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I believe the Packard hydraulic vendor in Florida is The Convertible Doctor, in Punta Gorda, Florida. Here's a link to their ebay store:http://stores.ebay.com/The-Convertible-Doctor/_i.html?_nkw=packard&_sid=782875721

Thanks for that link. That probably is the company and will try not to lose it for future use. The pict JD posted of Hydros cylinder looks the same so I wonder if the companies are related.

I'm doing business with an AC company in Fla and find they have 3 divisions with a different name for each. Parts I order seem to come willy nilly depending on what it is so maybe the same for hydraulic company.

On thing that is interesting on the convertible company is they have a modern 6v top pump which appears to be reversible. They state it doesn't do windows--so would be curious to know what the limitations are with it--pressure or what. Do the 40 windows have the humongous spring the postwars do?

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Yes they do.

P.S. still investigating the possible solutions for the pitted shaft. Got a quote and availability for the Redi-Sleeve from NAPA. I need to make the rounds of some machine shops in the area... but not till after Thanksgiving. I have out of country guests to entertain.

Really like the avatar change for the holiday

And, what a better way to entertain your out-of-country guests than a trip to Napa! Of course, they might be expecting wine...

OK, the out-of-country guests are back home and I have made a decision on repairing the corroded shaft. I met with the foreman of a local machine shop who examined the shaft and recommended that the corroded area be built back up and re-finished to the original 1/2" diameter. There is a considerable amount of metal missing and some of the pits are still pretty deep so that pretty much eliminated the possibility of polishing it smooth or using a Redi/Speedi-Sleeve with any degree of success.

It's not the cheapest solution but hopefully the best. I'll take some more pictures when I get it back from the shop. I had also considered another solution... I have an extra Auto-Lite starter motor that appears to have the same armature as the pump motor, just a much longer shaft with the Bendix gear assembly on the end. I considered removing the Bendix gear and having the shaft cut down to fit the motor/pump assembly but that solution would destroy a perfectly good starter motor.

Tomorrow: I'm going to tear down a window cylinder to see if there is any possibility of 'restoring' one. With pictures of course.

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I went to NAPA to order an O-ring and oil seal for the pump. I think my local NAPA is under new management. I was told that the O-ring I needed had to be shipped in from their Texas warehouse and that shipping would cost $10. Oh yeah, and on top of that, since the O-rings come in boxes of 10 I'd have to pay for a box. Told 'em I'd think about it (didn't take much thinking).

Jumped on the Internet and found a local distributor of SKF oil seals. Called them up and ordered 2 seals. They had it for me the next morning, their office is literally 3 minutes from my home, and I got 2 seals for less than NAPA was charging for 1. I'm taking the pump housing in tomorrow to see what they can do for an O-ring (I have to wait for the paint to dry in a very cool garage).

I came home and installed the new seal. I then partially disassembled one of the window cylinders. I'm pretty sure it's the one from the driver door. I was very pleasantly surprised to find it in much better shape than expected. The piston is aluminum, the cylinder is steel. The rubber gasket/seal was like new and will provide an excellent example if I need to replace others. I was afraid that the interior of the cylinder would be pitted beyond use but there is only light pitting near the bottom of the cylinder and shouldn't affect operation.

I compared some of the cylinders I have and noted two different methods of construction. I wonder if the cylinders are from different car makes, or a running Packard change sometime during 1941-1942?

Tomorrow: Remove the passenger door panels, figure out how to get to the divider window mechanism and remove the rest (4) of the window cylinders. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will be as good as the one I've already inspected. I will then have to see what to do for 'dust covers' on the top of the cylinders since there is very little left of the original rubber boot. I'm not surprised that the rubber boots are shot when you consider that the Packard Service Bulletin was advising the availability of replacement boots in 1942 after they had been in service only since the 1941 model year.

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That is good news. They must have built the early cylinders out of better materials than the later ones. Most of the postwar ones I came across were in pretty poor shape.

I guess calling the Packard dealer for new boots is out of the question so maybe the cylinder places will sell just a boot or if large enough, maybe a master cylinder boot would work?

If nothing is found, one other option might be to make some out of Flexane or some other silicon or urethane pourable rubber type compounds. The form looks simple enough that a mold shouldn't be too hard to make. If one of the boots is still in decent shape even better because a mold could be poured around it out of a hard urethane plastic.

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Yep. Called Hydro this AM and they do sell the boots separately.

Today I pulled the cylinder from the passenger side door in the chauffeurs compartment and it was not as nice as the driver side. It is marginal but I think it will be usable. Next I pulled the door panel off the drivers side passenger compartment and ... no cylinder. This door has the only closed window on the car and I had assumed that it was the only cylinder holding pressure. Wrong. The window lift mechanism has had the spring removed and a drywall screw put through it to secure the window in an up position. Real classy.

Tomorrow the last door and the divider... I suspect they will be cylinder-less also. On the bright side, I have two or maybe three cylinders that can be re-used. Buying two or three new cylinders is better than having to buy five.

JD - Here's the notes from my car in the search for the divider window mechanism.

"Pulled both right and left jump seat well access panels to try to find hydraulic lines or rams for divider windows (no luck) pulled divider window bezel to try to see window mechanism (no luck) checked under car for hydraulic line (no luck). Finally found solenoid for ram in right side jump seat well area. Line goes up into under divider area - looks like front seat and front seat back will have to be removed."

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Packard 41, thanks. The schematic wasn't real helpful in locating the parts within the divider. I removed the heater grills on the right side of the divider and took a look. No solenoid and the hydraulic line has been capped off. Don't know about the cylinder yet.

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