this out in a split second. It just amazes me that they came up with such a detailed but basically simple method 70+ years ago as I'm sure they used something similar in the previous overdrives as well.

Thanks again Howard.

I have a 1939 Six with an engine number of B26543A. I understand the B indicates 39, what is the A suffix indicate?

Howard - I brought my adjusters in to NAPA when I ordered a bunch of other brake parts to see if they had anything that would work. They didn't have anything in stock and didn't think they needed to be replaced. I like our local NAPA but they almost never have the parts I need...not surprising since it's a small town and I'm the only guy in a hundred miles with a postwar Packard.

Just got off the phone with Kanter and new shoes are on the way.

-Kevin

You might compare your adjusters with those from Napa. They have adjusters which are labeled as self adjusting. Similar in looks and come in various lengths but have a smaller diameter and teeth on the adjust wheel. If the spring can still keep tension on the toothed wheel the smaller teeth in itself might not be too much an issue as long as a finer blade adjust tool can be used.

Thanks. I'll definitely check those out.

Thanks Howard for the picture. That will come in handy later. For now I've decided to roll with the dual master set up as it stands. I've replaced most of the lines. Some were replaced previously when the dual master was put in. They appear to be stainless steel and incredibly hard to bend.


Not much progress unfortunately. I've called every brake place around and no one arcs brake shoes. In fact, most places said "what's that?". I've tried taking more off the web where the adjuster sits to no avail. I don't think there's any way I'm getting these shoes to fit without taking off a bunch of the lining.

So I'm just going to bite the bullet and order some new shoes from Kanter. Should have done that from the beginning. Live and learn.

-Kevin

The number of shims on a side does not matter. You only need to adjust one of the axles for the end play.

Roger, that mirror looks like the popular "Peep" mirrors used on hot rods and street rods. You may want to look on the Speedway, Summit and JEGS websites. You usually see them mounted to the top of the door. I mounted a pair on my 115C Convertible Coupe on the vent window frame. They were attractive looking and provided good rearward vision. The high mounting provides the best view. They did interfere with the vent window opening fully, but this was not a concern to me. The mirror shown in the photo looks original-like. Most attractive.

Here is a photo of the mirror installed.

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