Elusive 39 transmission shifter linkage

[Mr Bee]

I'd just braze a bit of brass on the end and use a file to shape it.  It'll give you whatever length you need.

[maxime]

Hello Mr Bee. 

i have the same problem with my plymouth 1939 P8. I have my cable tramped in wd40, it works well 2 days then afterwards, it becomes very hard. I had not seen your post before but did you manage to repair your cable? thank you

[desoto1939]

i looked in my 36-42 Desoto parts Book and the 39 cable is a different part number than the 1940 cable.  So yes they are specfiic to the years.

 

Keep trying with French lake I know he lists cars on ebay and look at 1939 Desoto he has several still listed and might still have the braded cable.

 

I got my extra cable from him because I know these are very hard to find also Dodge, Chrysler, Desoto and the upper model Plymouth not the roadking all used the same trans.  Could also use the Plymouth roadking model trans since it was a floor shirt trans 3 speed.

 

Also check the  gaer shift control road ball joint connection this might be worn or junked up I do see these on ebay .  Another parts that wears out and only for 1939 Mopar cars. There are currently three listed on ebay ranging from $19-40. Pick one up for the $19 price to have as a spare since it is only a 1 year part from Ply,Dodge, Chry and desoto

 

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

Edited December 1, 2020 by desoto1939

[maxime]

3 hours ago, desoto1939 said:

i looked in my 36-42 Desoto parts Book and the 39 cable is a different part number than the 1940 cable.  So yes they are specfiic to the years.

 

Keep trying with French lake I know he lists cars on ebay and look at 1939 Desoto he has several still listed and might still have the braded cable.

 

I got my extra cable from him because I know these are very hard to find also Dodge, Chrysler, Desoto and the upper model Plymouth not the roadking all used the same trans.  Could also use the Plymouth roadking model trans since it was a floor shirt trans 3 speed.

 

Also check the  gaer shift control road ball joint connection this might be worn or junked up I do see these on ebay .  Another parts that wears out and only for 1939 Mopar cars. There are currently three listed on ebay ranging from $19-40. Pick one up for the $19 price to have as a spare since it is only a 1 year part from Ply,Dodge, Chry and desoto

 

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

is-it the number 34 ?

[Mr Bee]

I did get my original cable working.  I gave a detailed how-to earlier in this thread.  Long and short of it is that I bought a stiff push-pull throttle inner wire and brazed it to each end as per my earlier how-to.  Works good so far.

 

But...if I had a cable like yours that works for a couple days at a time, I'm pretty certain it's still got lots of sludge in the lowest 12 inches of the cable.  In my how-to I described a number of methods to clean out the sludge.  It would have worked on mine, however, I went a bit overboard by bending the cable while my drill was spinning the inner wire.  That snapped my wire which led me to getting a fresh inner wire and brazing it in place.

 

By the way, French Lake did send me a cable, but it was seized even more than mine was.  No fault to them...they warned me it was badly seized.

[maxime]

18 hours ago, Mr Bee said:

I did get my original cable working.  I gave a detailed how-to earlier in this thread.  Long and short of it is that I bought a stiff push-pull throttle inner wire and brazed it to each end as per my earlier how-to.  Works good so far.

 

But...if I had a cable like yours that works for a couple days at a time, I'm pretty certain it's still got lots of sludge in the lowest 12 inches of the cable.  In my how-to I described a number of methods to clean out the sludge.  It would have worked on mine, however, I went a bit overboard by bending the cable while my drill was spinning the inner wire.  That snapped my wire which led me to getting a fresh inner wire and brazing it in place.

 

By the way, French Lake did send me a cable, but it was seized even more than mine was.  No fault to them...they warned me it was badly seized.

Wonderfull !! thank you !

[clovold]

I know I'm reviving an old thread, but I'm going to have a custom cable made for my '39.

If anyone is interested I could probably have a few extra made.

[Mechanik]

Hi everyone. I just found a NOS shift cable I will be listing on ebay in case anyone is in need.

Thanks.

[desoto1939]

currently Moparpro has reproduction 1939 Transmission shifter cable listed on Ebay. He lists that he has 6 and the cost is $335. Yes that is correct $335.  The 39 is different than the 1940 shifter cable.  so if you need you then you have to pay the piper or find a used one.  These are hard to find.

 

Rich Hartung.

[bdjenkins]

I thought I’d chime in to share my success (thankfully) story. I could shift between 1st and Reverse, to 2nd if I was lucky, and to 3rd was ok.  Going back to 2nd from 3rd was hit or miss.

 

After reading the posts in this thread, I took the cable off.  It was stuck and required a lot of pressure on either end to make it move. I hung it up vertically in my garage and sprayed penetrating oil and brake cleaner on each button and the 'collar' that houses each button.  I let that soak a bit - then would press each side back and forth a few times. 

 

I'd then flip the cable around and spray the other button/collar to let liquid seep into the opposite end.

 

After about 2 days of doing this on and off a handful of times per day, everything loosed up nicely.  I can now make the cable move with very little pressure and it springs back into place without issue.

 

I reinstalled the cable and we're back to normal. 

 

Thanks to everyone who posted!