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Need a little help.
looking at the front suspension there is a bar that goes across on the bottom of the frame and connects to both independent suspension's, by what i would call a sway bar link? I need to know what these are called because the rubber is all dried out.
any help in identifying this would me happy happy happy.

I looked at the parts list but got more confused.
Thanks

Packard called the sway bar a stabilizer.

There is no illustration in the parts book, but the link is shown under Group 13.105, part # 354859 for the 110.

Can't offer any help beyond the parts book listing, but one of the major vendors may have something available.

Have you considered joining a local Packard Club region? Packards of Chicagoland is a region with about 100 members. Google The Packard Club and go to regions. Good luck with your project. I've been there, done that.

Hello 40Pacrat:

Maybe we need to talk. I am working on reproducing the front stabilizer assembly for all 1941 & 1942 models. This is on page 274 of the Parts List book as 13.1001 Stabilizer Assembly (Front) and part numbers 358162 and 358163.

I would like to see your stabilizer bar to see if what I am building will also fit the 1940 models, too.

Both my 1941 160 and 120 need this bar assembly. Packard manufactured this as a one-piece assembly. There is the stabilizer bar and two links, one for each side. The bar was formed with flattened "coin" ends. Each link is treaded at one end with two, rubber donuts that compress around the frame part. The other end has an oval slot that accepted the coin end of the bar and is vulcanized togher as one assembly. After being vulcanized together a cap was pressed onto the top of the link to hold everything in place. Over time the rubber breaks down and the bar pulls away from the link.

Attached is a photo of the problem. The broken link as at the top and the half of the two, rubber donut connection is seen at the bottom.

Some folks have tried to remanufacture the link end by welding the coin hole and inserting rubber pellets in the link end instead of vulcanizing. And instead of a pressed in cap, they drill a hole through the link end and insert a cotter pin to hold the pellets in place. Frankly, this is a very poor and costly ($450) fix. This is what was done to my 120 before I purchased it.

My project is to manufacture a whole new stabilizer bar assembly, but omit the coin end and have a larger end with a hole to accept a link that would have two, rubber donuts at each end. Packard went to this design in the late 1940s. I have contacted PAC to see if this would be a problem during judging and they decided that was a safety issue to keep the car from swaying that it would not cause any points being deducted.

I am in the final stages and should have this ready by January or February of 2014 and ready to install for next summer's driving season. This would be a bolt-on bar assembly using all the same tapped/drilled holes by Packard, with NO modifications needed. My target price point will be determined by production volume, but it should be no more than $300.

Please PM me if you are interested.

By the way, you are lucky you noticed that you have a sway bar. A lot of times the bar failed and because replacement parts were not available it was never put back on. I cannot tell you how many 1941s I've seen that are missing this part and the owner never knew it should have been there.

--RogerDetroit--

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I am interested in this upgrade. I have an early 40 110 that has stabilizer links that actually look like links...a tall sausage standing up holding the horizontal stabilizer bar. The bar inserts into the top of the link similar to the photo shown, with no access hole. What is in the lower body of the link, I don't know. My problem is not that the rubber has deteriorated, but that Packard used a small undersized mounting stud on the bottom of the link. I suppose the rubber bushings at the mounting stud collects road water and rusts the stud. My mounting studs wrung off the second I put the wrench on them. I thought about welding new studs onto the links, but I still might have the rubber failure shortly anyway.
Would you be using my horizontal bar, with new links ?

Hello 40clubcoupe:

PM was sent to you. --RogerDetroit--

mine don't even look that good
appreciate everyone's help

I too would like to know if what Roger is making will work for a 40 160.
My sway bar 'disappeared' not long after this photo was taken.

Here is a picture of a 1940 160 sway bar (black) and another Packard sway bar which is rusty and larger. Also a photo of the kit to fix the links.
Here are the instructions from Ron Carpenter

What to do is: THE VERY FIRST THING IS TO PUT ON SME RUBBER THROWAWAY GLOVES
1. Put a squirt of sealer in the bottom of the opening and put the first rubber in the hole.
2. Put some more sealer in the opening.
3. Put the link in the vice and holding the sway bar force it in to the opening and turn the swaybar sideways so that the ends of the sway bar are now flat against the rubber.
4. Put another squirt in the hole on top of the sway bar flat part and install another rubber.
5. Compress the freeze plug against the rubber until it is fully inside the end of the link and then drill a 1/8 hole thru the end of the cap and install the cotter pin to hold it all together.

I use a big clamp that I have modified the end of the clamp so that it goes around the shaft of the link and the flat end of the clamp holds the freeze plug in the end of the link and squeezes the unit together so that I can drill the end of the link where the freeze plug is being held in.

Hope that this helps

RON

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Hello Joe:

Yes, I will be doing this - both my Packards need a fresh sway bar.

And from what I see in your photos my part will work with the 1940 models, but I will need to take measurements to verify that it will fit.

Your 1940 seems similarly shaped to my 1941 160 bar. Could you please take a measurement between the centers of the coin ends and send it to me?

Do you know the year for the other (rusty & larger) sway bar in your photo?

Your photos show what was done to my 120 before I purchased it. I also see that the invoice for the fix-it kit is dated 2005 - 8 years ago.

I see two issues with this kit.
1. It does not resolve the real problem and is probably WEAKER that the vulcanized part Packard made. As the coin end is not really "suspended" in the cup hole (just squeezed between two rubber donuts) it will eventually wear through the sidewall of the "cup" and the bar will pull out as shown in my photo above.
2. If your Packard is missing the sway bar altogether, then buying just a link fix-it kit only gets you halfway there.

I would be selling a total sway bar assembly that would use the existing mounting points for the OEM sway bar - no modifications at all. There was a reason that Packard improved this design in the late 1940s and I will spec that design.

Please send me a PM if you wanted to get on the waiting list - no deposit required.

Thanks, --Roger--

The upper sway bar in photo 2 looks like a 41-47 clipper to me. I had problems with the end links on mine and purchased a used 1948 sway bar and used modern end link kit. My total cost for used sway bar, rubber bushings, and end link kits was under $100.

Another alternative would be to weld on new modern style ends to the sway bar and use readily available end kink kits.

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