squirebill

True and good point. The manual specs the torque @ 55-75 ft. lbs. I'm saying lube the anchor bolt it's full unthreaded length (to prevent rusting and seizing) and torque it to the low end of the torque spec. Frankly, I have never been able to fit a socket and torque wrench to properly torque the nut/bolt assembly. So as I said, tighten the nut/bolt assembly until secure. Install the cotter pin. This would prevent the nut from loosening. So no worries. On the rear brake anchor bolts, no suspension member and again no worries.

Do what they do on the front brakes. They have a castle nut and a cotter pin. Just means you don't torque it to the specified value but rather something less that would be tight but loose enough to turn the bolt from the back of the backing plate. A hundred years ago I had a friend who was a front end and brake mechanic at a Firestone Tire and service shop who advised me of this modification back then and he had done it on many Mopar cars. Requires cross drilling the rear bolts for the cotter pins and getting more castle nuts like used on the front. I did it on my '50 Plymouth back in the mid '60s and more recently on my B1B and '49 Plymouth Suburban. Not something you use very often (how often do you adjust your brakes?) but makes life easy when you do. Never had or used the special tool to adjust brakes. Just spin the wheel, crank the adjuster til it binds, back it off til free, and go to the next adjuster. Regards.

Additional to my last entry: I went to Rockauto and put that part number in there search block. They list 3 entries of that part number from three different suppliers. One of them gives the dimensions of the bearing. Regards

Yes it is a Mopar part number. I found it in my 1949 Plymouth car parts manual and in my Dodge B-Series 1948-1953 parts Manual. Guessing it is a standard part number for pilot bushing/bearing on flathead 6's.

Thanks Sniper for bringing that link up. If I was more computer literate I maybe could have done it but being "urban amish" as I am was afraid I would screw something up. Thanks for the photos. I am clearly missing the 90 degree bracket that goes from the back of the ventilator housing to the links I see attached to the back of the dash board. Will take some measurements, fab something up, and see if I can get it to work. Thanks again. Regards.

Tubing is measured by it's outside diameter. Pipe is measured by it's inside diameter. Are you going by the inside or outside diameter? 3/16 OD tubing seems very small for a fuel line. 1/4 inch OD tubing would have an ID close to 3/16 inch. Just saying. Regards.

Confuses me that the drive shaft spins freely when E brake is released but rear brakes are dragging.

See if the rear brakes are binding because the hydraulic pressure of the system is not releasing. Open one of the rear brake bleed fittings to relieve any retained hydraulic pressure. If the wheels then spin freely you probably have a hydraulic system problem. Regards

I looked the transmission pilot bearing/bushing up in my '49 Plymouth Parts manual. It called it out as part of the crankshaft assembly, gave a part number, but no dimensions. Was hoping to get a length. The part number is 53 298. I wonder if someone previously pulled the transmission for some reason and tried to replace the pilot bushing. Couldn't get the old one out and just tried to jam the new one in as far as it would go. Maybe "mushroomed" the end of it trying to hammer it in, and then ground or machined the mushroom off leaving the undercut on the end of the bushing. Just guessing on my part. Regards. P.S. Always liked a Dodge panel truck. My buddy worked at a garage when we were teenagers. The company service truck was a Dodge panel. On the left rear door was painted " I May Be Slow, but I'm ahead of you."

Need some help with the cowl ventilator on '49 Plymouth. So my cowl ventilator rods were not connected. Connected them with a 1/4-20 bolt and lock washer. Gave it a push and the whole upper ventilator went straight up and flopped over towards the hood. Looking up under the dash I see two 90 degree angled brackets with an empty hole in the free end. On the back of the ventilator are two keyhole slots. I'm guessing I am missing some kind of links that go between the two angled brackets and the two keyhole slots that would allow the ventilator to pivot rather than go straight up. If someone could advise what I am missing, it would be greatly appreciated. Tech Sheets: while I used the Search function of this forum to see if any information was available concerning the cowl ventilator I stumbled on a forum entry from January of 2007 titled "Exploded Diagram Body Sheets" . These sheets show exploded views of body panels, doors, frames, etc. also the cowl ventilator . At that time they cost the forum member $9.99 from Ebay. If you click on the link at the bottom of that forum entry these tech sheets are now FREE.

Looks odd. As Dodgeb4ya stated: top rings aren't sealing very well. I'd be tempted to scotchbrite as you did and with inside micrometers try to get a diameter measurement from the rusty side and also 90 degrees from that. Trying to determine if the bores are "egg shaped" in any way. Perhaps carbon black, marks alot, or dykem the upper 1 inch of the bore circumference and rotate the crank to see what kind of scraping/sealing action your getting from the upper rings. Might all be good information but if it was running good before your teardown I'd probably button it up and continue driving it. Regards.

Andyd....thank you for the clarification on this 13/16-11 thread. I have never had the front suspension apart on my '49 or '50 Plymouths or the B1B Dodge. Had no idea of the flat thread of the "Pin" as they call it in the Service and Parts manuals. At first I thought the Mopar engineers were off their rockers or there was a misprint in the Parts manual. After your explanation and seeing the picture of the part on the Ebay listing Rich found above, it is staring to make sense to me. Pretty clever design. Can you tell me though, is the bushing this pin goes through also threaded or a smooth bore? The exploded view in the manual seems to show it threaded. Please advise. Best regards to all.

