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I'm having a problem with my rear suspension. I needed to know what the original specs are for the rear suspension of a 55 Packard 400. Can anybody help? They may be referred to as stabilizers instead.

Not sure what you mean by original specs needed. If shocks, there is a Gabriel replacement number in the x-ref. Believe Troy at Michiana Packards has info on another brand that fits

As far as an equivalent to load and rate numbers used by conventional springs don't believe Packard ever published any specifics for TL. They did go into some detail on design criteria for load and rates in the SAE paper on TL development. You can download that article from the literature section.

If you can tell us exactly what info you need someone can probably help.

The problem is, we are trying to change the rear tires and we cannot get wheels in. We know that they fit into the rear wheel well. from what we can see there are 2 shocks that are keeping the axle from going just low enough for us to easily get the wheel in. I need help figuring out what I can do with the shock shocks or the to link torsion bars if that's the problem for the suspension.

There was another poster with the same problem on a 51 and it was the shocks that was preventing the axle from dropping down far enough. He replaced the shocks and problem solved.

Here is a shock several other posters have used on 55s.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb ... .php?post_id=158808#forumpost158808 You might check the dimensions and see how they compare to the ones on the car now. I don't personally know if there are any issues with the shock length but don't remember anyone mentioning problems with tire clearance.

Gabriel 82066 is a gas shock that several use on their 55-6 cars with TL. Here are those dimensionsrockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=8415

Thanks.

Try letting the air out of the tires.NOT a good idea if changing a flat on the side of the road tho.

Don't let the air out of the tires.
Place a jack under the differential.
Jack it up enough to get several inches of clearance on the rear tires.
Have jack stands supporting the frame ahead of the rear end.
Remove the lower mounting bolts of the two rear shocks.
Slowly lower the jack.
This will let the rear end down enough to clear the tires from the fenders.
Until you buy shocks with over 9 inches of travel you will have to do this to remove a wheel with tire inflated.
You have to jack up the rear end to bolt the bottom of the rear shocks back into place, and to clear the jack stands.
Ask me how I know.