bosworth

Hi All; This thread is just what I have been looking for; I'm trying to finish the restoration of my 52 B3B and get the old boy on the road. I have replaced the parts in the front drum brakes, shoes, springs, cylinders etc. The rear axle is a Dana 35 out of a 96 Jeep Cherokee with drum brakes. If all works out well and I like driving the o'l truck, I will probably convert to disk brakes on the front. My 48 Plymouth has drum brakes all around, no modifications and they work great. For now It looks like I should order a Toyota Celica MC and two 10# residual valves. Should I also add a proportioning valve in the rear circuit? The pistons in the cylinders in the Jeep axle seem quite a bit smaller than the Dodge front cylinders and the old Master cylinder. I would think that it will help to have a MC with a smaller bore (1") like the Toyota MC. I am confident that I can make the old truck go, but I want to be sure that I can also make it stop!

I will be on the lookout for black urethane calk, I think I can get Pl or Seikaflex locally, It sounds like any calking between the glass and the rubber is added after instillation, does anyone put calk into the groove in the rubber before the glass goes in, or it that to messy? Bill

Two really good ideas, I will do both. Thanks, Bill

Hi Again; I am about to install the glass in my 52 B3B, I am using a Roberts gasket for the windshield and am aware that the lip will not fully cover the pinch seam. I am expecting that I will need to add some sealer under this lip and am wondering what sealer is recommended. I also expect that I will add some sealer under the back lip. I once tried to use some silicon sealer while doing the instillation on my 48 Plymouth and it was a terrible mess. Thanks Bill

I am finally at the point in the restoration of my '52 B3B pickup where I need to gather up the parts to reassemble the doors and install the glass. I am putting a shopping list together and a little confused as to just what I need. As far as I can tell I need; 1 8' piece of window sweeper 1 8' piece of window channel (is this enough?) 6 sweeper clips 1 set of vent window rubber seals 4 window bumpers 1 door weather strip kit 1 sill seal (kit) I think I need a pair of Division bar channels, although I'm not sure what these are. Are these the channel guides that are down in the door that line the window up with the vent window? what do I use as a seal on the metal front edge of the side windows where they seal to the vent window? I'm planning to order all of these (and a bunch of other stuff) from Roberts. I appreciate you input and experience with this project Bill

Hi Dave; I can offer my 2 cents, I am currently working on a 52 B3B with a flat head 6 and 3 speed standard transmission. I have the same combination in my early 49 P15 that I have been driving for about 3 years. I also have a 31 Ford Model A pickup. I have been looking into lubrication for these antique engines and have decided to use Mobile 1, 10W40 or 15W50. Most oils in the States have been reformulated without the addition of ZDDP which I believe is very important to engines using flat tappets. Mobile 1 10w-40 contains 1000ppm phosporus and 1100 ppm zinc. Mobile 1 15w-50 contains 1200 ppm phosporus and 1300 ppm Zinc and is marketed as suitable for racing and flat tappet applications. I am using Redline GL-4 MT 75w-90 oil in my transmission. If you have a manual transmission it is important that you use GL4 rather than GL5 which can damage the brass components in the transmission. As far as I know there are no brass parts in the rear end, as I recall I installed Mobile 1 synthetic 85W-90 in the rear end. There are a number of posting about antifreeze, I have been using the conventional green antifreeze, as some have cautioned that the new permanent or long life types can be hard on brass components, solder joints and head gaskets. The brand that I found was NAPA, marketed as a conventional antifreeze suitable for classic vehicles. I'm sure that products differ in the UK and I don't want to lead you astray, if you ask a group of 10 people what kind of oil to use you will get 10 different answers. Bill

Frank; I changed the rear axle on my 52 B3B to a 96 Jeep Cherokee axle with a 3.55 gear ratio. I was able to find 1.75" perches on line and had to locate square "U" bolts. perches came from a Jeep web site, U bolts from Stengelbros.net I used 5U116S, but found them to be a little tight, had to do a little grinding on the purches to get them to fit. I used the origional bottom plates which are also the shock mounts. I followed advice found on this site for finding and properly positionsing the perches. Cutting the old purches off in not very difficult, I then ground the welds down smooth. Be careful not to grind to much, the axle tube isn't all that thick. Positioning the new purches is fairly critical. Before I cut the old ones off I determined the angle of the pinion shaft. Once I had the purches properly located I tack welded them in place. I had a pro welder complete the weld as I didn't trust my welding skills for this critical weld. I found that the drive shaft and universal joints matched up perfectly with the Jeep Dana axle.

