Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

54s still have the eccentric adjustment at the anchor pin on each of the backing plates to center up the shoes in the drums. Always a good idea to readjust them when fitting new shoes to give the best contact. With them adjusted, and a bit of wearing in, you probably won't have to have the shoes arced.

There is a long and tedious procedure in the shop manual for doing this which over the last 20 years I have boiled down to this:

Loosen the locknut (15/16) and turn the eccentric (7/16)to its neutral position. You will see that the eccentric's shank is cut at a slight angle. The high point should be toward the rear of the car. Tighten the normal adjuster til the drum is dragging heavily. Now move the eccentric back and forth a bit to obtain the least drag. You might have to tighten the adjuster a bit more and repeat the process to find the point of least drag. Tighten the locknut and then adjust the brakes normally. This will give the best possible contact pattern.

Important: when doing the rear brakes, disconnect the e-brake cables at the equalizer before beginning. Only connect and adjust the cables after the individual wheels are adjusted. If the cables are pulled you will not get a correct adjustment.

This site and the people on it are Gold! "Information" is the motto, and it's very apt.

She was a good girl and went before we left the driveway, but the telltale stains of brake fluid are there and a good deal of smoke came out of the tailpipe, signalling the Total Crash-O-Matic meltdown.

I suspect this will bring on a firestorm, but any suggestions on what to do next would be appreciated.

What bothers me is the amount of brake fluid that might have been sucked into the intake, and any engine worries. That stuff is just glorified antifreeze, which can't be good for the top end, even if it was only about a minute or two of running time.

I'm wondering whether to have it flat-bedded without starting it again. I suppose a complete change of the new oil would be in order, too.

Then, of course, the inevitable question of whether to go for a re-build of the present MC or to buy a rebuilt, and if so, where is the safest place to get it.

I don't know what the R&R would entail. For example, does it need a brake system flushing and all new fluid? It was just changed.

If you want to avoid the forum controversy, please PM me.

Thanks!

Are you saying you now have no brakes? Is the fluid reservoir empty?

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I wouldn't drive it until I knew the full details of the failure. You certainly wouldn't want to drive it with no brakes. Not much need to start it, then, until you have brakes working; plenty of time to change oil - cheap insurance.

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To rebuild or exchange depends on the condition of the unit; nothing short of a full teardown and inspection will help answer that question. Your next move depends on whether you have competent service available, locally. Yet, know that most of the "DIY" kits really only contain gaskets and seals; some parts are only available through rebuilders - as part of their full rebuild service. However, I can't make any recommendations for a source as I've always rebuilt my own.

You should download and review the How-To on BTV rebuild from this site's archive, authored by member Ross (Miller).

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If the fluid went the direction of the intake, why would you need to flush (downstream)? However, when you remove and install/replace the M/C, you have to bleed the entire system at all four wheels. I'd like to think that pushing that much fluid through the system would suffice.

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I'm kind of curious about that statement. If you mean fluid has escaped and was puddled on the driveway then something else is amiss besides sucking fluid.

As to the next step, I would be sorely tempted to do an exchange with Kanter. When doing the transaction, make contact and explain what happened so the old BTV can be part of the evaluation process. You may remember the lengthy discussion last year and his trying to get suddenly failed BTV's back to see what is going wrong with them. It could be just dried out parts from lengthy sitting on yours but still would be nice to know what might have been the cause.

No idea on his prices so Kanter may not be the most cost effective option. If you don't want to go that route, there is a place fairly close to you which has gotten good reviews and recommendations from some here on the forum.http://www.midwestbooster.com/ Perhaps a rebuild of yours or an exchange would be possible thru them.

Thanks for the help, I'll take a look at Ross' instructions. I hope to do this for a reasonable cost and time is money (unless it's my time ) although usually I figure if I can't make about $15 an hour on my little projects fixing things I'd otherwise have to buy or pay to get fixed, I won't bother with it.

To answer the earlier questions:

I can still drive the car because I have a strong left arm.

The brake fluid on the driveway indicated to me simplly that there were external leaks as well as internal leaks when a seal blew. Make sense?

Unless the external leaks are from tubing connections or spillage there is not usually a way out of the master other than into the vacuum side. To have leaked to the ground must mean the master is loose on the vacuum can or the gasket between the two is pretty much destroyed somewhere leaving a gap.

At any rate the fluid leak into the vacuum side your mechanic mentioned has apparently grown bigtime. The relief port must also be totally blocked for so much of it to have wound inside to cause smoking. The vacuum side must be pretty full for the power piston to displace enough for it to get high enough & reach the workings to get sucked thru.

I don't believe any of the ordinary rebuild kits have anything for the vacuum side and it sounds like there may be some work needed there. At the very least a check and cleaning of the inner works so brake fluid doesn't get sticky and bind things up.

I can still drive the car because I have a strong left arm.


I hope that doesn't mean you're driving the car on road any just relying on the parking brake!!!

Oh come on owen, that's what smilies are for.

I might be wrong on the external leak. It's possible what I was seening in the driveway was unburned brake fluid going out the tailpipe.

I have to look up this "relief port" thing in my shop manual. Maybe it's plugged or somehow bunged up. Maybe the book can show what I'm looking for. If not, I suppose someone else here knows.

Is there a link to Ross' BTV instructions? That's the next place I'll look before I need to beg some more pics from others.

Thanks

https://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/BTV_Rebuild.pdf

The relief port is shown. It connects the space between the two seals to the reservoir. Notice that it doesn't go all the way to lid on this photo but I suspect if you look at yours, it will and there will be a gasket against the flat lid blocking it.

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