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Thursday 13th October 2011

Yesterday, in my absence, Wade had spent a lot of time on the rear door windows of The Fossil. Had disassembled all rear doors hardware, removed the window glass and tidied up the channel the glass sits in. Had also shimmed the right rear door bailey channels to obtain a snugger fit for the glass. The glass had been running smoothly but wasn't running vertically because there was too much movement between the glass and the bailey channel. Now the glass runs both smoothly and vertically. We started on packing the left side bailey channel this morning and were almost through doing that when there was a whisper in my ear, wasn't expecting that!

It was Annet, (Appin)John's wife. They'd followed their '40 110 Touring Sedan over, on the back of a tilt tray tow truck, for repair of a broken universal joint and possibly more. Out in the yard there was the '40, have to find out if she(he?)[John, you'll let us know won't you? ] has a name, on the back of the tttt in a most undignified stance. The snout of the diff was pointing directly down. The tttt was backed into the entrance of the workshop and the '40 unloaded and then pushed over to the hoist. Up on the hoist inspection revealed the broken pinion flange universal joint, the hand brake cables had snapped or been torn from the backing plates AND the "mounting pads" on the diff housing had broken off, hence the diff's rotation. Visual inspection at the trans/OD end of things didn't show any apparent damage but that would be looked more closely later. Another thing which wasn't broken was the rear flexible brake hose, in fact that was probably the thing that prevented the diff housing from rotating further. Just as well it didn't break too otherwise the car wouldn't have been able to stop at the time of the incident!

Because Annet was taking John to work, after the '40 was delivered, they didn't stay for the tear-down although they did enjoy a coffee, made by that Master Barista John, before they departed. We were also joined by Harvey, who had called in to see Wade, with Harvey very quick to offer assistance in the form of a brake drum puller which Wade declined, more of that later.

Proceeding to the tear-down, first the front universal joint was disconnected from the OD flange. The rational here was to determine whether there was apparent damage to the trans or OD. This was to be checked by dropping the '40 down and starting her up, except it didn't. The battery was low having sat for about a month since the incident happened. However, after a 12V boost, the '40 rattled into life and after warming up a number of tests in gear, in OD, locked out of OD, etc showed that end of the drivetrain is working fine. Back up in the air serious tear-down began with the remnants of handbrake cable disconnected. The tailshaft, which Annet found in the grass verge by the side of the road after the incident after John couldn't locate it, had it's rear universal joint removed and the replacement John had bought off eBay some time ago "just in case" fitted. At this stage it was looking like the major part of this repair was to be the re-welding of the mounting pads to the diff housing.

At this point lunch intruded. It's a tradition for a formal lunch at the workshop every Thursday. although even that has become subject to change. Lunch today was homemade pizzas made from a variety of ingredients including ham, cheese, tomato paste, cherry tomatoes, prawns(shrimp), figs, salami, etc, etc washed down by your beveragec of choice. All I can say is, it was delicious and for the record mine was Coca-Cola. But like many Thursday lunches it was spoiled by a constant stream of deliveries and other distractions, So much so that formal lunch day has now been moved to Tuesday, starting next week! Even Harvey returned during lunch bearing a brake drum puller which he was determined Wade should have in case it was needed, and it was!

Lunch and other distractions aside it was back to the '40. Rear wheels off, axle nuts off, brake puller applied and each brake drum eventually came off with a loud pop. Thanks for the puller Harvey. The brake drums were being pulled to check for damage to the hand brake cable fittings, there was none, but a leaking right axle seal was discovered instead. Also disconnected the brake lines and removed the backing plate assemblies. So far, so good. But.....then Wade noticed the pinion flange for the rear universal joint was bent! Hadn't wanted to take out the pumpkin but this development changed all that. Propped up the snout of the pumpkin, drained most of the oil, undid the pumpkin to diff housing nuts, "broke the seal" holding the pumpkin to the diff housing then removed the prop and rotated the pumpkin while I held it. Gravity then took effect and I staggered to the bench with the pumpkin, not helped at all by tripping over the rattle gun on the way, but I made it. The pinion flange was removed and from Wade's magic shelf a replacement flange was produced. The replacement flange was cleaned up along with the full floating mounting pads. It is apparent the right side mounting pad is not looking as healthy as the left side pad. The left side pad has a flat "bottom" sitting on the bench while the right side pad has a bend in it. Additionally the left side pad "fits" snuggly from whence it was wrenched while the right side flops around, to coin a phrase.

