50 Dodge Lug Nut

Mike - I also have a '50 Coronet, 4 dr. I had my master cyliner and wheel cylinders rebuilt about 2 months ago by White Post Restorations in White Post, VA. They are family owned for 60+ years, did an outstanding job and their turn-around was about 8 days. Price wise, compared to buying new (Asian or Indian crap) and being able to keep and use your own original parts & equipment having them completely rebuilt was the right choice for me. PM me if you want more info or want to swap "war stories" about our Dodges. Regards, Frank

Don, & others I have had the below website bookmarked for several months. Sounds interesting and it might be the answer you are looking for. http://www.dashknobs.com/pages/about.html I have NOT done business with him as yet. Good luck in your search. Frank

Thank you all for your suggestions and tips. They are very helpful. My son and I will hopefully finish pulling the drums and related parts plus the master cylinder early next week. The m/c is going to White Post Restorations for a rebuild as are the wheel cylinders. I'll order the shoes, springs, etc online or locally. Your help is appreciated. Frank

Hello all - I need to replace the rear brake drums and shoes on my '50 Coronet. Thinking that I 'll replace the wheel cylinders, springs and related parts at the same time. Any suggestion as to a one-stop shopping source. Andy B has some of the parts, Rock only has cylinders & seals, Roberts has very little and I didn't bother with Kanter's. NAPA around this town is useless and clueless. The kids at the counter only think they know the difference between 20W50 motor oil and a tail light bulb! Many thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. Regards, Frank

Sorry for the delay in sending these. Truly, one stupid trick (yours) surely begets another, yet more stupid trick (mine). This one you all will enjoy..............at my expense......... The wife and I decided to put in a garden last week. Off to the local ranch supply for materials. Fence posts: $110. Fence wire, staples: $ 84. Ag lime: $16. Roto-tiller rental: $69. Cutting your phone line and internet cable with a post hole digger: PRICELESS! The phone co just got my service working late morning today. Here's your files. Let me know if you need more. Frank

Longtops - The '50 Dodge Shop Manual has the pics and instructions how to remove the door /window handles, door panels, trim, glass channel and the glass. I can post the three pages for you if it will help. Regards, Frank

It is the bypass elbow and bypass elbow tube. Parts are about $39 and $15 respectively at Bernbaum's or Vintage Power Wagon. Don't forget to order a gasket for the elbow as well. Regards, Frank

One of the few pleasures in life when I have dealing with these scumbags is to ask them, once their spiel starts "Is this some kind of sick joke?" Naturally they say "no," why. And my reply is " Mr -------- ---- passed away about 4 days ago. Please have more consideration for the family. This gets them really mushed-mouth and they star losing their composure and even apologize. Of course, the wife doesn't think it as funny as I do, but what does she know about it.

knuckleharley & Frank M - Thank you guys for the follow ups and the leads on the door sills. Your help is appreciated. Sorry for the delay in replying to you all. I've been "otherwise occupied" and now I can get back to some real work...................the Dodge! Again, many thanks. Frank B.

