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

Hello and Happy Motoring!
Found an oil leak at my fuel pump yesterday and suspect the mounting bolts are loose as the pump was quivering but the engine was smooth idling. Watched a nifty vid on lever shocks and how to service them and will try to video me servicing mine on my Golden Anniversary std 8. Have decided to go with a 20w oil as it was what was used in the video I watched. I had no Idea there would be a revolution in front shock absorbing technology in 1950s. I found the fill plug on the shocks and will top off mine this week, will let you the results later this week. Any advice is always welcome. 😃 I’ve really thrown myself into learning all I can about this vehicle. I have a question though about the rear shocks it seems the car rides lower in the rear an find myself dragging the bumper guard if the angle is too steep to Avoid
Doing that . Could air shocks be installed to raise the rear height? I wonder….🤔

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It could just be a long wheel base type thing and if it has the vertical guards. They can be removed. I refer to these series are "bumper cars" due to the prominence and similarity to the amusement variety. First to go in a custom.
I don't know of any reason not except where you going to find some rear air shocks that fit? It so difficult to find anything by dimension any more as everything is year, make, model, indexed. Packard is not even showing up now on a lot of places that used to before the epidemic. You'd have to adapt something - not very difficult.
Air Bags usually go on coil spring mounts and these are most likely leaf spring. a four link air ride conversion with bags, is a bit much for a tub but doable.
Sagging or broken leaf is most common, if they sit. Two solutions would be new leaf springs or re-arching, if intact. Search the posts on here for sources. Been discussed a lot. Someone will probably chime in with a source anyway.

New front and rear springs can be had for almost any vehicle ever made. If your shocks are bad, that can contribute to bottoming, tail drag, etc. Lever type shocks are rebuildable. Tube style ones usually are not. Tubular shocks have been made in almost infinite variety over the last 70+ years and it's likely that some can be found to fit your car. A number of circa 1950 cars had tubular shocks on the rear while retaining lever type shocks on the front.

Hello Doc. If you need rear shocks, they are the same as a new-ish Toyota Hilux. Same eyes (tapered for 2 piece rubbers), same length.
However shocks won't lift the back of your car. Two solutions are to have the rear springs reset, or put additional leafs in. My 49 sedan has 9 on one side and 10 in the other, that is how it came.
Gary

My father had put air shocks on his 48 Station Sedan to "fix" sagging leafs. I rebuilt the rear suspension last winter with new springs from Eaton, shocks, bushings, and stabilizer shock from Max Merritt. Not a terribly difficult project.

Thanks!

Got some hydraulic oil, removed the fill plug on the lever shocks, and lo and behold I was SHOCKED to find they were bone dry. So in about 30 minutes of bouncing and squirting (hydraulic fluid) into the dry shocks they began to stiffen, to the point that the ride improved to 80 to 90% better! Will see how long the quick fix holds, if it works, I’ve saved about 6 Ben Franklins!🤣

If they leak, You might try adding some hydraulic jack oil with 'anti-leak" additive. If they leak at first, they may stop after a few days. (Maybe)