Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I have just returned from my first car show where my car was a hit with the crowd. On the way home I participated in a classic car cruise through the old part of Colorado Springs. While cruising the brakes went out. I was able to limp home, but I will not drive this car again with the current brakes. It is just not safe. The brake pedal was pumped up and the car wouldn't stop until I pulled the emergency brake, locking the rear brakes and finally skidding to a stop.

I just had the brakes inspected and found that they were out of adjustment so they were adjusted manually (there are no self adjusters on this car).

I want to convert the car to have at least disc brakes in the front and add self adjusters to the rear if they must stay drum type. Is there a disc brake conversion kit that I may purchase and have installed?

Thanks for any help that anyone can give.

Bob

A scary experience no doubt. Fortunately brake fade & nothing else. Easamatics (Bendix TreadleVac or as many have shortened it, BTV) have been reported to fail suddenly and have no stopping power when it happens. A lot of speculation as to why it seems Packards were prone and there are many threads here on the subject if you do a search for BTV or related. Others have had no instances of problem and have pointed out that the same unit was used for years by other manufactures with no reported failures.

The only aftermarket kit I know of is herehttp://www.abspowerbrake.com/ on page 114 of their catalog. Craig's Packard Panther sitehttp://www.1956packardpanther.com/ has some information on how he did his conversion. There was apparently another kit in the works but it has been a long time with no mention.

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll start digging in ASAP. I figure that this would be a great task to accomplish while the weather here is just about to get to where I shouldn't drive the car in anyway.

Bob

Sound like there was nothing mechanically wrong with the brakes, they were just out of adjustment, and the stop and start of a cruise got the drums warmed up good which give you some brake fade, and with them out of adjustment, you saw what happened.

These cars were regularly serviced and checked every 1,000 to 3,000 when new and the brakes were adjusted at that time. Now folks go 15,000 miles before checking there brakes on modern cars. It just part of owning a vintage car....the up keep and maintenance to the original service schedule.

Here's one thread on disc brake conversions.

Maybe it's just me but tearing the brake system apart and converting everything to discs seems like an awful lot of (expensive!) work when an an hour with a brake spoon will get your drums working just fine. Yes, discs will stop the car in a shorter distance but, when properly adjusted, drums will stop the car just fine, too. If you're really concerned about braking safety, I'd look into swapping your current single circuit brake system to a dual circuit set up.

Oh yeah, and remember what your driving instructor taught you: keep one car length between you and the preceding vehicle for every ten mph you're traveling.

Bob,
Great looking car. About your brake problem, I also experienced some exciting stopping or non stopping situations with drum brakes and T/V unit. Had T/V unit rebuilt bu Ed Strain, mentioned as one of the best rebuilders, and this did help some except in panic stops which were always a few yards too long. I located someone in CA and he designed a setup, with help from parts off a donor car owned by the late Dan Yokum, which is a straight forward bolt on project, no cutting, hammering, "modifications" of any kind that can't be put back stock. I imagine that he has the specs on hand and it would fit your car because mine is also a 56 Executive. If you want I will contact him and get back with you.
Bill

ps: Yes it does stop with much more authority even with T/V unit.

And always remember the 16 year old girl on the cellphone in the Honda that cuts you off then slams on the brakes.

Discs are worth the modification trouble.

and a tractor trailer rig blocking half of interstate hwy in blinding rain storm:(

bhappy wrote: Quote:

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE??? His brake problem is NOT brake fade or mal-adjusted drum brakes! This is clearly ANOTHER BTV FAILURE!

Disc brakes, while better than drums, are not the answer here. I know because I have both a modern dual-master and disc brakes.

Remove that POS BTV and put in a modern dual master system like a few others have done. Keep the drum brakes if you want, although you could do that conversion too.

THE BTV IS A FATAL ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN!

Craig