Hello everyone who responded to my cry for help. Your replies are deeply appreciated and helpful. I'll try to answer everyone's questions from their reply or provide a comment : PatS - thanks. I thought that plug was needed to keep road dust, debris, etc out of the bell housing and away from the clutch disk (s). Not what I was hoping to hear about the door sills, but thank you again. Hmmm. I wonder if I change my name from Frank to Bank, I'd be eligible for federal relief or bail-out $$ to buy the sills. :-) anthonyb - What a super idea. Many thanks. We do have a Lowe's store near us, I'll try them over the weekend. Merle Coggins - Merle, another source. Your feedback and suggestion is great. If Lowe's doesn't have it..........or can't find it..............then off to Ace Hdw or True Value Hdw. Again thank you. greg g - You've posed some interesting questions and have given me a good renewed sense of hope for assistance and parts chasing. Below are my replies to each of your questions: You say you drained and refilled the fluid drive and the transmission, just curious as to the procedure and fluids used. You might want to recount those here just as an affirmation of your choices. (not questioning your choices or procedure from affar, however ther have been some great discussions of problems in the past) Checking the oil level, draining and re filling the Gyromatic Transmission was pretty simple and straight-forward. No pun intended! I have the service manual plus I down loaded pictures (might have been from this forum, don't remember) of the M-6 trans showing the exact location to access the drain/fill plugs, solenoid and governor. We removed the bottom most plug on the rh side of the transmission and the fill plug immediately above that, drained the transmission and after letting all the old fluid drip out for a while, replaced the drain plug and filled it. Servicing the Fluid Drive unit was a real treat for us. We removed the access hatch, and filler cap cover. Then I "jabbed" the ignition switch in short bursts to find the fill plug. It was exactly where it was described to be --at 2:00. We removed the dust cover/cap, etc that I mentioned in my original post and my son shined a flashlight up into the bell housing as I again "jabbed the ignition switch until the drain plug was centered directly over the bottom hole in the bottom of the bell housing. As we could not get any type of wrench up there to loosen the plug, inside the car, I marked the location of the F/D unit's housing (one of vanes or fins) in relation to the bell housing. I scribed a mark with an awl and re-marked it with a red indelible marker. That gave us the 180 degree opposite location of the drain plug. Step three, we cranked --"jabbed' the started until the drain plug was back at 2:00, stuffed the rags into the bell housing to keep from losing the plug and removed it. Step four, cranked the started one more time again until our mark on the F/D was lined up with the mark on the bell housing and out poured the old oil. A thing of beauty. That dripped all over the place and took about 45 minutes to stop!... We brought the filler plug back up to 2:00 and after trial and error learned to add fluid very very slowly. Using a hand pump from a 5 gal pail or 15 gal drum provides far more liquid that the fill opening can handle at one time. We must have wasted about 3 qts till we got the system tight. My guess is, years ago Chrysler/MOPAR must have had a special adapter that fit onto the filler hose and screwed into the F/D unit to help fill the units painlessly. In both the Gyromatic Trans and the Fluid Drive I used Universal Trans/hydraulic Fluid. It's the same hydraulic fluid used on tractors and equipment with all "wet" systems. It's approx 10-20 Weight, NON foaming. it seems to work fine in the two or three short road tests I took since the drain and change. The only noticeable difference I sense, is the upshift seems to be louder and not quite as smooth as it was before the fluids change. Now, I can actually hear the "clunk" on the upshift compared to earlier when it was almost as smooth as an auto transmission. Previously the trans had 10w non detergent oil. I plan to check the solenoid and governor next if there's no improvement, I might drain the transmission again and order the 10 w non detergent oil. Welcome, its not that this is a Plymouth board, it just that use Plymouth drivers seem to be the most active (read have more hot air) than the Dodge folks. There are some guys here who are very knowlegable regarding the care and feeding of Dodges. Good point. Let's hope everyone continues to share their knowledge and experiences. Both good and bad. Also there is some great information on the Imperial club website regarding the F/D gyro (M-6 semi automatic transmission) They heven have a scanning of several of the technical pamphlets they used to give out to the mechanics. You can find it under their repairs section. Very good resource for your drive train, bookmark it when you find it. YES, I found that several months ago by accident thru a link on one of the MOPAR car club sites or another form. Greg, you are so correct. It is an extremely valuable resource. A treasure for people like us! BTW, no doubt you know that by "drilling down" through one of the links on the Imperial website, you'll find the Master Technician Service Conference that lists a host of service and repair problems from 1947-1977. They have a service notes in addition to the scanned service pamphlets you mentioned. The URL is http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Lit/Master/index.htm Greg, many thanks. BobT-47P15 - I will keep an eye open for his Ebay listing for those sills. NO, I hadn't thought about the restaurant or janitorial supply houses. That might be another source for the material. BTW, I have located a source in Tennessee that makes rubber parts like sills, etc but his listing is only for Ford Mustangs & T Birds. Ugh...........but I will call or e-mail him anyway. Thank you for taking the time to respond. knuckleharley - See reply below. Thank you. know this is primarily a Plymouth forum,-<< Where did you get that idea? This is a early Mopar forum. Chrysler,Dodge,DeSoto,and Plymouth, There just happens to be more Plymouth owners here. Most likely because more Plymouths were made and sold. Only from the name of the forum. Aren't we supposed to believe everything we read? :-) Your explanation does make sense. My interest in the '50 Dodge Coronet is probably unique. It's the car I bought in high school in 1961. Years ago I promised myself that when I retired I would find another as close as possible to what I had then and work on it to bring it back to full life. I'm thinking by the time I'm either done with the work I'll be broke or too old to drive! >>The car has a Fluid Drive unit coupled to a Gyromatic transmission. << You have already been helped on this one. You used 10 or 20 wt non-detergent oil,right? YES, I have. Most answers to my questions were answered by find prior threads. And YES, I did. See my reply above to GregC re oils and the drain refill. <I>Question 1. Where can I buy just that piece and what it's exact part name or number? </I> Do yourself a big favor and go ahead and buy one of the reproduction parts manuals for your car. That way you can look at the actual part you need and get the factory parts number for it. Knowing the correct parts name and part number helps avoid confusion and costly mistakes trying to buy parts you can't see from people in other states. Here is one of several places that sell them for reasonable prices. They advertise on ebay and I have bought several manuals from them. Their prices are competitive and they have quick delivery and a toll-free number. http://www.faxonautoliterature.com/ Outstanding idea. I bought my service manual from them and they are good folks with whom to do business. I'll order it at your suggestions. THANK YOU. Question 2. I'm looking for a source for the rubber door sills. << As others have told you,there is a guy selling these on ebay that has a 100% satisfaction feedback rating. His ebay screen name is djyaz,but he doesn't have anything listed for sale at this time. I THINK he gets $279 per pair,but may be wrong about this. You can go to ebay,do a search for his screen name,and then send him a email through ebay to see if he still sells them. You could also check other sources if you had the parts number. See where the parts manual comes in handy? Good idea. I'll search for him as well as try the other suggestions offered. These sills just might have to undergo a "reconditioning" if I can't replace them at a reasonable cost. Too many other priorities and wants/needs for the car at this time. Again everyone, thank you for your help and ideas. This is a super forum. Let's keep sharing! Regards, Frank

