Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

A supposed Packard expert said he'd never buy a car with a TwinTraction rear axle, "Because they all went bad and Packard had to replace most of them under warranty."

I'd never heard this and wonder what is the real world experience here?

jack vines

Yes.if you read any books about Packard, the TT ,was one of their big problems in 1956. Almost all TT failed and Packard lost a fortune on the warranty replacements-many of these also failed. I understand that all the bugs were gone after 56.

Quote:

They had a redesign from the cone clutch in 56 to a multiple flat disc type used on the 57s so maybe early failures was the reason for the change.

What Packard replaced by recall in 1956 were improperly heat-treated axle shafts and not the TT carrier itself. The carrier itself, while not as robust as later units, gave reasonable service life.

The odometer on my 56 400 has rolled over and I now show a little over 3,000 miles. This the original Dana rearend. I have owned the car since 1972 (72,000 miles) and drive it anywhere with no qualms about the unit.

Quote from post 1 above:
" , "Because they all went bad and
Packard had to replace most of them
under warranty.".

Ok. I give up. What did Packard replace them with???? Another TT that would fail??? A different TT???? A standard axle??? The "57 redeisgn of the cone clutch that HH56 cites above???? Or what????

This mite be a good time to review the STB's and SC's.

As I understand the situation , there are really two different things being discussed here:

1. The Spicer "flanged" rear axles Packard purchased for the '56 models.

2. The Dana limited slip differential, dubbed "Twin Traction" by Packard.

The axles ran into trouble during testing, and all unsold vehicles had to be re-fitted before sale, but apparently the ones that got to customers had to be replaced on an as-needed basis as well.

The limited slip differentials were not as strong as the conventional units and were often replaced by open differentials.

The above is based on the description of events from page 609 of Packard a History of the Motor Car and the Company, Beverly Rae Kimes, Editor, Copyright 1978, Automobile Quarterly.

I don't know if replacing the differentials included replacing of the housing and axle tubes, but, if not, there are probably some '56 Packards sporting the "TT" designation, (which was, I believe, cast into the housing,) and have a conventional open differential.

It's also not clear to me whether the flanged axles were part of the Twin Traction option, or were standard on '56 models, and if so, whether it was senior only. And, was TT a senior-only option?

This is an interesting topic, especially for people crawling under '56 cars to see whether they might have the coveted TT stamp, and whether it means anything until road tested on some gravel.