Obviously, the procedure document did not upload with this reply. If anyone is interested in the procedure, please contact me and I will send it to you.

I do not know if the Packard differentials are the same as early Cadillac ones, but I had an experience replacing the pinion oil seal in my 1939 Cadillac Sixty Special. It was not a straight-forward job. The complication was that once the spacer had been collapsed by tightening the pinion nut to set the pinion bearing preload, it would no longer provide the proper preload when retightened. To overcome this, a fellow Cadillac owner suggested using shims to restore the length of the spacer so that when it was retorqued, it would again be the proper length, and provide the proper preload. The tightening involved two parts; first, tighten the pinion nut with a considerable torque reading (200-300 lbs). To assure that it was not too tight or too loose check the overall torque to turn the pinion nut, with the brakes completely backed-off, to indicate a small torque reading in a few INCH pounds. Failure to provide the proper bearing preload would result in premature bearing failure. Included with this is a procedure that I helped him write describing the procedure to follow.

I remember my father adding an additional port to lesser Packards to dress-up the appearance. In my mind, four look better than three.

Mal, the photo of the lamp on the desk was somewhat staged. I cleaned the clutter for the photo. I didn't mean to attach two photos of the wheel cover, here is a photo of the lamp with the shade removed. I'll get how to post photos one of these days. Incidentally, I see where you and Tom Wilcox exchange messages. I was at his house yesterday helping to remove the transmission and rear axle assembly from the 733. It is great to be involved, in a minor way, in this project. I'm sure Tom will have more on this in his project blog. I do enjoy your daily accounts of Packard adventures. Take care, John

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Here are some more photos of the lamp.

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The article in the latest Cormorant News Bulletin got my creative juices flowing. I created a Packard style lamp out of an unplated brass wheel cover from a 1937 Six. The cover came with the car when I bought it two years ago. I had been using it as a garage art piece hanging on a wall. The other lamp parts came from a small speciality store here in Austin. The base is of molded clear glass from an old lamp that they salvaged. It is now sitting proudly on my office desk.

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Tom - Bon Voyage - John

I noticed the rubber hose and aircraft type clamps in your earlier posts and photos of the oil filter/cooler conversion. I offer the following for your consideration, and do it with only your best interests in mind.

Personally, I would not trust such a set-up. These clamps have a nasty habit of coming loose over time. Also, how good is the hose going to hold up with high pressure and temperatures? It would only take a short amount of time to lose all the oil should the hose or clamps fail. Is it worth the expense of an engine to use this set-up? It would seem a more prudent way would be to install copper tubing and brass fittings.

Take care, and best of luck.

I have been having some problems posting a photo of my father's Santa Fe, New Mexico, Packard dealership and descriptive text. I followed the instructions given above and was successful in getting the photo posted through the Packard Pictures; however, it does not appear in the Packard Dealers section. When trying to post directly on the Packard Dealers Add A Dealer, the submittal is refused with a message that the "250" has been exceeded. I have tried with photo and descriptive text and with photo only. The photo is small, about 75kb. Any suggestions? I would really like to have his dealership included. The photo is being displayed in the Random Photo/Recent Photo section. Thanks - John

Tom, looking at the video again I see what you mean about the arms moving on the bushings. The springs appear to be pushing against the bushings. Do the other arms move on their bushings or do the arm-bushings assemblies move on the shaft? I would think that the bushings outside would be a press fit into the arms, the bushings inside fit to the shafts so as to allow rotating movement, and the bushing and the arm assembly rotate on the shaft. If this is correct, then the bushings on the two in question have come free of the arms allowing the arms to move laterally. It is hard to trouble shoot from a distance, but I believe this is what is happening. Stay cool - John