Parts required at this stage are new hand brake cables, new pinion seal, new rear axle seal kit and new rear flexible brake hose. But that could be subject to change as work progresses. Additionally I'll pull the sparkplugs and clean and re-gap them and Wade will conduct compression tests while the plugs are out.

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Ouch! That certainally looks like it hurt - not to mention the damage it would have done to the laundry bill!

Is there no retaining strap or cross member on the car to prevent a broken prop shaft from 'poll volting' the car as it looks like has happened here? I remember hearing stories of some of the very early Ford Falcons in Australia having a habit of doing this and know that a number of people fitted leather or metal straps under the prop shaft just to the rear of the front universal to stop it from happening. If the rear uni lets go it just drags the shaft on the ground (that would be after it spins around at strange angles and flogs a few things to death), but the front one breaking? I shudder to think what might happen with a much lighter car and I have hear tales of diminutive Austin 7s being put onto their roofs.

Friday 14th October 2011

Arriving at the workshop I was put to work cleaning the diff housing of the dirt, oil, grime and grease adorning it. But just prior to that the diff housing "on the shelf" was inspected in case it fitted. It didn't! While I was doing that Wade did some housekeeping, including refilling the grease gun, then started on the mounting pads preparing them for re-attachment to the diff housing. I joined Wade at the point where brute strength was no longer making an impression. Instead Wade turned to the hot spanner, mounting the right side pad in the vice and using the oxy torch to heat it then re-shaping it, taking a couple of attempts before it attained the required shape. Part of this process were a number of trial fits on the cleaned up diff housing on the bench. Finally the mounting pads were placed on the rear springs, still in the car, and the diff housing slid back into place. Result? Looks pretty good! Then while Wade ground the stumps of the welds off the insides of the mounting pads I cleaned up the gasket face for the pumpkin as well as the oil slick it had deposited on the bench top since sitting there from yesterday. Wade then ground off the weld stumps on the diff housing using an angle grinder. Mounting pads back onto the springs and diff housing onto the pads and it felt as well as looked good. While Wade was busy organising the arc welder, for John to tack weld the pads to the housing, I was doing more cleaning, this time the U bolts, nuts and washers. Wade and Graham then departed, to walk round the corner, to have the mounts securely welded to the housing. Only trouble was the guy wasn't there. While they were away I took the opportunity to clean still more parts in readiness for re-assembly.

And just prior to leaving for Friday lunch, Wade picked up Noel from the railway station.. Back at the workshop Noel took the opportunity to see John and Annet's '40 110 and hear of it's tale of woe. Noel was then able to depart in Fleurette. I trust he had an uneventful trip home, he deserves it.

Quote:Matt,

Fortunately this era Packard has a X member which surrounds the front of the tailshaft and the front uni. Would make a hell of a noise if the front uni broke but shouldn't pole vault. What appears to have happened in this instance is that the diff housing U bolts weren't tight. Seems John had been hearing a "clunk" for a while, thought it could be the uni joints and checked those and found them to be OK. Because of the loose fasteners it looks like the movement of the diff housing trying to rotate finally reached a point where, when the car was put out of OD coming off the motorway, it finally snapped the welds, snapped or pulled out the hand brake cables, bent the pinion flange and broke the rear uni joint. Luckily the rear flexible brake line between chassis and diff housing remained intact so Annet, who was driving at the time, could bring the car to a stop. All that was accompanied by a lot of noise and because the front universal joint mounts to a splined "slip" joint which permits fore-and-aft movement of the tailshaft it only has one way to go, backwards, and it slid out on the road without any complications.

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Yes There WAS a loud noise.

When I was interested in the car and Annet asked how big it was (and we all know how big these things are comparitively), I told her it was a Junior model. Of course, eventually she saw it, but it has been called "Junior" since then.

John, now that you mention it I have heard that story before. "Junior" it respectfully will be from here on in.

Mal, this is a spectacular failure. She is lucky the rear brakes continued to work to bring the Packard to a safe stop. Checking the rear spring u-bolts is now on my list of maintenance items. Remind Wade to replace the flexible rear brake line as it has most likely become compromised by absorbing the force of the rotating differential. Thanks.

