STX123

Thank you all for the great pics and suggestions. I always loved the wider tires in the back look. Now just have to make rim choice. Thanks for taking the time to post, it’s much appreciated. Thanks again everyone.

Greg G, that looks awesome. I never thought about the stock attaching bolts. Do the newer rims work with the stock bolts? Is there a conversion kit to install studs, or do you just bang them in like regular modern cars? Thank you.

To all, I cannot thank you enough for taking the time, and sharing your info. Now I have ideas that I can try out. My head started hurting with the whole math thing tho. Just like back in math class. Lol. Great idea with the wood block. The cars really look amazing just with a wider tire setup. I’ll keep you all posted on how I make out. Thanks again, John

Hi everyone, I searched to find the answer to my question before I posted, because I’m sure this has been discussed, but could not find an answer, so sorry, but here goes. I have a stock 49 Plymouth special deluxe convertible P18. I want to finally change over to radial tires. My rims are shot, so I want to get new wheels also. What would be the widest wheel and tire set up I could run in the rear, and front? Any suggestions are welcomed. Thank you.

Thank you. I will mention to alignment shop when I get to that point. Right now it’s Wally and his whole family when driving down the road. Lol. I had the steering box rebuilt, put new attachment bolts, sleeves, and really important, is that rubber gasket that goes between steering box and frame. That helped a lot. Hoping new radials will improve it more.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will see if I can find a place that can look at the rims. I was thinking about radials to maybe soften the ride a bit too.

Thank you.

I’m going to be putting on new tires soon, and was wondering if these factory rims can ever be balanced perfectly, or do they all seem to have some sort of a slight wobble to them? Trying to balance the old set a while ago, it looked like all the rims seemed just a little off. Normal, or look into new rims also?

Thank you very much. She still needs a ton of work. Yeah, I had to build a shed just to keep her dry. She lost her spot in the garage to the 2015 Mustang. Lol. But the shed is nice, and the more I fix her up, the more attention the 49 is getting.

Put new isolator rubber pads, and installed the missing bolt sleeve for the steering box, and tightened everything to spec. It's a whole lot better. I guess your steering box not moving around is important..LOL. Anyway, I purchased new tie rod ends, so I will install them, I will order new tires for the front, and send her out for an alignment, and I actually might have a car that steers pretty good. Next will be the brake system, then floor pans, and a convertible top. Then just enjoy the car for awhile. Thanks for the help guys. Anyone suggest tire brands, and who to but from? Going with the G-78-15, 2.5" WW, in a radial. Thanks.

pflaming, thats exactly what Mike said about the king pins. I just dropped the car off. He drove it and said he will go thru it and let me know. It was an exciting trip to say the least. Man that car is all over the place. Unfortunately, he thinks the place that rebuilt my steering box did not do the right thing. He even said it did not feel right. We shall see. I'm in it for the long expensive haul. My Uncle passed and left me a few cars, and I want to do the right thing as a tribute. Will keep the car in the family.

The steering was the original issue, and having it up on the lift, everything seemed tight. So that left the steering box. It just seemed you had to move the steering wheel so much before anything happened anywhere in the front end parts, so thats when I pulled it out and had it rebuilt. We never tried adjusting it, because I figured it was so old anyway, might as well rebuild it. I hope they filled it with the proper lubricant that it needed.Now, I will say, that the rubber isolators are shot, and i'm missing one of the bolt sleeves that go thru the chassis to the steering box. I'm going to be bringing her down to Mike at Vintage, who actually has the same car. He has all those isolators and sleeves. If he does wheel alignments, I'll let him do the front end, or whatever the car needs. I also need tires.

Finally!!!!! Got reverse. So I went down to see Mike from Vintage to see if I could look at a trans and feel how the selector lever felt. It felt just like mine did. Mike was also convinced like everyone here, that it was still in the rod adjustments. From reading everyone's reply's, the word "Syncing" stood out. Both rods have to work together at the same time. I'm attaching pics to explain what my column sleeve looks like. There are a lot of holes in it, where I guess people have positioned the Column shift lever in different places. I put it back where it came out of. The worn paint area even proves that it was in that position. But not getting the proper throw made me take the whole shift lever rod and lever, and move it up towards the steering wheel like a 1/2". I knew I had something when I went to put in reverse, and it binded. I then went under and backed off the selector rod adjustment nuts to where they were almost originally. Shifted into reverse, (said a prayer), let my foot of the clutch, and looked at the rear wheel going in reverse!!! Holy crap!! I couldn't get it off the jack stands fast enough! Took her for a ride, and she shifted great. Reverse is dependable. The sad part about all this is, that I took it all apart to get the steering box rebuilt so the car would steer better.............and...............the steering is still just as horrendous!!! Cant thank you all enough for the help. I hope this will help someone else in the future.

