Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

Got a few things done tonight:

1.) lifted the rear and pushed/pulled on both tires. Didn't feel any axial movement.
2.) Removed driver's brake drum and inspected inside. No obvious signs of scraping where it shouldn't on the drum.
3.) Didn't see any signs of scraping on the edges of the brake shoes or on the backing plate.
4.) Rigged up a straight edge so I could watch the axle as it turned and compare to to the edge. I didn't see any obvious signs of axle warp, but it's definitely not a precise method.
5.) Started the car up and put it in gear to see if the bearing made any noise. Nothing at all....see video:

6.) Noticed that the inner hub seems to have a lot of wear on it from where it contacts the outer grease seal. The grease seal is dry. Was I supposed to apply grease or oil to it when I installed it?

Could the grease seal be making all that noise if it's dry?

-Kevin

Attach file:

---

  Inside of drum.jpg (64.66 KB)


  Edge of brake shoes.jpg (97.82 KB)


  Checking axle straightness.jpg (81.74 KB)


  Wear on the hub.jpg (76.37 KB)


  Dry outer seal.jpg (106.25 KB)

The surface on the drum where the seal lip runs looks to me to be worn. You can get precision sleeves to go over the worn part to restore a smooth surface. This may not be the cause of your squeaking sound, but should be looked at. The seals, if made of leather, need to be soaked in oil before installing. A dry seal may be causing the noise. Keep after it you will find the cause of the problem.

Here are some photos you may find helpful.

The Timken precision sleeve installed on the brake drum. They come with an install tool also pictured. This sleeve was a bit too long and I dressed it down to the correct length with my Dremel tool.

The tool I made to measure the axle end play. I fashioned it after one pictured in the Packard manual. The large hole fits over the end of the axle shaft and is secured in place with the axle nut. The screw is run in to just contact the backing plate with the axle shaft pushed in. Pull out the shaft and measure the distance between the end of the screw and backing plate to see what the end play is. The other piece in the photo is a tool I made to adjust the brake anchors.

Attach file:

---

  IMG_0044.jpeg (59.38 KB)


  IMG_0052.jpeg (33.15 KB)


  IMG_0014.jpeg (30.35 KB)

Found the problem! Turns out it was just the outer grease seal. I had no idea it had to be oiled. So I carefully applied some gear oil to the leather part of the seal with a Q-tip until it had soaked in. Cleaned off any excess, and used some brake cleaner on the tapered shaft to clean off anything that may have gotten on there. Put everything back together and tested....no noise.

My wife and I went on our date night in the Panama for the first time. Functioned fantastically and got a few looks. The engine sounds better and better each time I drive it. Temp stayed right in the middle, no bogging on acceleration, almost silent when stopped, and brakes are working great. I'm just glad the squealing wasn't something major.

Thanks for the pictures JWL...I'll probably need to sleeve the hub at some point in the future. And the tool you made for the axle play is exactly what I did. Worked great.

-Kevin

Awesome! Glad you found it, and glad it was so simple!

Enjoy the fruits of your labor this summer!

Glad it was something simple and no extra parts required!

The amount of wear on the sealing surface of the hub is somewhat surprising. (Maybe the angle of the picture makes the wear look worse than it really is?) I wonder if at some point the seal was installed way off center to the hub sealing surface?

I was taught to always center the seal by bolting it on loosely, then slipping the hub/drum on to center the seal with the sealing surface. Then carefully remove the hub/drum by pulling straight out, and finally carefully tighten the fasteners.

Now for my cars with tapered axles, I have a bare hub (no good drums were sacrificed, they were bad already) that is used to center the seal, so the bolts can be tightened with the hub holding the seal in the correct location.

Glad you found the noise Kevin!

Thanks guys. Really happy to be driving it and not be concerned about imminent failure. Now if I could only get my fuel gauge to work.

Paul, that's great information. I had no idea that outer seal had to be centered so precisely. Never saw anything about that in the manuals. I'll probably leave mine for now. If I get back in there then I will double check to make sure seal is centered on the hub.

Kevin

I found a drum in my shop yesterday, labeled only 1953. Visually it looks narrower than those on my senior models but I believe it came from a 1954 Sportster which was a Clipper 2-door sedan with stainless around the side windows and stainless bands across the headliner bows. Anyway, do you want me to check it out for you? I’ll need to know before heading to the shop as I’ll have to borrow a caliper with which to measure it.

Don, sorry it's taken me a while to get back to you. I'm good on the brake drum for now. Mine seems to be working well enough.


Not a lot happening on my end. It's been very busy with life and family emergencies. So I'll update you with some work that I've done previously but haven't reported on.

I removed the rear bumper to clean it up. The inside of the bumper was covered in rust, and the lower part of the outside was really bad also. The chrome had peeled off the bumper from the lower edge up to the center. One portion was much more than that.

I also removed the bumper supports/mounts and cleaned them up. Removed all the rust, then primed and painted them. Cleaned up all the mounting bolts as well.

I wire wheeled all the rust off the bumper itself. It was a messy job. I then cleaned up and painted the inside of the bumper with black paint.

The outside of the bumper was more of an issue. Eventually the whole thing needs to be re-chromed, but that's crazy expensive right now and way down on the priority list. So instead I elected to just spray paint now chrome-less areas with silver spray paint, then clearcoat over the top. This will get me by for a bit. Bot great, but it looks way better than the rust that was on there before.

Remounted everything and now the rear of the car is complete again. Not perfect, but an improvement.

-Kevin

Attach file:

---

  Bumper before.jpg (77.01 KB)


  Bumper before 2.jpg (83.47 KB)


  Bumper removed.jpg (124.25 KB)


  Rusted bumper.jpg (127.35 KB)


  Rust on the lower edge of the bumper.jpg (110.17 KB)


  Ugly.jpg (91.02 KB)


  Rusted bumper supports.jpg (130.98 KB)


  Ready for cleaning.jpg (210.31 KB)


  Rust removed inside the bumper.jpg (140.04 KB)


  Inside of bumper painted black.jpg (103.66 KB)


  Rear bumper supports back on.jpg (60.10 KB)


  Rear bumper reinstalled.jpg (106.48 KB)

Nice job on the bumper and brackets Kevin! Made a big improvement in the looks of the rear of the car.