I don't know if this helps, but I swapped a 96 Jeep Cherokee rear axle into my 51 Dodge B3B pickup. The axle has drum brakes and cables for emergency brakes. I swapped to get a 3.55 rear end and more modern brakes. My 15" rims fit the axle with no problem, I believe that it is the same bolt circle and center hole size. As an aside, I am carrying a Jeep Cherokee compact spare in the trunk of my 1948 P15 Plymouth, I had no other rims at the time and found that the Jeep Cherokee wheel fit my car and the spare fit well into the well in the trunk. The Cherokee rear end has a Spicer type universal joint, it matched up with my 51 Dodge drive shaft, but it would not have matched the ball and trunion (Detroit) type joint in my Plymouth. Bill

thanks for the info will try mounting these parts you guys are the greatest! Bill

I'm in the process of reassembling my 51 B3B pickup. I've had it apart for several years now and am having some problem finding where a couple of the pieces fit in this jig-saw puzzle. I wonder if anyone recognizes these parts and knows where the heck they go. As you can see there are two identical parts, which would say to me that they are not a left and right side. Your input would be greatly appreciated. thanks; Bill

I had a similar problem with my 48 plymouth 3 speed. My shifter would often lock up between gears, felt like I had to force it into gear. We put the car onto a lift and I had someone shift through the gears and watched what was going on with the linkage. What I discovered was that the "gearshift lever shaft" was moving up and down during shifting, rather than just back and forth. We pulled the gearshift housing and found that a pin or set screw that should ride a groove in the shaft had warn out, once the screw was replace the shaft stayed in the down position, moving only back and forth and the car now shifts very easily and smoothly. As I recall this retainer is center and near the top of the gearshift housing cover, it is in line and near the top of where the gearshift lever shaft passes through the housing. In retrospect I think I could have removed and replaced the setscrew without removing the gearshift housing. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures, I hope my description might be of help. Bill

thanks Brent; I'll keep looking for the part Bill

I have the first of what will probably be many questions. I'm starting to put my 52 B3B back together, I have the drive line in, but I can't remember what the clutch and break pedal return spring connect to. There is probably a bracket that mounts to the bottom of the bell housing, but I can't seem to find anything that looks familiar. I'll make something if I have to. Do the springs just clip into a hole, is there any tension adjustment? Thanks Bill

thanks for your reply. i was inspired to watch e-bay for a drag link and found a new or lightly used one for $45. New brake question. i am replacing the wheel cylinders on my 90 jeep cherokee rear axle; the pistions in the wheel cylinders are only 3/4 inch. The wheel cylinders on my front end are 1 3/8 inch. Can such different wheel cylinder sizes work together on the same master cylinder? will the front brakes be applied a lot stronger than the rear? thanks...Bill

I have a couple of questions and I have read over as many of the old threads as I can find. I have have my 52 B3B just about completely stripped down and am at the point of putting it back together. I am installing a 90 Jeep cherokee axle with drum brakes. I plan to order parts tomorrow. I will need to replace the two front wheel cylinders. The ones that are on the truck now are marked L and R and have two different bores in each cylinder. The PO had the sides reversed. When I look on line at our major suppliers, there is no separate listing for right or left, so I am assumining that they have the same (1 3/8"?) bore. I find a cylindar in rock auto, a Centric 134.6700. Listed as a 1 3/8" bore with 7/16-20 inlet. These are reasonably priced. Has any one used them? Is there a major problem with only one bore size? I also need to replace the drag link. I can find a new replacement link for about $300. It is very tempting to consider either modifing a different link Like the Moog DS1000 by bending, cutting and splicing it to length. Or doing what Fernando Mendes did by replacing the ends of the old link with tie rod ends (Moog es 158 R or L). Has anyone done anything with either of these ideas? Buying new tie rod ends is about $65 a diffent drag link about $100. Are there better alternatives out there for the parts I've mentioned or should I just bite the bullet and order the Rare Parts 25231. Many thanks for your advice Bill

thanks guys! that is the input i need. i will measure the width of my current axle and compare. Plymouthy you probably don't remember, but i got my wheels and hub caps from you, so it is important that they will work on any new axle. thanks bill

i'm working on my 51 B3B. I would like to swap out the rear axle to get a little more modern brakes and a better gear ratio. i have read all of the past archive material that i could find. it sounds like a dana 44 with 3.55 gears would be a good choice. there are several other referances to cherokee rear ends but not specific models. i have found several dana 35 axles for sale at reasonable prices. one is from a 90 cherokee. would this dana 35 be a good candidate or should i keep looking for a dana 44? i will be using the flat head 6 and 3 speed tranny. i want to do the rear end soon so that i can get my suspension, brakes and drive line in place. thanks Bill

