Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

i took off the left fender tonight....but question....what is the big tank for...brakes when the motor happens to turn off while driving? also i unpluged the power antennea from under the dash and pulled it through the firewall. i hooked the leads up to the battery hoping the thing would go down, but all it did was make a clicking noise. reverse the cables and got the same thing. any suggestions as to why my power antennea wont go up or down? am i doing it wrong.

thanks,

Hank

The "tank" in the fender is the vacuum reserve for the power brakes, working in conjunction with the vacuum check valve at the manifold vacuum take-off.

Frequently the electric power antennas fail to operate because the spooled cable breaks, but since your motor apparently just clicks but doesn't turn I'd suspect the motor may be frozen. Take it apart and check it out.

Little confused when you said you hooked leads up to battery and then reversed. The antenna body itself is one lead and goes to ground then there is an up wire and a down wire which one or other gets power from ign switch. If this is the way you had it hooked up and just clicks then you will have to open it up.

i unplugged the ant. from under the dash....there are two wires....one with a red strip at the end. i hooked them up to the battery terminals, only made clicking noises. if you reverse the cables it should reverse the rotation of the motor....but it still only clicked.

any information or service bulletin or manual on what to expect when i take it apart....i want to make sure i can get it back together is all. the ant. i stuck in the up position and you can't push it down by hand either.

There are a couple of different types but both work by pulling or pushing a nylon strip attached to topmost section. One type is detailed with service instructions in the Aug 51, Vol 25 #8 SC available on the website. Essentially you separate the motor from drive mechanism so the worm gear is free and then manually pull the nylon strip thru pinch rollers. If yours has a long piece of curved tubing clamped to outside and connected to bottom of motor assy that is the one detailed. Other type is a shorter affair with a reel takeup and don't recall seeing details on that one to refer you to. You keep saying cables plural and you hook THEM up which bothers me since there should only be one wire out of the cable connected at a time and other battery lead going to antenna housing but at any rate good luck.

EDIT: just noticed your fender assy. The antenna you have is a slightly different version of the one mentioned above so the instructions should be able to help you.

i guess i am too new school. i figured the two prongs that came out from under the dash was: one neg. one pos. so i guess i should have put only one wire (when say that it is a wire that is like speaker wire...it is connected as two seperate wires, but at the end it splits apart and has two ends...one with a red tip on it.

one wire on the battery and the other on the ant. housing....that makes sense...hopefully i haven't jack it up bad. guess i am used to a neg and positve comming out and just being able to hook those up and reverse for the reverse effect.

live and learn...i am sure it wont be the first thing i do wrong, unfortunetly.

We'll keep our fingers crossed. You'll find that almost all Packard reversible motors of that era are of the type that consists of 2 separate field windings equal, but wound in opposite directions. The wires from cable feed each winding independently, the other end of windings connect to one of brushes and other brush connects either to the frame of motor and to ground via the mounting screws or is brought out as a short separate wire to go on a mounting screw. Either way it connects to the car frame which is connected to battery. Window & seat, convertible pump (which is photo attached), antenna, Torsion level, etc. The only one offhand I can think of that is different is the electric shift.

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okay the ant. works, but i got it to go down all the way only once. i got it to go up, but then it wouldn't go down. i can fold it down on my own, but only so far. it will go up fine. guess i will have to take it apart. any advice on what might be causing it to not go down all the way.

thanks,

Hank

Does motor keep running when it stops? If not, could be damaged or straining. If it keeps going, is there any damage evident to sections that could be causing a bind. If they are OK then there is the slim possibility of corrosion or a rough spot inside the tubes. Each section has a small brass finger arrangement at the bottom that keeps tight contact with the one it slides in. You might try a dab of lubricant and let it run down inside but I doubt it will help. I suspect that since it won't go up all the way or go down without help the nylon strip is damaged or broken at the point it stops--a common happening. Take it apart and check strip carefully for worn spots. If memory serves, it is an odd shape and I don't think there is an exact replacement. It is also crimped to top section. Let us know what you find and maybe we can come up with something.

the motor continues to run either up or down when the ant. stops. so the motor is good. the ant. tip itself has a slight curve to it, but it didn't seem to care when i got it to go down the first time. it goes up fine after a certain point.....it will run....then after a few seconds the ant. will go up. the ant. will go down, but after a few seconds the motor runs but the ant. doesn't move. the coiled tubing at the bottom of the motor is fine, no dents or dings or binding, they would have to be internal. i was also not able to save the black plastic stub that sits on top of the fender, it was too brittle and the locking ring would not unscrew, but it fit through the hole in the fender once the black plastic was gone. the ant. has been in the up postition for many years....


should i take the large nut at the bottom of the motor off, or just the screws at the top?

thanks,

Hank