Hey guys, just saw your messages to me. I'm still new at navigating this site so I didn't know to check the PM's. The pics def help. I will be back at it tomorrow after 5pm with my buddy again. I'm hoping with the both of us now looking again, we will figure it out. Thanks again for the messages and pics.

Wow, the pics look great, definitely clearer, thank you.I guess i'm just down to finding that happy adjustment with the rods. I tried putting the question out there on Google to see other info, and it had a link to this site, from back in 2014, with someone having a 1st and reverse problem. Most of the discussion was about the rods. Do you see where the adjusting nuts are in the pic? This was where it was back when it worked. Now, I have the nuts as far in as it can go, compressing that spring all the way. That is how I removed all the slack as per the manual, and it still won't engage. I don't know how it worked before, with the nuts where they are in the pic, because then its not even close to pulling the selector on the trans forward enough. Again, thanks for all the suggestions, and comments.

Mightmo52, I by chance was looking online at shift linkages, bushings, anything to just get a pic of what I might need, and I came across a "Vintage" add. When I called him and found out he was in Farmingdale, I went the very next day!! I'm in Amityville, so it was so close. Mike is awesome!! He has everything for these cars, and is so knowledgeable about these parts. Once I get it to go into reverse I'm bringing the car to him so he can look at the floor pans, and the convertible top that I need. I'm going to pull the selector rod back out, and bring it down to him so we can match one up. pflaming, is the selector linkage on the trans that sensitive that an eighth of an inch would keep it from selecting 1st and reverse? Would the angle of the rod pulling on it make a difference? Thanks for the reply's guys.

Its definitely a problem with the selector shift rod that controls 1st and reverse. I had everything apart and put back together so many times now, that I can do it blindfolded. I now know what every nut, bolt, spring, lever, and washer is supposed to do. I have taken out all slack from that selector rod. I got it to go into reverse once with the column shift lever, and then it just goes forward. If I get underneath and pull the selector itself just a touch more, it goes into reverse. That selector rod looks like someone has put more bends in it. Just doesn't look like some factory bends would. I'm going to look into maybe getting another rod. I just dont understand how everything worked before. Seems like that selector on the trans should not engage by just that little bit. You would think that it should fall into place without an eighth of an inch making a difference. maybe the rod is so bent that its not pulling at the right angle, and that's why that little bit is so critical??

Had a Buddy come over tonight to help me out. We did put the rear up on stands, and began playing with the rods. Finally we disconnected the rods off the trans just to see what is supposed to do what. The bottom rod will give you first and reverse, and thats the rod that is giving me the problem. We finally got it to go in reverse without the bottom rod being hooked up. I have to figure out how to take the slack out of this rod. It all worked fine before I took it apart. When you move the shift lever towards you, it moves that piece at the end of the shift lever rod, where the other piece rides in that groove. This seems to be loose also. I'm close. I know what i'm doing Saturday morning.

I received my parts manual, so now I have both service and parts, but it still doesnt show the shifter rods. There are two rods, one that attaches to the lever assembly, and the other rod goes to a lower lever, which has a piece that rides on the assembly part. Is this bottom rod the one that controls reverse? I can take the rod that has the bushing and nut thru it, and push down into a gear. Pull it up one click, and that seems to be neutral. Pull it up again, and its in gear again, maybe 2nd gear? So now im thinking that when you pull that shifter lever towards you and up, that bottom rod should come into play, and go into reverse? I have a friend coming over tomorrow night, so he can sit in the car and press the clutch in, while I move the rods, and see if I can find reverse. If I know what the rods are for, I can prob put it together to make it work. I'll try to attach some pics of what I got here. The first pic is from under looking up. I believe I have the rods in the right position. Is the upper rod supposed to move freely in that oval space it goes thru, Or do you kinda put it in the middle and tighten it up?

Installed my rebuilt steering box, and I don't remember exactly how the shift rods attach back to that mechanism that is on the shift handle rod, that runs along the steering shaft tube. I don't have reverse right now. Would anyone have a pic, or can talk me thru the way they should go? They kinda fell back into place, but I don't know what to try and fix right now. It's definitely the rod attachment points on that piece, because I didn't touch anything on the trans. Any direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Well, I got it all back together and tried to back it out of the shed, and I have no reverse. I now have 4 forward gears. I made it a 4 speed some how. lol. I really need a pic of how these linkages go together. I didnt move anything else, and it seemed to all just fall back in place. I think the bottom rod that attaches to the bottom half of the mechanism with that little clip, is wrong somehow. I believe that would be the reverse rod. I will try and put a pic up of what I have.