49 rear end...rebuild or swap in another?

[Guest charles1471]

My 49 Plymouth rear end has some bearing noise...a hiss that is constant & pretty loud.

I'm thinking that a rebuild would be pretty costly & where would I find someone to do it? (I live in SYRACUSE NY)

I could find another one from a parts car & take my chances. Anyone know of a parts car within 300 miles?

I could swap in another from a more modern car with a better ratio. Anyone know what might fit & have the same bolt pattern?

Thanks for your ideas

Carl

[Normspeed]

Hi Carl, welcome to the forum. You might run a search for earlier threads on rear end swaps. There have been some recent posts about what works. There are still parts cars around, and probably a few folks here have rear ends they've swapped out for later stuff. The center part without housing or axles weighs over 70 lbs so shipping becomes an issue.

Post some photos when you can.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Just keep in mind that 1949 was a special one only year for rear axles..it is narrow..as for the rebuilding..all you need to do is swap out the pumpkin..the whole rear end does not have to be disturbed from the body at all...as for outer axle bearings..just pop some new ones in...a donor car from other years up to I think 52 would give you the pumpkin..however..as I mentioned..your axles are year specific...

[greg g]

Hey Charles, where in Syracuse are you??? I am located in Manlius. It is great to have another participant from the area. There are a couple of places in the area that do work on older cars, but a rear end refresh should be work within the scope of most mechanics. Sun Chevrolet in Chittenango will do work on vintage cars as the owner has quite a fleet. Also Burghart's across from the Dougs Fish Fry in DeWitt will do some items. If I remember correctly the fellow who owns it was a mechanic at one of the Chrysler/Plymouth dealerships back in the 50's and 60's. There is also a place in Mattydale, and a fellow in Bridgeport who specializes in model A's but does work on other vintage stuff.

If you like send me a PM with your contact info, and perhaps we can get our heads together. There are plenty of donor cars for rear axles, Small Fords, Jeeps, and others that could be used (those share the same bolt pattern) but as mentioned the common swaps available tot he P 15 and D 24's will be too wide. If you can get the measurments from flange to flange and spring pad to spring pad. It will be helpfull to have these measurments.

Here is alink to some info about possible donors if you want to swap.

http://www.carnut.com/specs/_rear.html

[Guest jtw3749c]

I was on the phone with George Asche yesterday and we were discussing rear ends. He told me that 37 through 48 or 49 (I think) pigs would swap or the gears would work for all those years. You got to understand that we were on the phone for an hour, so I may have lost some of what he was telling me, as I had no pencil to jot it down with. We covered a lot of ground about different items. He does conversions all the time, so you could give him a call and see what he says about it. Very, very knowledgeable man and makes lots of mods with the Mopars of yesteryear.

[Normspeed]

Another thing, if swapping the center part only, Car axles from 1953 on had 16 splines, not 10 as earlier ones. Truck diffs may have gone to 16 even earlier.

Hollander book has a pretty complete illustrated reference to Mopar car and truck axle types and lengths over the years. Learning to read Hollander Books is kind of a challenge though:confused: