Dodgeb4ya

Pat-Your truck is not a 5 ton. Dodge rates the trucks by letters. Is the truck door pillar tag W/ the horsepower and wheelbase- W code info all there still ? It would say like WHA160. I`m pretty sure yours is a 2 ton. I believe that a- say 2 ton rating is the maximum weight of optional equipment installed - like a dump box to be attached to the frame /chassis . If yours read WHA160...That would mean "W" series,"H" is a 2 ton rating , an "A" means 2 speed rear axle and the 160 means length of wheel base. The GVW means the total weight of the truck and it`s maximum legal load. Post a pic of the turn buckle bar on the rear axle-it might be something added later on. Bob

Pat, The rear axle ratio- both high range and low are stamped on the top of the differential case close to the top filler plug. It`s a Eaton 1350 series rear end. They are quite reliable. I have a couple of them in my trucks. They shift very fast! Rear axle housing rated at 13,500 lbs. Engine originally would have been a 250 ci. W/ sodium exhaust valves. It appears to be WH series W/5 lug wheels that being a 2 tonner. The 2-1/2 to 3 tonners had either a 281 or a 331ci. 30" long BIG block engine with the 4 bolt air compressor mount on the front top left side of the block as previously mentioned. Most of these heavy series had 10 bolt budd wheels. I once had the identical truck to yours! My "B4Ya" I own is a 1953 4 tonner with the 7 main bearing 413 twin carb engine. Biggest truck Dodge made at that time! Good luck with yours! Bob

Heard he passed away.

Don`t know Tim-don`t care- just trying to help Reg out. Bob

Excellent descriptions of all the A833 transmissions on the MoPar "AHD" -Auto Hobby Digest website. Bob

6 Volt systems work excellent when everything is correct! Glad MoPars don`t use "Lucas" electrical! Bob

$3.71 is what I paid for regular couple days ago in Seattle. Diesel $4.49.

Not sure what your talkin bout? God bless Me- Bob

For others considering a brake booster- here are a couple of frame mount units that work well and are small enough to hide on the frame rail. Bob

Center sections are not interchangable. 1951-3 slopes forward at the front, 48-50 the front area is more vertical.

On the MoPar Lockheed double anchor brakes including the 1949 Plymouth`s- shorter shoe definately goes to the rear of the car. Bob

Mine came from a garage sale! Their out there! Bob

Just shims on the pinion for bearing preload.

John, I see your car has those "Rare rock guards" underneath the leaf springs! Also the min. torque on the drive pinion flange nut is 180 ft.lbs. Be careful to prick punch the pinion nut in relation to the pinion shaft. I always mark all three- the nut/the flange and the pinion shaft so they go back exactly as they were. Also if you don`t have a torque wrench that goes to 250-300 Ft lbs you will know the nut is where it was originally then torque additionally to min 180 ft. lbs or some what more to compensate for bearing wear- but not much! Bob

I had a 1952 NOS dodge left rear fender and it was drilled for moulding holes and the coronet rear tailite chrome extension piece. I was going to upgrade my 1952 3 passenger coupe to the more deluxe trim model- but changed the car to a Chrysler 3 pass coupe. The shape of the rear dodge fenders are all the same 51 and 52, you might have to fill some moulding holes depending on what you want as for trim. Bob

Factory Data books and sales brochures are great reading! I have parted out quite a few OD cars just for the transmissions over the past 30 years and most all had the 4.3 rear ends. I junked most of those 4.3`s because I agree a 3.9 is better W/ the overdrive on todays freeways. Try driving over the Cascade mountains W/ a 3.9-- I`ve done it-back to 2nd/3rd gear all the way. I`m sure a lot of dealer installed OD kits were put in a car leaving the existing rear ends if they thought the car and terrain were compatible. I`ve run a 3.7 W/ od thats not good at all around here where I live- The great Northwest. 3.9 is good W/od. Bob

If you did the transmission repair work correctly and now it just won`t go into reverse or low (1st) gears, I also aree you need to carefully re-check again the shift rod adjustment- the one with the 2 lock nuts. It`s either too tight or too loose. That will cause no reverse or 1st gear and sometimes hard into 2nd/3rd. You need the factory shop manual, if you want to repair and do maintenence on your car with confidence. Bob

This OverDrive info is out of the 1952 Plymouth Salesman`s data book.

Start with a new parts store with a good parts guy that knows the difference between a 6 and 12 volt batterys, and load tests it before you take it home!

Oops, I forgot- few Dodges ever had the M5 trans, just the coupling W/3spd. Never mind ! My previous info is for DeSoto and Chrysler. Bob

I think most OD cars built 1952-4 were 4.3 ratio from the factory unless ordered otherwise. I`ll look check in the data books. My 52 Belvedere came factory W/ 4.3 ratio and I have parted a couple as the same. Bob

Problems W/ the M5 1946-8 Hydraulically operated trans are: #1 -Blocker ring and sleeve- if bad bangs into/out of high range gear #2 -free wheeling cam and rollers worn #3 -input shaft bearing worn- causes howl under low range gear loads #4 - oil pump gears worn- low oil pressure, another cause of poor/slow upshifts #5 -Input shaft gear teeth worn- another cause of poor upshifts. Should be replaced W/blocker ring and sleeve. #6 - transmission fender mounted relay/fuse, make sure it`s good #7 - new correctly installed trans wiring harniss W/ proper color coding Personally if the transmission works ok- leave it alone. Parts for these are really hard to find- being the input shaft and the blocker ring and sleeve pkg. Bearings no problem. Then you need to know what you are doing. These are not as simple as a 3 speed or an OverDrive! Some of these old very well used M5`s still shift perfectly and quiet after 60 years! Bob

Commodity gas= Arco, Costco ,Safeway, and others-no blend additives . I use Chevron or Shell- if you don`t use a quality fuel you just might end up putting Bon Ami additive package in the tank too! Old 50`s and 60`s gasoline smelled so good! Bob

Fred, You said you put radiator sealer in the car? The radiator was leaking and thats why sealer was put in? Some sealers are just too good and will seal/plug a radiator or heatercore because they intially don`t flow fast enough through the cores. I know rad shops don`t like old stuff to work on anymore-not quick/clean profits. Call most any rad shop and tell them what could/will happen if you put cooling system stop leak after market sealer in your car and I`ll bet they start laughing- it will stop the leak ok and more! You will get to the cause of your problem and you will get it fixed ! Don`t give up! Bob

Buy a Infrared scanner-test the engine and rad accurately! Cooling system sealers do just that- seal EVERTHING up! Plug radiators, leave oily goo. Over greasing the WP will leave goo in the system too. Pull the rad and have a shop professionally test it.