Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Hello Everyone,
It looks like 60 years of up and down have taken their toll on the window switches of my '55 400. The 3 individual switches work fine but the bank of 4 switches on the drivers door started acting finicky. Two of the four switches worked intermittently. I removed the switch and took it apart and saw signs of arcing. Some of the tabs in the switch body had holes arced through. Can these contact points be replaced? (Preferably by me) Thank you in advance for any suggestions or advice. Brian

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Perhaps you want the personal satisfaction that comes with repairing one, but replacements should not be that hard to find, certainly used switches are not uncommonly available, and perhaps even NOS. If you want to take that route, I'd start with Bob Stolzfus (Bob's Packard Parts) and Joel Ray (Patrician Industries). Contact info for both is in the Packard "Yellow Pages" on The Packard Club website (www.packardclub.org).

I don't know of any contact repair kit available for those switches. I looked into repairing some time back and was thinking some kind of rivet could be found to fit but had no success at that time. If you want to try your luck finding something, I'm sure it would be appreciated by others in the same fix. I have a few of those switches in need of repair too. There are some electrical contact places that sell contact rivets in various metals but the ones I looked at are all OEM or mfg supply places that want to sell a few thousand at a time and need special tooling to install.

The basic dimensions I measured are:

flat head side is .248 by .34 thick. That head fits into a recess in the plastic that is .250 wide. There is a .125 hole thru the plastic which was very hard to measure but I estimate the length is about .040 since the flat plastic is about .087 total. With the large head side recess and a small square recess on the narrow part of contact side it doesn't leave much. I was thinking possibly a copper or brass 1/8 shaft and 1/16 range rivet would work but didn't find one that small with a head that is 1/4" wide.

It takes a bit of patience and precision to drill the old contact out without damaging the plastic. Being able to press or expand a new rivet without damage to the plastic is another obstacle. Since it is usually the smaller side that is damaged, another possibility I was thinking of was carefully drilling the old rivet thru the shaft and threading it for a 2-56 or so screw. The head of the screw could possibly take the place of the burned narrow side of contact but it would require some precise work and probably some filing on the screw head to get it to a proper thickness.

Note that I don't guarantee those dimensions for all switches -- just the one I measured. IIRC, it was Craig that was trying to repair his switch by swapping parts and discovered there is a difference between 55 and 56 switches internally. Don't remember what he said it was.

Thank you Howard and Owen for the info. It looks like a new (to me) window switch is in my future. Once I have a replacement installed I won't be so nervous about experimenting with the old one. If I do find a way to repair the switch I will be sure to update this post. Thanks again. Brian

Mike Dulinsky in Duluth MN has 90 or 100 55-56 Packards.He should be able to provide you with a nice used switch.