Is there a chance that a valve could be hanging up at higher speeds? Bill

I had problems shifting into third, would sometimes be ok other times I thought I'd be driving home in second. We put the car up on the lift and I had my neighbor shift through the gears. I discovered that the selector shaft in the side cover was moving up and down. We pulled off the side cover and found that the set screw in the side cover that keeps the shaft in place was warn out. It should have a turned down end that fits into a groove in the shaft. The end was warn off. Made a new one, now it shifts like a new car. In hindsight it wasn't necessary to pull off the side cover, the set screw is located in the side cover just under the lever arm for the selector shaft. Good luck Bill

The turn signal switch will also need to be a 7 wire switch. The switch that came with my car had only 5 or 6 wires, but no wire to connect to the hydraulic brake light switch. I purchased a 7 wire switch with this connection. As technotalgia makes the fender lights in 6volt pos ground I installed those, the center trunk light was only available in 12 v neg ground, I talked technostalgia into selling me the center trunk light without any electronics, my old light was pretty rough, I modified the new light to accept a red, 6v post ground led bulb. You can not use a standard incandescent bulb with the technostalgia trunklight as the lens is plastic. I hooked everything up according to the directions for the 7 wire switch and technostalgia. The lights work great, very bright and the chrome diecastings look super! Best of luck Bill

Ward I found my transmission leaking from the front following my rebuild. I found that I hadn't set the plug that seals the end of the cluster gear shaft well enough. That plug is below the bell housing and is not sealed by the gasket. With the transmission still in the car, I drained the fluid, cleaned the plug and recess thoroughly, and applied sealer. No more leak! Best of luck Bill

Tyson I just did my rear bearings, one side was pretty tough coming out the other came out easy, we used a home made tool to pull the axles, I then took the axles and new bearings to a local machine shop. They removed the old bearings and pressed on the new one for $20. I also replaced the inner seals, I would imagine your inner seals are also due for a change. They tell me you can pull them with a slide hammer with a hook, my hogs head was out at the time so I just tapped the seal out with a pipe slid in from the opposite end. You will see that there is a plug where you inject grease for the axle bearing. Best of luck Bill

Thanks everyone, I'm going to take Plymouthy Adams up on his offer and keep the car as original, and will be able to get the "Old Gray Girl" back on the road next week. I will keep a eye out for a 3.54 would make a nice upgrade in the future. I'll keep the swap out axles in mind for my next B3B project. Thanks....you guys are the greatest! Bill

We pulled the hogs head out of my p15 club coup tonight. I've been trying to put my finger on driveline noise and suspected the rear end. I had also noticed that the rear end was getting hot after only driving a few miles. What we found was worse than what I expected, all of the gears are extremely pitted a few of the differential gear teeth have lost much of their shape. I'm guessing that rebuilding is out of the question and will either have to find a replacement or put in a whole new more modern Axle. The damaged one is a 3.9 I would want to replace it with the same or move to something like a 3.73 So my questions are; Are there useable hogs heads out there, are there parts available to do a complete rebuild, and is it worth it, should I be looking for a new Axle to swap? I've tried to research the topic of an axle swap and haven't so far found the correct links. It seems like something like a jeep Cherokee or wrangler axle might work. If so what do you do about the universal joint missmatch? I really would like to get the old girl back on the road, this one has thrown me for a loop. Thanks Bill

My quest to get rid of my driveline noise continues. I was convinced that the nose was coming from the transmission, and since I had most of the parts anyway I pulled it out and replaced all of the bearings and seals. Upon inspection the old bearings were a bit sloppy and some of the gear faces pitted from sitting in nasty unchanged fluid for too many years, but I now concede that the transmission wasn't the source of the worst of the noise. We took the car for a test drive of about 5 miles, transmission worked great, back on the rack to check for oil leaks, none, but found that the input end of the rear end where the pinion shaft and bearings are housed was almost to hot to touch, or at least keep your hand in place. I know this can't be rite! We had replaced the pinion shaft oil seal, still leaks, and struggled to retorque the input shaft nut to the specified 180 lbs. Our gages only go up to 150 lbs. I got to wondering, if there weren't enough shims in place behind the bearing, could I be putting all of that torque into load on the bearings? So this morning I loosened the nut about 180 degrees and took her back out for a ride. Much worse! Noise and vibration. I wondered if I'd make it back home. I drove for about 4 miles averaging about 45. Once again the casting around the pinion shaft was very hot. I guess the next step is to pull the axles and pull out the differential to see what's up. The other approach is to try to find a replacement differential. I value your oppinions and input on this matter and what you think might be the best approach. I should add that when I got the car last year one of my first jobs was to drain and replace fluids. The rear end contained only a small amount of very thick, nasty, brown gook. I can only imagine what its insides look like now. I didn't find rebuilding the transmission to daunting, how bad a job is a rear end rebuild? Thanks Bill