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Stopped by Napa on the way home and exchanged the incorrect brake hoses for the correct ones. Of course they were almost double the price of the incorrect ones. Just my luck.

Well now that the leading up to Christmas has past with the last bit of wrapping cleaned up and out in the trashbin, I decided to take some "me" time, and snuck out to the garage for a little R&R.

I managed to find get the lower brake adjuster spring taken care of and it now matches the old spring. I also installed the new brake front hoses onto the wheel cylinders and clipped them in place on the frame.

I also picked up a 50 piece assortment of grease fittings on sale at Harbor Freight for $4. So I replaced almost all the front fittings on the car (Suspension, Steering, etc).

I do have a question about the grease fitting on the rear, outboard side of the top control arm. It appears that it has been completely rounded off as I cannot get a wrench on it. It's almost like it does not have a shoulder for a wrench. The front side fitting does like all the other fittings on the car, but not the rear. The other side of the car matches this also. Is there somethings special about these rear most fittings? How are they removed? I noticed that the bottom control arm does not have a rear outboard fitting, only a front side one.

Also Santa was good enough to bring me a much needed dust cover for the Clipper, and also complete set of replacement front windshield surround chrome trim. It was cheap and spare parts are good to have.

It is possible that the grease fitting u descibe is a drive-in fitting. Rather uncommon. my executive has such drive-in fittings on the outboard TL tranverse rods. But if i remebr rite they had a hex on them for a wrench. I'll go look in a few minutes.

Inspect closely to see if there is a hex for a wrench or not. If they are a drive in type then use a pair of vise grips to twist and yank it out. Tht's what i had to do on mine.

Replaceing the grease fittings can sometimes be avoided by a little wd-40 and a small punch to work the ball in the grease fitting back and forth.

Went out and looked for the grease fitting but it wasn't where it was supposed to be. Must be some place else.

But i remeber now that it had no hex on it. Would turn a little in eother direction but not come out. I had to yank it out with a pair of pliers. It had no threads, just a smooth place where there would ordinarily be threads.

Interesting. That's what the rear ones look like. I wonder why they used threaded ones everywhere else, and non-threaded ones only in those two spots. Odd. Well I will just clean those two up, and make just the check-balls are free in them.

Thanks,

Whether a control arm pin has a single or dual grease fittings depends on how the manufacturer chose to drill the lubricant passages within the pin. I'm looking at a new Moog upper pin where both wear surfaces are lubricated by a single grease fitting via a drilled passage from the front to the rear surface. The end of this passage was fitted with a plug after drilling. I don't know if this Moog item is for a Packard, but don't assume that two grease fittings are required. If in doubt, just apply some grease and see if it reached both the front and rear from a single grease fitting.

There is/was a tool to free those grease passages. It was packed with grease, positioned on the fitting and struck with a hammer. It would drive new grease in, forcing out the old hard grease. I don't remember where mine is at the moment and not sure if it's still available. Obviously you need a straight fitting, not an angled one.

I managed to free all the grease fittings, I replaced all threaded ones, and just freed up the pressed in ones. I ended up using an entire tube of grease on the front end. I think a majority of it was used to refill the steering cross-tube. Thank god for that air-powered grease gun.

I also cleaned up all the front wheel bearing as they have been sitting in a ziplock bag for the last year with the same old bearing grease in them. I just aggitated them in a paint mixing cup with some thinner, and this cleaner them up pretty quicky. Then I repacked them with new bearing grease.

After that I got the front drums back on. I will adjust the brakes after the rears are done as right now the hydraulic system is still dry.

Then on went the front wheels, and the car came off the front jack stands for the first time in over a year. Man it looks so much better on the ground now. The rear is still up, but I will take it off the stand tomorrow so I can flip the car around in the garage to work on the rear brakes, and drop the fuel tank.

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Looking better & better. Got to be getting close to fire up time.

it is looking better and I know just how you feel with mine recently touching down too. Great work and keep those pic's and updates coming.