Hello all. I've been "lurking" around this forum for several months and now find myself in need of the "gurus" help on issues with my 1950 Dodge Coronet. I know this is primarily a Plymouth forum,--but there is a lot of knowledge here you all are willing to share with each other-- and the issues I'm having with my car are likely similar to what some of you might have experienced with your Plymouths. Here are my questions, hopefully someone has the answers or where to find them: The car has a Fluid Drive unit coupled to a Gyromatic transmission. Since purchasing the car in the fall, this has been the first chance I've had --due to some health problems--to start some long-overdue work and service on it. My son and I drained and re-filled the Fluid Drive unit and the Gyro. trans. In removing the "dust-cap" or cover on the bottom of the Bell housing to access the F/D, one of the two, tabs broke off and we can't get the cover/cap to stay in place at the bottom of the unit. This is that metal cover slightly larger than a quarter with a beveled edge that fits up into the unit, while the larger diameter outside edges are visible from the outside of the housing. Have I described this correctly? Please see attached. Question 1. Where can I buy just that piece and what it's exact part name or number? Or, if you have had the same problem what have you used as a replacement part? My son has suggested I buy an assortment of tapered rubber plugs and force fit one into the hole. Any thoughts on that? Anyone visualize a problem with that? Question 2. I'm looking for a source for the rubber door sills. These are the under-door thresholds approx 2- 1/2 " x 30", held in place by 4-5 rubber grommets. I have tried Bernbaum, Kanter, some of the known rubber parts suppliers, running board mfgs--that was a stretch-- and even Googled "Stair Treads" and industrial rubber matting to no great avail unless I buy in quantity. That's it question wise. FWIW, last month I needed to have my trunk lock Tee handle and lock & key assembly redone after it was screwed up up a local locksmith. Found a super, very accommodating and affordable locksmith company in the Jacksonville Fl area. In fact, the owner told me his first car as a '47 Plymouth. very coincidental! Please let me know through the form or e-mail at nofrnk@netscape.net if anyone needs their contact info. Thank you for reading/listening and for your help. Regards, Frank