Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Thanks BH for the more specific info. I'll have to look at my rods again but it seems to me that niether of the 2wo rods from either of my 5672's had any kind of kink or extra bend in them. But one IS shorter than the other.

Using the shorter rod made trunk latch operation much much better.

One thing I was curious about is the bar itself. JP's has a considerable bend and appears larger whereas mine is straight and maybe 3/16 diameter. I can see the memo addressing a straight bar being too long and being taken care of with a small bend but his already has a large one. How many bars were there?

Look back at Packards1 post on page 1. He claims 3hree rods (bars). I only know of 2wo but i'm not exactly a seasoned Packard parts expert either. I'll go dig out my rod and take a look.

I checked both rods in my possession. BOTH are STREIGHT, and 1/4 inch diameter. One is just shorter than the other.

I'm wondering the 'typo' in the Zone letter that BH cites is not a typo after all but maybe the part number for one of the campaign rods.

Oh!! Wait a minute. Maybe scrap that idea about not being a typo. Probably falls into the category of "endless guessing" or "Simple solutions to complex problems" or maybe just my wine "fogged memmory".

GUFWAhah ha ha ha ha

JP's picture at the start of this thread shows the curved rod. Here are the pics I just loaded that show the other two. The bent one is mounted on my 400 and was removed from my Caribbean where it was installed in 1956. It was manufactured like you see it, not bent later.

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Just letting you know that I have taken PackardV8's repair fix, done a few mod's and fitted the final product, and I'm happy to report mission accomplished - and it works!

The attached pics show the pieces and the final, modified, adapter (sorry about fuzzy pic). The plate is 3mm steel and the old adapter is glued to it with Loctite 401 (super duper super glue) to make sure it stayed in place during reassembly. The shaft is the bolt which was cut and welded into position in the plate. I actually forgot about the rotation of the barrel in the casing initially which caused the bolt head to foul on the end of the casing. It then had to be reground, rewelded and ground flat to avoid this.

The main problem after this was reassembly as it had to be done in the trunk lid. While laying upside down in the trunk, getting the spring to sit in place while the adapter is bolted into place proved to be a real pain in the proverbial. Also, while I had everything apart I used split pins to hold each end of the rod linkage. By the way, the bend in mine now points to the rear of the car, not sideways like in the other pic. It might have pointed to the front originally but was easier to reassemble this way. Cheers, John

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Congratulations, nicely done!

JP -

Thanks for showing us your implementation of PackardV8's concept/prototype fix, which he provided (as previously referenced in this thread) in post #25 of another thread on the 56 Trunk Lock from a couple of years ago.

Excellent craftsmanship on your part - should be an inspiration to all hands-on owners who encounter same problem!

Using the 3mm (1/8" thick) piece of steel should make it bullet proof.

As a side note: To those that do not have welding equipment then the loctite (cylindrical parts holding formula) or sweat soldering with tinners paste, (NOT solder) or maybe even JB Weld for this application mite be a sufficient sustitute for welding.