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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. If a new copy is needed, I have a scan of it from my original.

A family medical emergency, I spent the afternoon yesterday in ER so didn’t go to the shop as I got back too late. Today was some general shop work as I’m going to do some car rearranging but first I needed to get the ambulance’s idler arm reconnected to be able to move it but before that, I made sure the brake I had been playing around with was free enough to roll, then put the wheel back on and lowered the lift.

With it on the ground, I had a look at the rear door as it had an accident at my old house when an oak limb caved it in. I have a replacement but need to get the old one off. The panel is Masonite but I have never seen so many screws holding one on! I managed to get them all out and the lower part of the panel off but haven’t done the upper panel yet. As the replacement door was from a civilian hearse, I’m sure it doesn’t have all the holes so someone, not me, is going to have some fun with those.

The interior was apparently originally white but some previous owner painted it lavender.



There were three tiny slotted flat head screws, one on the hinge edge and two on the latch edge, that were apparently put in to keep it in place while all the other holes were drilled. If all the other screws weren't enough, there was also an aluminum edging all around held in by some tiny slotted pan heads. Some of these things can be seen at the top panel which I’ve not yet removed.



It would be nice if I could take it apart at the hinges but not sure how these work. Maybe similar to some earlier model? The top piece with the slot moves with the door so I’m not sure what unscrewing, if I were even able to do so, would accomplish.



Once I got all the tape off of this mass, it had a simple connector inside but not sure how to get the wires out. Do they just pull apart or is there some kind of latch to release?



I was wondering where the power came into the door from for the license light. At first I thought it passed through the door extension stop arm which is large enough but following the wire inside, it dead ended at the middle of the door so a closer look found a contact pad there and a mating one on the jamb! Very ingenious.



And finally, it’s all apart other than the top panel!