Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I shipped the all-time challenge to my skills today, Oh, what a feeling! as the accompaning photos illustrate, it was mighty rough when it arrived. the wires powering the motor had been cut and terminated, but that wasn't the big problem, the wires were rotten, the grommets were rotten and two were missing, connections where the big 12ga leads hook to the brushes inside the motor were gone, the rubber sealing block on the contact finger harness had been ground down and the white wire was cooked--I had to build the rubber back up after replacing the white wire. The usual compound I use is black and my supplier didn't have any black, so this one is yellow! I built a mold to aid in the build-up of compound, this is vital to having a good watertight seal.
I ended up rewiring the whole motor-a first. I have always been able to deal with the wires on the past 22 or so units, but not this one. I used 12ga wire, in the correct Packard factory colors, and acually hooked them up correctly so that the motor turned in the proper directions!
I left his funky spade connectors on the contact segment harness, he really wanted to do that and it would have taken more hours to properly repair that without shortening the cable too far--Cest le garre! Had a B___H of a time getting the fields back in tight enough, once I did the motor worked beautifully in both directions.
That's what it's all about--once I can get the motor to work CW and CCW I'm home free.

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Mr Pushbutton

You are a miracle worker, and a true craftsman. Seeing what you can do, I still have hope for all '56 Packards being on the road for many more years.

I hope you have a young apprentice to pass this knowledge onto to keep them alive.

Beautiful job John! Fix 'em like they're your own! And don't worry Portlandon, Mr. PB is a young lad yet with many years in front of him and we are all glad of that!

Great post Mr PB.

Pity I don't have a Pushbutton, but I know who I'd turn to if I did have one!

Another fine job - and well-illustrated!

Pity that some people still bash the pushbutton control system and promote a conversion to a manual selector.

Every time I see another successful repair like this, I am further tempted to convert my Patrician with factory-equipped manual selector to pushbutton control.

Some have had bad experiences with the Packard (and Edsel!) electronic pushbutton systems, the worst part is that the car is stuck in the gear it's in when the failure (bent finger) occurs, and you are really stuck at that point. Then the thing gets cobbled up by someone with a rudimentary knowledge of electricity, electronics and proper, long term practices for electrical items.
I have talked to more than one customer who said that they used to "push 'n pray" when they got in their car, hoping that nothing would go wrong, and that after they installed the unit I rebuilt they did that for a while afterwards, but gradually realized that the system works every time and their fears went away, giving over to enjoyment. That's the best compliment.
Every one of those pushbutton systems is now over a half-century old, and will need some TLC to make it last the next half-century.
BH--you should do the conversion. That, and a properly operating T/L system, automatic, not jerry-rigged, really makes these cars unique and interesting to those who don't know that the technology existed in the mid 50s.