Merle Coggins

I saw a very similar '42 barrel back Town and Country at a WPC meet several years ago. Very interesting cars.

Here's a quick visual identifier on the 4 speeds... The early non-synchronized, spur gear, type has the PTO towards the front with the fill/level plug behind it. And the drain plug points down at an angle. The later synchronized version has the PTO towards the rear with the fill/level plug in front of it. And the drain plug points straight back.

You really don’t gain much with a 4 speed over a 3 speed except for the granny low, which is really only good for pulling stumps, or going really slow in parades. Although, as you mention, you gain the PTO mount. If you plan to use a PTO for something then by all means use a 4 speed. And if you do decide to go the 4 speed route be sure to choose a synchronized version, unless you want to double clutch your shifts. 3 speeds are all synchronized, at least from this era.

The 4 speed looking trans shown here would be a later model synchronized version, which was introduced in ‘51. The earlier spur gear, Non-synchronized, 4 speed has the PTO towards the front with the fill/level plug behind it.

A paper type gasket usually doesn’t hold up very well under the shear forces as you tighten the nut, but it’s good to hear that it’s holding up for you. I would recommend replacing it with a plastic/nylon, or copper, washer the next time you change the filter.

Do you have a good lawn and garden / small engine shop around? They usually have 00 grease for mower deck gear boxes.

There should be a copper gasket under that nut. It may be missing or smashed down so much that it won't seal anymore.

The seal should fit through that outer flange. Flip the hub over so that it is resting on the drum. Use a long drift, or hardwood dowel/hammer handle, to tap on the inner bearing cone. This should drive the seal out, along with the bearing.

Good tunes help get good results. LOL!!

Halogen bulbs only draw more amperage if they have a higher wattage rating.

To be able to adapt to a Fluid Drive setup you would need an engine with an 8 hole crankshaft flange and a Fluid Drive bell housing, with a Fluid Drive unit, to go along with your long input shaft 3 speed. As your truck is a 1 Ton it should have a 230 CID engine, so the 8 hold flange may be there already. But unless you already have the bell housing and FD unit it's not worth the effort to convert everything. If you want to use the other 3 speed you'd be better off finding a standard input shaft, and bearing flange, and convert it over. I will say there are some advantages to having FD in a truck. Less clutching in city traffic being at the top of the list. And yes, a working parking brake is a MUST.

Yea... what he said...

The "twisty-cap-y-thingy" on my truck doesn't have the numbers 710 on it. It has a picture of the thing that Genie comes out of.

Better question... why are they empty? Has the system been opened up recently to drain everything? Have the components been replaced recently? Or has it just been dragged out of storage after many years and everything has seeped out? If it's an older system that hasn't been worked on in recent years it's likely just DOT3. If it has had an overhaul in recent years there's the possibility that someone used DOT5, but it's not all that common. The two types don't mix well, but unless you have a reason to suspect that the system had DOT5 in the system I would just use DOT3.

Is it a 6 volt alternator, or has the truck been converted to 12 volt? If 6 volt it could be either, and I don't know how to tell the difference. If it is 12 volt it is likely negative ground.

Yup, you’ve got a head for external bypass and a block for internal bypass. You’ll need to find the proper head to match up to that block, and use the proper gasket to match them. The head will have a small bump at the front with a port that matches up with that port on the block. I’ve heard of some guys that have plugged the port on the block in this type of situation. It appears that you have the external bypass thermostat so you wouldn’t need the bypass in the block/head.

Definitely aftermarket simulators. The 6 lug pattern is interesting. Maybe for an Iveco, Isuzu, or similar type of Asian style delivery truck.

What are you going to do with the clutch and brake pedals?

That P/N does not come up in my '48-'53 Dodge Truck parts book.

I actually made a swap with another forum member at that time. He was looking for a 4.10 diff to put in his Plymouth Suburban with an overdrive transmission so he could have good gearing for pulling a boat or camper and still have a good highway speed. He found an axle that he though would have a 4.10 diff but it ended up being a 3.73. I had a parts truck at the time with a 4.10 diff. We traded pictures first and realized that there were a couple differences. One obvious one was the input flange that connects to the drive shaft. The cars use a totally different universal/CV joint system. The other difference was in the differential carrier housing. The truck diff with 4.10 gears had a more robust carrier housing. We decided to make the trade and it only cost us shipping what we had to the other guy. We pulled the pinion input flanges before shipping. When it arrived I put in a new pinion seal, installed the drive flange from the truck diff, pulled the original diff out if my truck, bolted in the replacement diff assembly, refilled the oil, and have been driving it for many years. The only caveat to this is to check the axle shaft spline count. There was a change sometime in the early to mid '50's in the spline count. However, if you end up with one that has a different spline count than what your truck has you may be able to swap the side gears. I believe Young Ed has reported that he has done this.

HA! I enjoyed reading those other adds too... "Turn Concrete into Gold!"... "Oil Filter Refills"... "Build a Helicopter Glider"... "Took in $217 First 10 Days"... ?

Nobody is reproducing gear sets for these axles. If you wish to keep your original axle you will need to find a good differential from another Mopar truck, or car, from that era. If you are looking for better highway gears I’d recommend looking at diffs from cars. I have a 3.73 differential from a ‘50 Plymouth in my truck’s axle. It was pretty much a direct swap. Just the driveshaft flange was different, but they swapped over, no problem.

I would recommend contacting Pertronix directly with your distributor number. Their search function doesn’t really break things down by distributor number and their catalog, that is available for download, doesn’t seem to list all available distributor numbers used in the Dodge trucks. They should be able to tell you exactly which model to use for your distributor and voltage. Once you have theIr part numbers you can search for suppliers. I got mine from Amazon a few years ago. I got their coil and plug wire kit too.

Assuming you have the Carter BB carb, you may have an issue with your power jet. It has a vacuum operated needle that should pull down to restrict the jet under a normal vacuum condition. At WOT the vacuum would drop allowing the needle to lift and open up the power jet to add more fuel to the air stream. At least that's the way I understand it... It sounds like this may not be happening properly. Item's 12, 13, & 14

I've always been taught that a taper shaft like these need to have clean metal to metal contact. The tight metal to metal contact helps to transfer the torque to take the stress off the key. I would rather need to use my puller again later than risk having a hub slip and shear a key because I used lube.