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56 Brake Light Switch location?
#1
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Dave Brownell
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My 1956 brake light switch has started to stick on. Since I have a NOS one still in the S-P box, I thought that it would be a simple job to replace it to see if that's the solution. I have looked high and low, topside and from down under but cannot see where it is located on the Bendix Tredle Vac unit. I have both a 55 and a 56 factory service manual, but cannot locate either a diagram or picture.

Over the years I must have removed and replaced dozens of these on "normal" cars, but my Packard has me stumped. The only place I haven't looked is on the carpet side of the BTV unit. There's also a possibility that frame rails, cables and other things are preventing me from seeing it from below. In searching the forum the only reference was to a GM-type brake pedal adjustable plunger switch, but the three post one I have in the box is hydraulically operated.

Any advice, diagrams or pictures would be gratefully appreciated. More than four decades of marriage have proven that I am capable of overlooking things that are obvious to others. As a result, I will give it a very thorough look before admitting I cannot find something. This is one of those times.

Posted on: 2014/8/16 13:26
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Re: 56 Brake Light Switch location?
#2
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HH56
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55-6 is located in a junction fitting on top of L frame rail under battery tray. Don't have a photo handy but this might help.

Attach file:



jpg  (40.18 KB)
209_53efa576317af.jpg 636X592 px

Posted on: 2014/8/16 13:35
Howard
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Re: 56 Brake Light Switch location?
#3
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WC
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The brake light switch is located below the battery, on the inner fender area (if it hasn't been moved by someone in the past). Look from the "motor side" under the battery tray. Depending on the switch, either a direct replacement or one of the others out there, you might have to replace the connector on the wiring harness.

Posted on: 2014/8/16 13:36
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Re: 56 Brake Light Switch location?
#4
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Dave Brownell
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Thanks to you and Howard for pointing me in a different direction. Sometimes I think this era of Packard might have been engineered by Citroen when it comes to certain things. Although the brake switch placement does make some sense, it isn't the usual placement for most of us.

Tomorrow, in daylight, I'll do some investigating under the battery tray. Who knows, that may be a lot more convenient than fooling around with the buried master cylinder Tredle Vac.

I do appreciate the gore of all those Zerk fittings and the treat of adjusting the drum brakes. Today's auto chore was changing the oil and rotating the tires on my wife's 2014 Chevy. I had to have four encounters with the car's computer to do even these. I'll have to wait to hear from Onstar to know if I screwed anything up. The Packard never talks back when I do.

Posted on: 2014/8/16 18:28
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Re: 56 Brake Light Switch location?
#5
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Ken Hill
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Thank you for sharing this diagram. It helped me located the stop light switch on my '56 Clipper.

Posted on: 2017/6/18 11:21
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Re: 56 Brake Light Switch location?
#6
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Leeedy
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The stop light switch on 1955-56 Packards is not merely a stop light switch. It is important to also remember this switch also interacts with the Torsion-Level suspension. Packards so equipped have an anti-dive, anti-squat feature which is only being imitated in more recent years by some new luxury cars.

This is why the original 1955-56 Packards with Torsion-Level suspension have a stop light switch with 3 electrical connector prongs rather than the customary 2. Just one more fact that proves how advanced these Packards were for their time!

By the way, the stop light switch is located on top of the left-hand frame rail (driver's side) below the battery.

Posted on: 2017/6/21 12:02
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