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Thank you. Same side of the same mountains and identical climate although where you are probably doesn't have as much lava everywhere. We may also be at a little higher altitude at close to 3,000’ so it’s truly high desert.

Fire Update: The fire finally has some containment of 26% when its been 0% since starting on Monday morning. At 3,279 acres, it's not a massive fire but there are homes close to it.

After a rough brake adjustment and pressure bleed the last time I was here and finding the pedal action less than desirable, I decided to do a little better by also adjusting the anchors. These brakes, which are otherwise good, were pieced together from multiple vehicles so won't be great no matter what but they can be a lot better than they are!

So far, I've examined only the right front and I see:
Lower front shoe just contacting
Upper front has a gap that by appearance is about 1/6"
Rear shoe has gap all around that is larger at the bottom.

Having said that, I know that many Packards had the eccentric anchor at the top as this does but I'm not sure which models have the side stop that the Henneys have! Were there any so that I can look up the process? If not and if I had to make a guess, I would say to loosen it and allow full movement of the shoe, then adjust the top anchor and star adjuster to make the gap around the linings even and just touching with the drums, then adjust the side stop in such a way that the shoes remain centrally located. Does this oversimplification sound about right?

Today I spent considerable time trying to adjust one brake and am no father along with a when I started so could use some help! I‘ve done this before but that was years ago and I don’t recall it being so uncoöperative but also that was with freshly relined shoes. I basically just need to know the order of adjustments rather than specific measurements..

The closest I can find in the Packard literature for 1936 but the details are too vague. On mine, it seems that both shoes need to be shifted downward which I expect the upper eccentric can handle but it’s not doing so enough to make much difference. Then there is the side eccentric stop for the rear shoe which does not appear to have any way to turn it or keep it from turning when fighting the nut.

All the wrenches!



I found a different shop manual page last night but can’t seem to locate it again.

The 1939 Super 8 and Twelve owners manual has instructions for adjusting the brakes with the eccentric in which it calls for that adjustment to be made first.
See page 49 for the procedure.

Thank you.

That's a different manual that I found and printed yesterday but it says essentially the same thing which is what I tried. Getting it even at the top is easy enough but then there is still a major gap at the bottom which does not go away. If I adjust the side eccentric, I can get the rear shoe close top and bottom but not so the front.

That said, I still do not see how to actually tighten the side eccentric as there is nothing to hold onto and it surely won't stay in place by itself!

Incidentally, the Brake section of the 1951-1954 service manual seems to be mostly blank pages for some reason with only the PackardInfo.com watermark on them.