Midwestmopar

P.S. I pulled a part number off of the wheel cylinder last night and narrowed that compatibility from 65-89

so what you're saying is the case number shows an earlier model axle and a later model brake system . . . . .this should be fun haha. thank you for your help, what was your source for the case numbers? I spent a lot of time googling but it did me no good. Sniper that picture helps a lot, previous to this car my oldest car was a 78 so my knowledge (cut off years) on when they stopped doing certain stuff is limited. I'll take your info and to research some new hardware and shoes. hopefully my drums can be turned. dj thanks for your picture too. now to use all this info and narrow down my parts list.

good eye on the cable, I must have missed the guide when I put it back on after taking the adjuster out and making sure there was an L stamped on it. is the front shoe on backwards? as I was looking at the shoes I seen it has those 3 spots to ride on the backing plate. I haven't pulled the shoes off to check if all 4 shoes have it. from my pictures I snapped of the right side looks like it has a shoe with the 3 high spots facing outward also. . . . . maybe the front shoe is swapped on the wrong side?

Axle numbers

Car: 53 Plymouth Cranbrook Rear axle: pre64 8 3/4? (No numbers stamped on the left side of snout) Problem: left brake will self adjust tighter and tighter til it drags alot. So far ive determined its not a stock axle or atleast brake hardware and shoes because it doesnt have the cams to adjust the brakes. I'm assuming its pre64 cause I'm still using hub/drum rears. I have yet to measure the pinion diameter but the measurements ive taken from backing plate to backing plate are right around 52 1/2inches and the center of the leaf springs are 41 1/2 inches. The only numbers I could find on the housing are in the picture. My drums are 10 inch and my shoes are about 2 1/2 wide. Can anyone help me with ideas on what could cause my left to lock up? Also what parts should I buy to replace whats on it. Ive pretty much only checked to make aure my adjuster was on the correct side which it is.

is that northern cali? I once went to Bridgeport and thought to myself id never take a older car up some of those hills over there........ car after car broken down along the highway when we went. I'm pretty lucky hear in Indiana, elevation change normally never varies more than 500 feet unless I travel off my path from work. My 24 mile commute to work is very nice and it hasn't overheated on that road, but there is only 4 stop lights on my trip to work. very nice truck by the way! when I first traded for my 53 I drove almost 280 miles to a little city west of Effingham and drove it all the way home as my first true test. that's when I knew I had a good driver car that just needed a few minor things haha

Left Friday from southern indiana and made it Friday night to st louis. The karma ghia I was crusing with kept loosing fuel pressure so when we stopped I would over heat. I installed a 16inch fan on the rad and a deep cycle marine battery in my passanger floor board which helped cool it down a little bit in traffic but it was still a rough trip in stop and go. I also found out that on my way there some how my left rear brake decided to over adjust and start dragging. I fixed that Sunday by backing off the back brakes before heading back to indiana but about 300 miles into that trip she started to drag again...... She also started to overheat alot worse so I popped the filler neck off to pull the thermostat, but it was already out. Looks like I have brakes and coolant issues I need to address. Good news is it made it a 950 mile trip pushed hard on the interstates, country side, and traffic jams.

my 53 cranbrook does 70 at 2500rpm with overdrive. I normally keep it at 60-65 because there is a wild tire noise at 70. she does feel like it wants more at 70 though, maybe one day ill do a top speed test........ one day haha

the 47 jalopy run 3776 mo-47 lonedell mo 63060 per the jalopy runs facebook page " we are just a bunch of hotrodders getting together to party, listen to some live rock n roll and do hotrod ****" its saturday june 20th at noon this will be my first year going but im told its a really good time in a field.

Is anyone else going to this event in a few weeks? Would love to meet some new people. If you see my wife's bug or my 53 stop and say hi! P s. The 53 was lowered over the weekend and I love it!

ill be in st louis next month if you haven't found anyone yet, I'm taking my 53 out there for the jalopy run.

Well the car made a 240 mile trip home Friday, then its driven about 40-70 more miles since that trip. The car is doing great. I put it on a lift today to check out the underneath. Turns out its pretty solid.

Thank you for all the feedback! Keithb7 the owner has a reprint of the manual that he is giving me as well so I really lucked out there. I will be looking for all the hard to find literature for it to help me out as much as I can. I no longer have a grandfather and my dad is more into the 90s ford trucks thing so I cant get any knowledge from him. I do have an older mentor I use to work with at a chevy dealership that was big into early mopars when he was young and dirt track most of his life so ill be asking him for some tricks and tips. plymjim I didn't even think about that possibility, good call! andydodge, looks like my plans in about 1-4 years haha depending on how long it takes me to track down parts, currently I have 2 project cars im building to fill my need for speed so im just going to take it low and slow with this for a while, that also gives me plenty of time to do the research I need.

My wife owns 2 73 super beetles and 1 72, I've had luck with plain and simple cars, So I'm excited to see how fun this one is to tinker with. Thanks for the tips. I was curious id this would have the reverse threads, ive heard of people doing some silly things trying to grt them off when really they were just tightening it the whole time. Also the car looks really good, the owner has sent me the rust shots of the door sills and some rough spots in the floor boards but it looks more solid than the vws we drive so I'm excited. As far as in the engine bay picture. I'm not 100% on what the glass jar is on the driver side so any input on that would be great, the pictures are too hard to tell what's hoses are going to it.

I'm new to the pre 70s mopar scene, but I am going to get my first one this firday! it runs and drives, looks decently clean with some rust spots, anyways what are some tips/common knowledge (for veteran members) that I need to know and look for. It is a 53 cranbrook, it looks fairly original and is still a 6v system. from what I can tell from the pictures it has 3 on the tree with optional overdrive, it has the dealer option wipers switch, im guessing it was an early 53 cause the current owner says there is an issue with the fuel tank/neck not having baffles. but these are only a few things I have noticed about it from the pictures. any tips will be helpful. I'm 26 and have lived well before my time with daily driving mopars such as 76 b300, 78 magnum, 83 d150, 87 5th ave, 87 ramcharger. but I have no clue about a flathead and a 6v system haha. The goal with it is just to drive it, make it as reliable as possible and enjoy the nostalgia, eventually get some speed parts for it since it still has a factory exhaust manifold and intake, looks like stock carb but cant really tell from the pictures.