(o[]o)

Quote:John,

We're on top of that as evidenced by the prior day's post Quote:

Regarding your other comment of:

Quote:
Actually John, Annet probably pulled up on the front brakes only because the flexible hose was kinked to such an extent that brake fluid couldn't get to the rear cylinders. Lucky the line held otherwise, being single system hydraulics, there would have been nothing!

Also received an email from Noel, wherein he said ".....I had a good trip home yesterday. All went well but there seems to be a bit of a squeak under the bonnet which I'll investigate further next week....." Wonder if it's because Wade fixed the horn button and horn ring rattles that Noel can now hear the squeak?

Monday 17th October 2011

Not a great deal of progress on Junior today, in fact in some ways it went backwards. First thing was getting the diff housing around the corner so the mounting pads can be re-welded. Because the diff housing will be POR-15'd after it returns it was decided that many of the other loose parts would be similarly treated if required. So, I spent a fair amount of time cleaning parts. While doing that Juniors Dad, John, arrived, hadn't expected to see him so soon. It was good that he came though as Wade was able to discuss a number of things concerning what had been done as well as what was going to be done. And why did things go backwards? Number of factors, one being the discussions between Wade and John. Walking around under Junior the speedo cable and the rear shocks were mentioned as matters that needed checking. Better to do those now while things are readily accessible. Another reason was working in proximity to various components that demand inspection because of their nature, like brakes. Because the hand brake cables had been torn asunder the rear brake shoes had to be released from the backing plates in order to remove the broken/mangled "spigots" that the cables pass through on the backing plates. Doing that was also to facilitate cleaning of components but it also meant close attention being paid to all the brake componentry. Took the wheel cylinders off and apart and gave the cylinders a very light hone, will replace the rubbers too. Found the brake shoe springs, at least on one side are definitely NOT Packard! And three out of four of the brake shoe locating pins were bent and one was shorter than the other three! Regarding the broken/mangled "spigots" I did suggest that those on spare backing plates from a post-war Packard may fit, saving repair work on the old ones, and they did! I also thought I might be able to "do a Wade" and produce a part off my Packard shelf to fit Junior, to wit, an inner speedo cable. However when I returned with the inner cable found it only had one square end so that put paid to that. However in the time that I'd taken to go home and pick up the cable Wade had a closer look at Junior's cable and feels a new cable may not be necessary. Wade found the present cable was routed incorrectly and re-routed it to straighten it's path to the speedo drive. Once the diff housing mounting pads are re-welded to the housing all components requiring painting including the pumpkin will be painted then once the replacement parts arrive will be assembled. Only parts that may take a little longer to arrive are the new hand brake cables but at least Junior can be made mobile without those at a pinch.

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I would NOT be jealous of that snubber. Mine new snubbers are way more heavy duty than that original, which I would lay a bet needs replacement. And the stake? One 354820 switch - I think I've got one here somewhere - and for the record, as I suspect you are learning, they do wear out. Check that old snubber - I will stand by Wades evaluation. DAF

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Tuesday 19th October 2011

Slow progress today with a late morning start and after picking up the welded up diff housing and it, the pumpkin, shock/spring hanger brackets, "spigots", other fittings and hardware were final cleaned and setup in readiness for painting.

Then lunch intervened, the weekly workshop lunch that's been re-scheduled from Thursdays to Tuesdays that is. Besides being the first workshop lunch on a Tuesday it was also Wade's turn to provide the meal. To this end the menu had been settled as gourmet steak sandwiches and all the ingredients had been purchased yesterday in readiness. I'm not much of a cook but today I was pressed into service by Wade to assist. Cut up some capsicums to serve as both egg rings on the BBQ and to be cooked on the plate along with onions, tomatoes, lamb & mint sausages and the steaks. Whole grain thick sliced bread provided the platform on which your choice from the fillings provided together with your choices of sauces and condiments could be made. Must have had luck on my side, didn't burn anything to a crisp and, everyone seemed to enjoy their sandwiches, some even going back for seconds!

After lunch it was then into the serious stuff, painting with POR-15! And this time I can say, and I think it's a first, that I didn't get any of the paint on me! Wade tells me that he's ordered all the parts required but by a strange quirk and contrary to my statement the other day of
Quote:it looks like the hand brake cables may be the first parts to arrive having already been shipped!

Quote:David,

When it comes to Packard parts, I will not be laying any bets against you!

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