A Bernbaum also lists the kit.

My parts book for a '49 Plymouth calls out a 13/16-11 nut. My Machinery's Handbook does not show this thread size in any of the standard lists....I can find a 13/16-12 and a 13/16-20 but no 13/16-11. The part number in the '49 parts book is 1136 488.

Did you get this situation sorted out? Sounds like the turn signal switch is working as it should by cutting out the brake light circuit on the left light when the switch is put in the left turn position. I also would suspect the flasher circuit. With the switch in the left turn position I would run a jumper wire from the hot side of the flasher to the other terminal of the flasher and see if the left light comes on. If my memory is correct a two terminal flasher has a hot terminal and a load terminal for the light. A three terminal flasher has a hot terminal coming in and a terminal going to the light and the third terminal is for the turn signal indicator light on the dash board. Let us know how you make out. Regards.

I got the indicator socket with the small GE#51 bulb wired into the Hi beam side of the Hi beam switch. In the day light couldn't see the indicator on the speedometer but in the dark of night was visible. Took a chance on which socket hole in the bottom of the speedometer to plug it into. The "red" indicator socket on my '49 was the one on the right side of the speedometer when viewed from the front. The after market turn signal switch I installed has the indicator on the end of the switch handle. Thanks for all the assistance. Regards to all. Stay healthy.

Correct.... the sockets for all the guage lamps and the indicator lamp are metal and will need cleaning and re-wiring. The lighting lamps are GE # 55 bulbs. The one indicator lamp is a GE# 51 bulb. Plan to work on them tomorrow.

IMO for a driver I would rebuild and 4 out of 6 bolts to hold thick cast iron cover with new gasket would be fine.

It's been quite awhile since I did clutch work on my old Mopars and never remember having a problem getting the throwout bearing in. But yes, I'm pretty sure you have to completely bolt up the clutch assembly to the flywheel first. Years ago I had access to a lathe where I worked and made up an alignment tool out of a piece of round steel tubing. If I can find it in my rat's nest of a garage I will measure it up and send the dimensions. Back then the plastic alignment tools were hard to come by and people would use a sawed off front shaft from a junked transmission as an alignment tool. As stated above, a wood rod, dowel, broom handle could be whittled down to fit through the clutch disc and tapered on the end to pick up the I.D. of the pilot bushing. Nowadays the plastic alignment tools seem to be at most auto parts stores and are not that expensive. Bottom line, I think the clutch assembly has to be completely bolted up. Regards.

Ah Ha... See the small holes from the front. No light sockets in the back but see the holes. There is one socket and bulb hanging free and tucked up behind the dash. The dash board wiring harness was cut by someone and all the wires look tan from age at this point. Guessing this may be the Hi beam indicator. The car did not have any turn signal unit on the steering column so guessing there was no light and socket for the turn signals and one hole in the back of the speedometer was left open, or maybe a rubber plug(but no plug found). Thanks for pointing out the locations. Best regards.

For 1949 Suburban. So my service manual shows the wiring for a "turn signal indicator lamp" and a "hi beam lamp" which I assume is a hi beam indicator lamp. My problem is I can't seem to determine where on the dash board these lamps are supposed to be located. Please advise. Best regards and stay healthy.

Will someone explain to me the big bugaboo about applying heat to a brake drum hub to get it off a shaft. Does the same go for sprockets on a shaft or a nut on a bolt. What have I been doing wrong all these years. I only use heat as a last resort but I do sometimes use it to get a job done.

Improvisation!!! That's what I'm talking about. Necessity is the mother of invention. Looks good.

My '49 parts book calls for cotter pins with the nuts on the brake anchor bolts. They were really hard to see with all the grime coating the parts. Did you find them and remove them before trying to back off the anchor bolt nuts? I suggested a bit of heat on the tapered hub. I'm not talking about a cutting torch, I'm talking about a hand held torch like you would use for soldering copper fittings. Mine happened to have Mapp gas instead of propane. I played this on the hub for a few minutes. Nothing turned red. Was just trying to maybe expand the hub and loosen it from the shaft. Had the puller tensioned up pretty tight and also whacked the slugging bar with the sledge hammer. Hub came loose. Was it the amount of tension, the heat, or the amount of the whack...who knows, but the hub came loose. What was found was there was no rust on the hub or tapered shaft or the inside of the brake drum. Good luck. Did you drive the car with the shaft nut loose and cottered? Also, do you have the slugging bar for the wheel puller? If not, rapping the end of the forcing screw of the puller may set up the necessary impact to release the taper. A cross type lug wrench may serve as an alternate for the slugging wrench. Please post your findings once you get it off.

Just added turn signal switch to my '49 Plymouth wagon/suburban. From photos I looked at, the '41 Plymouth looks like it has one brake light at the center of the trunk and one light on each rear fender. The rear fender lights are turned on/off using the "Light" switch on the dashboard. If the rear light sockets have a single wire running to it and a single filament bulb you will need double filament sockets and bulbs to add the turn signals.i.e. one filament for the rear running lights and one filament for the turn signal. Otherwise you have to find a way to have the hot wire from the flasher/turn signal switch interrupt the hot wire feed from the light switch.