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

Now I know why my 1950 23rd Series Deluxe 8 with Ultramatic was making growling and clunking noises. The differential is shot: bad bearings and broken ring gear. Now I am looking for a good used differential, but there are several different gear ratios listed for my car.

Does anyone know how the car performs with the different gear ratios? What I want is a decent freeway speed (up to 65 mph) without blowing the engine, but not so tall a gear that I cannot climb hills. Tires are stock size (29" OD). Any experience out there?

Does anyone in Southern California have a good differential they want to sell? If so contact Fred at (619)475-1155 (home) or (858)676-7412 (work). I can come and get it in my pickup.

I believe the standard axle ratio with Ultramatic was 3.54/1 which should be just fine for highway speeds.

I am curious as to any idea what did the damage and any other signs beforehand.

Packard diffs were very robust to start with and a heavy 1950 car with modest horsepower and Ultramatic is not particularly known for doing well at the dragstrip. Of course, I guess the previous owner's son (or daughter) could have wound it up and then dropped into low one time too many trying but would have thought something else would go first-------.

Whats your goal for the car? You could easily swap the rear end with something newer while upgrading the brakes to disc at the same time.... Just a thought.

The car could have been run with a dry diff for awhile in it's past and the damage is now starting to rear it's ugly head. Also if someone was in there previously they may have set up the gear spacing incorrectly.

Now I know this car used a 3.9 ratio. 39 tooth ring gear and 10 tooth pinion. Does anyone have a third member for sale?

Just this week a friend of mine picked up a chassis from a 48 or 49...if you can't find it locally, should be easy to put a center section in a milk crate and call UPS or fedex ground. Russell Chandler 903-736-0339 is a professional mechanic (Packard and otherwise) and owns several 22/23rd series cars.

Thanks for the tip. I will try locally first to save shipping and time, but will go further away if I need to.