Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Wesley, I did not refer to you as a nut and am sorry if you read that into what I said. If you thought that was implied, it was not and my apologies.

Wesley, perhaps it was my reference to a nut behind the wheel that sparked your comment. It was my feeble attempt at humor and not directed at you. If you took it that way, I apologize. It was not meant to impugn anyone.

It never hurts to keep an open mind, as they say.

Here is something I found on www.aaca.org
Re: Rear wheel removal . . . . . how??
W_Higgins

Under these conditions it may never pop off depending on how tensioned you have it. As I'm sure you know, once the spokes start to deflect, it's pointless to crank down on it any more than you already have.

The heat thing is fine to a limit. I mean, hey, it gets hot when you drive and brake hard. As with most things, the "if a little's good, more must be better" rule doesn't apply here. Heat it up a few hundred degrees. You're not going to screw up your hub until you start approaching a dull cherry, which is around 800 degrees. A little expansion in a taper can release a lot of pressure.

The driving with the nut loose thing works and is a good suggestion. Did it on a tour last year when I didn't have a puller handy. All it takes is backing it off a couple of flats and swerving a little at low speed, or driving over some potholes, if you want to speed things along.

I've got what I think is that same size puller (it's a little hard to measure from the i.d.) and it has a 3 in. center depth. At least in diameter, that size of puller is out there.
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Walter.


Although this is talking about a wooden spoke wheel, I would think it would also work just the same.

You have to be careful as regards beating these things because there is a thrust block inside the pinion assembly.

The loose nut method means backing off the nut a few notches or finger tight. That won't damage the keyway unless the car is being driven daily on the West Side Highway in NYC. Especially with Ultramatic which has mashed potatoes for breakway. I actually think this method works because the drum heats up from braking as well.

I never had one fight me so bad I had to resort to careful heating, but that is what I would consider for these really bad cases.

1. As mentioned, backing off the star adjuster on the brake shoes is important as many cars of this age have the shoes adjusted out to the max.
2. Never beat on the end of the axle.
3. When using the dogbone puller, release and reapply the tension from day to day and TAP with 2 hammers simultaneously on opposite sides of the hub.
4. Somewhere (?)I read that the hub is put back on the tapered axle DRY, with no oil or grease. The keyway does not carry the load but only the taper.

Somewhere (?)I read that the hub is put back on the tapered axle DRY

Absolutely correct, and important.

I have read about people saying to leave pressure on the drum for days and it will pop. In reality, Packard nor Chrysler mechanics would never do that. Time is money, and tell a customer to come back in a couple of days when the drum decided to break lose would have got you looked at like you had a screw loose.

On a stubborn drum, it is going to take way more hits with the hammer than you think it will. Unless the rear axel and drum was sitting submerged for while and is rust fused, just keep hammering and it will let go. It is both the pressure from the puller under tension, and the shock from the hammer blows on the dog bone while tightenting that causes the drum to break free of the axel taper.

On my car one side took a ton of blows before it broke loose. So much so that I was waiting for the puller to fail. But it didn't, and the drum broke loose. The other side I had off in about 2 mins.

On my '52, it took me using a LARGE 8Lbs. sledge hammer to finally get the drums off. I tried for a long time using other smaller hammers, with very little results. Once the nearly 3 foot long, 8Lbs. sledge was used, they popped quickly. My passenger side came off in less than 10 hits! Now that is fast!

-Garrett