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

Stripping out all the chrome for my restoration we found one of the handles broken.

Anyone any experience of trying to repair themselves or any contacts for repairing or replacing ?

On the DIY front the best we can come up with is pushing it back together and inserting a stainless steel wire into the crevice around the inside edge and using "QuickSteel"over the top to give it a flat back - - any queries/ideas welcomed.

By the way another funny thing with the Steele Rubber Cat. the only pad between the handles and the door for the 22nd Series seem to be for one with TWO fixing screws - mine only has ONE fixing screw !! Am I reading this wrongly ?

Best regards Michael

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My 1948 has two screws, one big one on the outside towards the front and a smaller one on the inside of the door jamb. Both of my handles were broken as well, I had to get a "new" pair. The piece that broke is structural, and I don't think any fix would be strong enough to hold it through the use/abuse of opening the door. They break because the outside screw gets loose and people are too lazy to tighten them back up before they break.

Very early 22nd Series cars used the door handle with a single screw. They upgraded to the ones with 2 screws on later cars.

I may be able to help depending on which side it is from. Send me a PM.

Thanks BDeB

I'd send you a PM - but I don't know what one is ?

Mine is a very early car - February 1948

I'll have to consult with my restorer to find out which side/door it is from !! - I'll post the result here.

Michael

Quote:
Michael,

A PM is a personal or private message. One way to send one to BDeB is to go back to his post and click on his Forum name. This will open a window titled "All about BDeB", down the bottom of which is a PM Link button, click on that. Fill in the subject box, write your message and click on the Send button. Then when BDeB replies by PM the "Inbox", top left in User Menu, will show the number (1), click on Inbox and read the message, there you have it.

Hi Michael

Spoke to a Packard guy. He mentioned that those handles did seem to break there frequently. If nobody can help you here, look at e-bay. I found a good one there for not much. Now I have a spare handle and spring as well! What Turbo said is true, because the stresses on that part is great it is worthwhile to make sure that they are scrwewed down well and that the mechanism as a whole is nicely lubricated.

Greetings
Barrie

Barrie you are beating me to the forums every time !!

Best regards Michael

Update : 18-12-2009

Have now found one - I think - got to check out the position on the car though - meanwhile I've taken the broken one apart ( really easy actually )and repaired mine by thoroughly cleaning the two halves and "Superglue"-ing them together,then bending and cutting to size some appropriate sized wire to insert into the groove on the rear of the plate ( both sides ) putting a layer of "Quicksteel" in the groove and laying in the wire reinforcement then covering the wire till the groove on the back is full of "Quicksteel". I've left this overnight and yes you can see the hairline crack but the thing seems fairly robust. Next I'll get it to the car and try it out after reassembly and let you know if it stands up to opening and shutting.

Here is an eBay listing for a handle that might help.

eBay

I was able to solder on the backside for some of mine but in the end, I too purchased a set on Ebay.