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

yes that is the one that was built and replaced

I sure will but it might be a couple of days as the car is having a head liner installed and not here.

I strongly believe your problem is a main leaf with an inadequate load capacity and spring rate and as I and others have noted you could consider having the leaves rearched; this is kind of a primitive practice but will give results. But you might also consider a practice that Packard recommended for cars subject to extraordinary loads and that was to replace the second leaf with a 2nd leaf from an "export" spring so perhaps your spring shop could find a heavier second leaf. Certainly not the perfect answer but might get you close to where you want to be. I've no experience with just adding another leaf but suspect it will be very detrimental to the ride quality and still may not get you what you want.

Ok. the car setting level but how low to the ground is it setting???? Watch the spring shop!!! Are they cutting the leaves with a torch or a cut off wheel or a shear???

Many use torch and it can weaken the spring. Not uncommon to find the 40's-60's cars that someone has taken a torch to the springs to deliberatly get the car to set low and thus ruins spring tension.

When the springs are installed the SHACKLES must be tightened with the car normalized. If the car is not normalized for correct attitude then USUALY it causes a stiff ride because the shackles were tightened with NO load on them while the car was jacked up. But u have the opposite problem of that.

Check for a cracked or broken frame.

As for the spring show I would say it was cut with a shear. the place is huge and I mean huge. About the size of a K-mart store. I did meet the guy that did the work and he was well aware of what needed to be done and also talked about the button ends. But let me get the car back and I will take measurements and pictures. J

If you look at Section 14.100 of the 48-54 parts manual which I believe is available on this website, you'll see the significant number of different rear springs used for the 22nd/23rd series cars, depending on chassis and body. The springs for the 2206/2306 should have a specification of 1130 lbs with a rate of 110 lbs. Perhaps your spring guy should review this information to compare with how he repaired your springs.

Even though I haven't had much trouble with the rear springs on my Packards, It must have been a recurrent problem when they were i regular service. In the Packard service counselor for September of 1949 page 2 it lists part number 410732. A new leaf spring. It states " A new rear spring leaf has been released for use in the liner type springs when a complaint of bottoming or sagging is received. The new leaf will raise the rear end of the car approximately 3/4 inch." This new leaf was to replace the second leaf of the original.