bamfordsgarage

Here are some "through-floor" photos of the body and rocker supports at the driver's front door of my 1947 D25 (same as P15). Third photo is passenger side. These might be helpful, particularly the last one looking forward from underneath, driver's side.

Nice job. Thanks for posting. I made one of a different design but used it the way you describe. Kind of fussy to get the adjustments right but it seems to do OK. A worthwhile improvement would be a brace to reduce/eliminate the tendency of the arm to flex.

The 1940-1947 parts book shows a standard, not-tanged, washer on the rear axles — part #50652 as TodFitch noted above. The way I see it, no tang is required as there is zero chance of relative movement if the nut is firmly torqued tight (factory spec is 142 ft-lb minimum) and cotter-pinned. Mind you, most of my rear axle experience is with Model T Fords, not this modern stuff...

Our old Mopars were built tough! In March 2012, my good friend Jerry de Jong and I loaded up the '47 D25 (Canadian) and set out from Edmonton, AB for Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, the furthest north one can drive in mainland Canada. They finally built an all-weather road into Tuk a few years ago; when we did this run, the last 112 miles were a four-month ice road up the Mackenzie River and along the Beaufort Sea. Four years earlier, we had driven down to Wyoming to meet up with a few cross-country vintage cars and convoy with them to San Francisco. In 2010 we dro

Your best bet is to pull the steering box and shaft out together. From below. I’ve just done this on my D24 which I believe is the same box as yours. Not difficult. Hardest part was pulling the pitman arm off the output shaft. Auto parts store puller and an impact wrench on the puller. With the box and shaft on the bench you can do a thorough inspection and all your adjustments. At the same time, you can cut the shaft and do whatever to bench fit the Power Steering on the bench. I imagine this will save you time and aggravation under the hood. Edit: In fairnes

Pancho, 14 D25, 1947

Thank you all for the comments, photos and suggestions. JB’s link also yielded an easier-to-follow wiring diagram. The horn is finally sorted, — terminal corrosion was an issue and it took some head scratching to figure out that my newly-installed steering column was not grounding reliably until the pitman arm went on.

I've just swapped a replacement steering box into my '47 Dodge D25 (P15). One related task was adding a few inches to the horn wire and a plug in connector between the steering tube and main wiring harness. Now the horn no longer blows when the horn ring is pressed. Logic, and the way things often go in this garage, would suggest I've screwed something up with the horn wire/contact/ring, etc (basically, the last things I "fixed"). But this time, maybe not. The wiring appears to check out and I suspect the relay. Relay photo is attached, and as I understand it:

...and that always reminds me of October 2010 when good friend Jerry and I stopped in at Punxsutawney, PA on our way from Edmonton, Canada to Hershey, PA for the big AACA swap meet. The old Mopar connection? We were driving my faithful 1947 D25 Canadian-built Dodge on a 30-state odyssey around the US of A. Pux is all about their most famous resident Phil the Groundhog. The town is littered with groundhog figures and Gobbler's Knob is at a park just outside town. We even caught a glimpse Phil in the town's Groundhog Museum/Public Library. Good times...

My guess is that pan was affixed with PermaTex Right Stuff sealant. It's a dark grey/black and just a bit glossier than flat. "Miracle in a tube" that stuff. Five or six years ago I patched a 5" water jacket crack in my 1912 Not-A-Mopar with Right Stuff; it still looks good and hasn't weeped a drop.

Lots of worthwhile comments here, but IMO the last three paragraphs of knuckleharley’s long post a few up are right on. Find a friendly machine shop who will assess what you’ve got and what’s needed. Well worth the modest cost.

Thanks for that clipping, Ralph. What a treat! It was the only press we got on that trip. I remember trying to chase a copy of that edition down but IIRC never managed to get one. Here is that reporter capturing the moment:

Well hi Greg, thanks for asking. Jerry and I are both well, he had a very mild Covid over Christmas but I emerged unscathed. Our long distance tours have mostly been in the ‘24 T speedster, but we had a great run several years ago to the PNW in his ‘50 Plymouth. I’ve got the Dodge up on stands these days for brake work and a steering box.

Is that script by the headlight actually there or a doctored photo?

One could probably make a tool in less time that it takes to overthink the problem. I did it just now in 25 minutes from a 7/16 bolt. The shank diameter is the same as kitty corner on the 5/16 square. File one flat until it’s 5/16 across the flat, mark as your reference and use that surface to eyeball the other three sides for filing. Leave a bit of shank so the square end protrudes from the socket. I’m planning to drain and fill my diff next week and figured I’d get a head start making the tool today. Joke’s on me — turns out the ‘47 D25 doesn’t have a separate drain plug.