Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

The radio is in two sections. That piece on the right is the power supply and speaker section. The vibrator, rectifier & output tubes are there and is connected to the other tuner section by a short plug in cable and a power wire. The speaker balance pot (if you have rear speaker) plugs into right side box as well.

HH56, thanks for all the help! Obviously, im pretty new to these things.

I replaced both fuses, and now the brake lights work fine! The t/l solenoids click when i sit on the back bumper, but the motor does not start. Im figuring its stuck from age and sitting outside.

Possibly stuck from sitting, but not usually Guess depends on your climate, I had never seen anything like this pict so there is a possibility that from sitting your car has had condensation in motor and the brushes are not making good contact.

Next step is to get under and look things over. Make sure the wires are connected, the transverse link bars look approximately like the illustrations, ie nothing wrapped around anything else. There is a band around the motor you can remove to inspect. If commutator and brushes look like Cli55er's then time to clean. I recommended a procedure on Cli55er project blog. Gently check the brush tension. If internals look OK, then need to ascertain if solenoids, motor or major mechanical.

When you say click, is it a major click or thunk the solenoids make or just a faint click of relay in compensator switch activating. If just faint click, time to look at limit switches. If it is big solenoids clicking, then do they look well aged or like possibly replaced. The ordinary starter type replacement one gets from parts store will not work and won't energize.

If no luck thus far, then would suggest getting a voltmeter, disconnect red and brown motor leads from solenoids, then ground one lead from meter and check terminals to verify you have 12 volts when trying to move. If that is OK, then time to look at motor and mechanicals closely. If not then check continuity on limit switches.

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HH56 wrote: "I must say, that is a different looking car. Somehow, I just can't see it as official. Would have thought the average cash strapped PD would have chosen a Clipper--unless the local Packard dealer was the chiefs brother in law or something."

I never saw a Packard police car. Back in the late '40s and early '50s I remember that nearly every large PD in the country had the, "bathtub," Nashes. Don't know why but have always suspected that Nash-Kelvinator must've had a bang-up fleet sales program in those days. Remember that, somewhere around '57 or '58, the Sheriff's department out in West Texas where I lived had Buicks for a year or so. That was unusual enough that it caused much local comment. I've heard that in the '20s and '30s a lot of large PDs liked V8 Lincolns and know that, at the time of the St.Valentines Day massacre, the Chicago PD used a lot of open bodied LaSalles.

Interesting, however. Could've been a Chief's car, maybe personally owned - or more likely something that somebody saw and thought would make a quality advertisement for the PD and the, "D.A.R.E." program.

I think it looks fine, plus i have a friend eith a packard ambulance, so were going for the 'service vehicles' idea. this country wasnt built on passenger cars alone.

I took a pair of jumper cables and attached the black to one post on the t/l motor, and the red to the other and attached one at a time to the positive battery post. the motor started and ran well this way, though i must admit the system doesnt really do a hell of a lot. i kinda got it balanced so both the front and rear have some suspension travel, but most of the travel is in the rear. the front sits very low. however if i go any farther back, the rear loses alot of spring return. i figured the engine torque picks up the front a bit while driving, so its all good.

the 'clicking' was a big heavy solenoid clunk.

Good that things work mechanically. Question is why solenoids aren't working it. If the 30 amp fuse is connected to buss bar between solenoids, and solenoids coming in then seems like only thing left would be something with the cable to motor or some really dirty connections--unless both solenoids have failed which seems unlikely. Be interested in hearing what you finally find to be electrical problem.

Packard height spec was 10 inches from ground to bottom of body side sill measured under center pillar. A 3/8 variation between sides was acceptable. Usually that puts things in front about midpoint between the suspension bumpers and in the rear, fender skirt bottom about middle of hubcap hexagon. If yours is much different, it's possible your car has sagged over the years. There are adjustable load links for the front being reproduced that can change the height a bit.

The leveler really doesn't do much for front as you've found. The action is in the rear where it will keep level with 6 passengers and 400# luggage.

Yeah, it made a large improvement in the rear, but the front is hanging pretty low. It holds the road ok, but ive only had it on back roads for now.

The action of the levelling system does produce more noticeable movement at the rear of the car, but I can manually override the compensator control and drain the engine oil without a jack.

Also, the front should not be hanging low if the car is properly levelled. With the factory-equipped rear fender shrouds (skirts) installed and the car sitting level, only half of the red hex on the wheel cover will be showing.

When was the last time the chassis was greased (IIRC, 27 grease fittings in all) - especially the front load arm bearings?

I cant imagine that it has been greased for a long time.

there is a door sticker that says It had a full chassis lube in 1968, at 84,000 miles. it now has 84,525.

Theres no fender skirts on mine, but the issue is, if i raised the front anymore, it seems like the rear suspension stops working. Set the way it is now, the rear suspension acts like normal springs might. however, the front is only an inch or two off the bumpstops. When i had the front higher, it seemed like the rear suspension stopped working. If i stood on the back bumper, it would drop down to low-rider levels and stay there. i actually had to lift it back up manually. once i hit a certain point with the t/l system, the rear suspension would seem normal. it just means the front is kinda low. the engine torque does pick the front up an inch or two on mild acceleration.