Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I Bought on off of e bay from a 56 400. It looks and mounts exactly like mine. The rod on mine is bent, so i installed the unit and it is frozen up...Any ideas? Can I just switch the push rods, what am i getting into?

I have no experience at all with power steering problems, but your 56 400 most likely (not absolutely) came with Bendix power steering and the pumps for each system had different pressure outputs. It wouldn't seem to me that the relatively small difference is pump output would be the difference between working and not - just a thought. Otherwise it would seem the problem would most likely be in the control valve as long as the piston is free to move.

The majority of the 1956 400s and Caribbeans I have seen have Monroe. Both of my cars are original and they also have Monroe. I don't know the reason for some cars being equiped with one system and identical cars having the other. Maybe Packard didn't want to be tied to only one supplier, who knows. As far as the unit being frozen up, it will have to be sent out for a rebuild. If yours is a Bendex system, you can rebuild the control valve yourself quite easily. That still leaves the ram to send out.

My 56 400 and the Caribbean both had Bendix, but I swapped them over to Monroe - less moving parts. My original 400 from the early 60's had Monroe and I always felt that gave better control. The Monroe for the 400 came from the parts car I bought in Detroit. The one in the Caribbean I purchased from Minnesota Mike. The Monroe operates at 900 PSI while the Bendix is lower. The only difference in the pumps is an orifice to raise the pressure. The fitting for the power hose on the Monroe is marked 900 to designate between them.

The four 56 seniors in my neighborhood all have Bendix.

Well I will attempt to tear it down and see what I'm getting into. I will post pictures as i go.

I'll split the difference. My '55 400 has a Monroe & my '55 parts Patrician has the Bendix unit.

It has been my opinion, and I know that I also read it somewhere that in 1955 Bendix was used on Packards and Monroe on Clippers. In 1956 it was catch as catch can and no hard and fast rules, so Packards and Clippers could have either version.

Without getting into how much you can rely on the 55-56 parts book information, I intrepret it to mean that 5540-5560 were to have Monroe, and 5560-5580 were to have Bendix. and there is no discrimination between series for 1956.

My experience says that's how it worked. The 55 Seniors I have observed have Bendix. The Juniors have Monroe.
In 56 there are no rules.