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

I am having an issue removing the rear tires from a Model 200 with rear spats that I purchased. I have removed the spats, and lug nuts, but when I try to remove the tire from the wheel well it is too tight for the H78-15 tires to pull freely away. Is it possible that the shock absorber doesn't allow the axel to drop far enough from the chassis? There seems to be about 1/2" too fat a tire to pull past the brake drum, and wheel well. I could deflate the tire, but that isn't a good way to handle a field change. Anyway I am puzzled. The tires are cross ply white walls. I have jacked the rear bumper up to let the axel hang, but there is not enough clearance, and I don't want to force it.

Its a common problem caused by the rear shocks being too short, and the tires being too fat. If I recall, the shocks should extend to about 20". There are many numbers that fit that are on the short side.

I will check the shock length The Packard had been restored back in the 80's and there is a new set of Monroe shocks on it. They Might be too short to let the axel down far enough to remove the tire.

I think the problem is common to the '51 through '54's and maybe for the '55's and '6's also. When I need to get a tire off the rear of my '54 I place a floor jack under the spring mounting plate or perch to lift the tire and wheel off the ground, then put a bottle jack under the frame forward of the axle area and lift the body up as far as the bottle jack will go. Even then it can be hard to squeeze the tire through the space between the brake drum and the quarter panel. The only model that might be exempt from this is the '53 Caribbean with those rear wheel radiused cutouts. I keep a floor jack as well as the original bumper jack (to jack up the body) in the trunk; fortunately I have not had to remove a tire on the road so far.

Biron, the problem will be due to shocks as Ross has said. I have H78-15 WWW's on my 51 and they squeeze by OK when inflated. This is with either the Kanter '51 replacement shocks OR the Kanter air-jacker shocks that I have recently fitted. Looks like you will need to swap shocks.

I will measure the shock length next chance that I get. I could try to back off the lower set/adjustment screw on the existing shock to see if that helps. I was adjusting the brakes when I realised that I had a problem with tire removal. Glad it didn't happen on a trip! These tire are in good condition but are very old. I will be replacing them In the future. I have a friend with a 47 Buick who said that he got a radial tire with white walls that really improved the handling. I hope that the radials are not much fatter.

Some places now offer wide white wall radials in bias sizes instead of the more common metric sizes such as the 225-75R15 equivalent Diamondback carries. I see Coker has a 760R15 wide white wall which they say looks and fits like a proper 50s bias tire. The price is about the same as the common metric DB radials but am curious if anyone has done any comparisons to see if the profile is that much narrower. If you are having trouble with the H78 bias tires, I would wonder about a wider radial.

Yes it was the shocks that kept the rear axle from dropping far enough down to remove the rear tires. I purchased a set of Response shocks from NAPA pn 94049. They were listed for my 51 model 200 in the NAPA system. They were 3.5" longer than the Monrows that were on the car. Now the wheel is fully exposed from the wheel well when on the bumber Jack. They were 20" from casing to casing with the shaft about 2" further out on the ends. I will drive it today, hopefully they are a decent shock they were only $30 each, made in the USA. Nitrogen Gas filled, were the Monrows oil filled? I wonder if the front shocks are short too, or did they just install fronts all the way around?

...were the Monrows oil filled?

All hydraulic shocks are oil-filled.

That has been my experience, but I guess that shocks are no longer hydronic, but gas pressurized. At least the ones that I bought are. They ride just fine.