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carlmadsen, the difference in length between the front and rear brake linings is correct. The front is shorter than the rear. There is also a difference in the material between the front and rear linings. The linings should be marked primary (for the front) and secondary (for the rear).The system is designed to be a self-energizing so that the front (primary) lining will engage with the drum surface first, the the rear (secondary) follows. The rotation will cause the linings to engage with the drum surface increasing as pedal pressure increases.

The amount of grease used when packing the wheel bearings is to have the bearings completely filled with grease. There are tools for packing bearing the provide the right amount. Doing it "by hand" is not difficult. Also, do not pack the center of the brake drum hub with grease. You may apply as thin coating, but that is all. Install the oil/grease seal into the brake drum hub with a seal driving tool to prevent damage to the seal.

Good luck.

Any clues to the part number NAPA could use to find my shoes?

I searched the Packard Parts X-Ref and I have what Kev found for the 54 Packard, but my front shoes are 2.25 inches wide not 2.5 inches. The two he found, Wagner 160/161 and Raybestos 264PG/228PG are sure to be close part numbers...

Carl, you cant really use the '54 Clipper as a guide as the '54 Juniors have more in common with the '55 Juniors then they do '53 and prior as far a brakes are involved. '54 was for sure a transition year.

Are they any part numbers on your existing shoes? I was unable to locate a part based on the shoe size. If I knew the original Wagner part number, then I could probably find something.

If you have time on your hands, your can try to goto to Napa's Online Catalog ( www.napaonline.com) and click on "SEARCH NAPA CATALOG"

Then select brake shoes as the category, passenger/light duty trucks. This will show you every shoe they have in their catelog. The hard part is looking through all the various ones until you find the right size. You may be able to do a key word search by part of the size and narrow it down even further.

But if you can locate a part number or the original Wagner part number from an old catalog, then that would really help.

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Yes there is however it takes good test equipment, a large carbon pile resister or two, and a mock set up to do. I haven't done it in years. The adjustments are mostly made by monitoring things and bending the contact arms inside until the desired readings are achieved. I used to do it but have found that replacing the regulator with a new one is far easier.

I don't think I'd even consider adjusting it for being 0.1 volt above specification as has been stated earlier.

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Kev, I tried that at the NAPA dealer for my 51 and it didn't work. They crossed the shoes over but the shoes they gave me were wrong. What was the numbers on your shoes and would they be the same for my 51. The correct shoes for the 51 have metal lamenanted to either side of each shoe to beef up the area that contacts the upper anchor post. Tried the Packard dealers ( Merrit and Kanter ). They would not send me the relined shoes until I sent them mine. Would not accept a core charge. They said they were too rear to let go of without my shoes in return. I didn't want to let mine go until I had the replacements in hand. Ended up ordering the linings and rivets. Bought a Vice held hammer operated riveting tool from the local small aircraft parts house and doing them myself. Worked just fine. The rivets look like a machine put them in.

Do you think the beefed up area is all that necessary? other than that they look like any other Bendix shoes.

thanks for the info . I'll stop by napa one more time and I'll look at my shoes for a part number .

as for the regulator I will let her run for a while and let everything settle down then see if it is still running a .3 Volts hot I'll work on it then.

this site is the best.

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Owen, I probably wouldn't either. He didn't state wether the battery was dead or fully charged. If fully charged or was only needing to be topped off the 7.5 volts would be very high. What would it try to do with a dead battery? You have probably had cars that overcharge and cook the battery. Drastically reduces the life of the battery.

battery was partially charged with a bench charger. thanks guys!

napa was ZERO help. I asked them to research it today; they told me to bring the old shoes in for relining. their old car book goes back to 1955.