Packard Forum Index » Project Blogs

Steering and shifting are still fine, but the next little thing is bothering me. maybe somebody can point me in the right direction....I have a slight clunk that I get either from the driveshaft or the rear end when I first accelerate in first or reverse that I can't quite locate. It only happens the first time when I drive in a new direction. The rear axle does not growl or otherwise make any funny noises. I checked the leaf spring connections, that was all OK. I did re-tighten the U bolts that hold the axle to the leaf springs-they were a little loose, but only require 40ft-lbs. Are the Universal joints a standard part availble from Napa? -I have the 3speed OD, and a 3:90 rear axle.

Tighten your axle nuts. The axle is shifting in the drum.

The Napa 369 is the u-joint you want--if you need them.

Ross, is that the same part for the rear u-joint on an Ultramatic car?

On an Ultramatic car a Detroit rather than a Spicer joint was used. For that you will need the Packard vendors. Lo siento mucho.

Ahhh, good idea on the axle nuts. I will have to locate a big torque wrench, or do the bathroom scale and Meter long pipe thing to get the torque spec. I am out of town untill friday, but will report back on the weekend. Hope that is it....thanks!

I went for the bi-annual safety inspection today....everything went well, except the inspector couldnt figure out how to open the hood
The inspector wrote on the report that the clipper is "unusually well maintained"
That is quite a compliment from a vehicle inspector

Big torque wrench is on the way to torque the rear drums, I'll do that in a few days.

Attach file:

---

  20210607_093607.jpg (240.24 KB)

I am trying to adjust the valves. I had one go at it, and all valves were about 001" or 002" tight, so I opend the valve clearance back up to 007 and 010 inch.
I got the engine warm, and then did the adjustment in pairs. (1,6) (2,5) (8,3) (7,4). I could not get a feel for how to do it with the engine running -that must only be for pros!.
How many degrees do I rotate the crankpulley between each pair of cylinders. Is 90 degrees right? Cyl 4 -the last one I did seemed funny to adjust , and seems to make a little more noise than the other cyls. It also looks like that tappet does not rotate as much at idle as the other tappets do. -When I rev the engine that tappet does rotate, so it is not stuck at least.
I got some good info from this thread
valves_thread
but here rotating the fan was mentioned. I have a wrench and want to rotate the crankshaft.

-After the adjustment, I did notice my vacuum gauge reads 1 more inch of mecury!

Yes, 90 degrees between each cylinder.

Thanks Ross.
I will mark the damper at 90 degree increments, and double check that I am on the base circle of the cam before adjusting the valve lash!

One other strange thing I figured out...after the car was fully warmed up, I was getting a high pitched whistle that I couldn't locate. Water pump, carb, intake manifold, vac lines...couldnt place the noise. It was also only when hot or heat soaked. I finally found it was coming from the vacuum section of my fuel pump. I tightened the circa 10 screws on the top of the pump, and that whistle stopped!
I also tightened my axle nuts and wound up sanding a few thou off the backside of the nut to get them to 260 ft lbs, and lined up with the cotter pin. Backing off to the next cotter pin slot after tightening left the nut pretty loose, so I modified the nut to fit at the specified torque.

Attach file:

---

  20210611_220319.jpg (266.90 KB)