Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Speaking of rear brake drums, what are the chances of removing them without a puller? Not sure the last time mine were off, (the car is new to me) I suspect it's been decades.

Sorry, but is essentially zero if they were installed with anything near correct procedure and torque. I have had cars come in with the axle nuts only a little more than finger tight and they do come off easily then....

Various posters here have said that a "five arm" puller is better than the typical three-arm puller that is advertised everywhere.

I found one of those on Amazon:

Five-arm rear-hub puller

Myself, I had a shop used to working on older full-size trucks pull and replace my rear-wheel cylinders, the shoes were still o.k.

You’ll need a heavy puller. Mine is three-arm and works well on all my Packards, including the huge 14” Henney rear drums. If you’re planning on keeping the car and/or possible buy more vintage card, it’s a good investment to buy one but you can also rent them. My own cars all use the taper axles up to and including my former 1964 Imperials.

I have a 3 arm that I think I got from Harbor Freight; took about fifteen minutes from unboxing it to getting the (very very badly stuck) drums removed from my '40, which probably hadn't been apart since the 1960's. My '37 came apart with even less work; it was a 1980's restoration by the looks of it.

I'm reviving this thread as I've about run out of ideas to address the grinding of the rear brake shoe against the drum that I mentioned in my original post.

What I've done so far:

1) Checked width of brake shoe and found it to be a 2" shoe with normal wear comparable to the left rear shoe.

2) Adjusted the brakes and test drove the car. Car stops straight and in a reasonable distance but with no improvement in the grinding noise.

3) Performed rear bearing service which included new bearings, races and seals. I set the end play to .0045" with a .024" shim stack on the right and a .020" shim stack on the left. (With the original bearings the stacks of shims were .010" on the right and .025" on the left.)

4) New return springs and hold down hardware were installed while performing the rear end service. Only the adjuster spring was re-used because I couldn't find the correct replacement.

5)Installed new rubber hoses all around, rebuilt all wheel cylinders and cleaned out all hard lines. Brake fluid was flushed and new DOT3 added. Brakes were again adjusted and then the parking brake slack was taken up.

AND THE GRINDING REMAINS....nothing about the nature of the grinding has changed one iota. It still sounds the same and still occurs at speeds above 25-30 mph and almost exclusively when engaged in straight-line braking. It doesn't seem to impact braking competence at all as the car pulls down straight and confidently...just with that awful sound when the edge of the bottom of the secondary brake shoe touches the underside of the brake drum.

The only things I've haven't changed are the drum and the shoes (which don't show much wear). So other than pulling the drum and taking it to someone who can determine if it's warped in some way, I am out of ideas here.

I'm hoping that a fresh set of eyes can give me some ideas. The car was braking fine prior to this issue cropping up and I'm hoping I'm not the only one out there that has run into this.

I have been a Mechanic for 60 years and have replaced many rear axle timken style bearings and they are not designed to have any end play. In fact they are designed to have some pre load. I think your axle and drum are moving sideways when you apply the brakes. try removing the end play and I think your problem will go away.

Maybe I have my terminology wrong.

According to the 1955 service manual, after installing the shims "the clearance should be .004"-.007." After installing the new bearings, races and shims and seating each against the opposite backing plate, my final measurement (taken with a dial guage-not the adjustable tool) was .0045." That is what I referred to as end-play.

The thought of excessive axle movement is an interesting one. If the axle were moving too much, I would think that the unwanted contact would be more evenly distributed on the shoes. In my case, only the bottom 1-2" of the secondary shoe show any sign of making contact with the drum. Also, this started happening before I changed out the rear axle shaft bearings. While it's certainly possible that I replaced an out-of-spec rear axle adjustment with another out-of-spec adjustment (and attendant new parts), I'm not sure my luck is that bad.

Your assembly is just fine with the end play you mentioned. They should by no means be preloaded. Neither Packard nor Studebaker nor Hudson nor Nash nor Chrysler etc. If the edge of the shoe is rubbing against the drum, then the shoe is probably twisted. OR the shoes are not sitting on the anchor pin well. This last is a problem I find VERY often on cars brought in for service. The e-brake is drawn up too tight which makes the shoes not rest on the anchor pin.

Back off the e-brake cables at the equalizer till quite slack. Then adjust your shoes with the star wheel till you can not turn them and back off about 10 clicks. Adjust your equalizer just till all of the slack is out of the cables. Hope to hear some good news.

Thanks Ross.

I used your procedure to adjust the rear service and parking brakes after reviewing your youtube video. (Your approach to the parking brake is much more straightforward than what's in the manual.) I'll reset everything tomorrow and then re-adjust and try again. Maybe I'll get lucky.

One question though...would slackening the parking brake cables and then going for a test drive prove anything about how the shoes seat on the anchor pin? In other words, would this help isolate the cables as the culprit in case that I'm not adjusting them quite right?