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On the way back from the art museum in the 52 touring sedan,
I've blown my rear axel it seems ,one of the wheels moved out sideways ,fortunately the fender skirt kept it in ,horrible scrape noise
I rebuilt the thunderbolt 327 and have a Chrysler 518 a overdrive which is great (70 mph at 1900 rpm)
So anyone have a recommendation ,or commonly accessed rear end idea?
Rebuild ,? Ford 9"?find a Mopar because of the transmission ?is there a common go to rear end

Did you just break an axle on one side? Check with Gerry, Ross. Not hard to find or replace.

Sounds like an axle shaft break. Jack it up and check it out. Have many shafts available.

Why not just repair the broken axle, those Packard rear end assemblies are more than up to the task asked of them.

Ok good advice from all
Looks like it would be the shaft and some bearings a nut and some retainers of some sort
Spotted the parts at kanter's Packard catalog this afternoon
Right away along with the bearings etc
The mechanic at the corner with the lift said the same thing too
All of that dramatic grinding and scraping had me in the "never ending expense panic spiral ",but I your comments have helped me pull out of the dive ,back on the happy Packard driver course
Think good used axel will do or is it worth the extra for a new axel shaft?

So new axel and bearings with retainers ,still makes the same scraping noise ,particularly when driving slowly ,sounds terrible ,mechanic said brakes back plate rubbing on drums and hit it with die grinder ,still scraping metal on metal ,mechanic wondered if the hub cap or beauty ring causing the noise
On inspection the axel that came out had the bearing spinning on he axel
I wondered if the noise is the differential
He noted a rumble noise that he said was an imbalance drive shaft ( it's not stock)
My Packard has a Chrysler 518.trans and I shortened the drive shaft but it was supposed to have been balanced
When I get this issue finished ,it's the last issue before a perfect running Packard,!

If the drum is scraping the backing plate something is obviously installed incorrectly. Did you set the axle (not axel) end play? Total thickness of shims between the backing plate and housing?