Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I have searched all the 55 and 56 STBs and SCs, but cannot find the reference to the bad axles that plagued the new Dana rearend. Memory says that the first replacement axles had a red stripe painted on them and then came a white stripe followed by a yellow stripe. I don't remember where I initially read this - it may have been in a PAC publication. Does anyone else have this documentation and would you please post it?

The initial factory notice took the form of a letter of November 2, 1955 to "All Packard Dealers", titled "IMPORTANT IMPORTANT IMPORTANT, REQUIRES IMMEDIATE ATTENTION".

That letter indicated that the replacement axles had a daub of either white or red paint on the end (the original axles had no paint marks). This pertained both to Packards and Clippers, and instructions for axle replacement were also part of the letter.

Subsequent to this, there was a recall of the axles with the red daub of paint, so the ultimate correctly heat-treated axles were those with white paint daub on the end. I do have a copy of the November 2, 1955 letter, but unfortunately don't have one of the subsequent recall of the the "red" axles.

My 56 Executive has a RED AND GREEN daub on left axle flange and a bell flanged drum. The righht side is painted black.

A better question about this issue mite be :
WHERE did the axles break????

Randy,

My 56 Caribbean has the yellow stripe on both driver and passenger sides. I can post a picture tonight if you would like to see the yellow marking. I do not however have any of the documentation.

Thanks,
Robert.

According to the the November 2, 1955 letter to dealers, the axles broke at the flange.

My spare axles had what appeared to be yellow daubs but when cleaning and compounding the paint, it was white so I suspect yellow daubs are just oxidized cheap white paint. Never seen a green daub at an axle end.

Here is the link to the PDF version of the Axle Letter in question. Thanks to Dave for sharing it with the rest of us.

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/1956%20Axle%20Letter.pdf

I will also be putting this in the Articles section for archiving purposes.