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

Dear all, please could someboby explain me or pass me a link how to tighten the castle nut of my tapered rear axle?
I am skill with cars, but not with this axle design. It was no big job to loosen the castle nut. Pull of the drum was a different job. Now i do the assembling. I can not find the torque somewhere in my manual. the shaft was dry, no grease. is grease forbidden? when i tighten the castle nut by hand, without wrench, it gets tight very easy. the tighten progress by using a wrench is only a little. for my feeling it does not need high torque. But i am not sure. Is there somewhere a manual, just for this unique job? on youtube i can find a lot of stuff about pulling the drums, but not how reverse in propper manner. thank you very much in advance, Josef

The entire driving force of the engine is transmitted to the road thru the axle taper and key so it must be VERY tight. Someone else with a few more moments can look up the exact spec for you, but I'm sure it's about 250 foot lbs. And the surfaces must be clean and dry, NO grease or lubricant.

If the cotter pin won't align when you reach torque, you can remove and take a little off the surface of the washer to change the positioning.

The procedure for replacing the axle is in the 46-50 service manual and is fairly straightforward. If you only took the hub off to do brakes probably not necessary but if you removed the axle to lube the bearings be sure to check the end play before you install the hubs and castle nut. You can make a tool to resemble the factory item out of scrap material and a long bolt. Once it is on the shaft check the clearance using an ordinary feeler gauge. After that measurement is confirmed then install the hubs on a DRY taper and tighten the nut to the specified torque. Try and sneak up on the torque to get into the given range so a slot in the nut will line up with the hole in the shaft so you can insert the cotter key.

In case you don't have the procedure here is an excerpt from the 46-50 service manual along with the torque specs from the 51-4 manual which uses the same rear axle assy.

Attach file:

---

  (259.03 KB)

Also look here:packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb ... um=2&post_id=215451#forumpost215451
Wes

Procedure is based on '50s understanding of thread torquing.
These values exceed the recommended ones for current 3/4 fine grade 5 of today.