Ron42Dodge

Did you ever find your brake drums you needed. I never saw this post until today.

Do you know anything about the picture? Where it was taken? The clay tile roof in the backgroud says California to me but the License Plate looks elsewhere.

It does look to be 42 Dodge related. Trying to sell it?

Eric, mine is a 1942 Dodge. Some Chrysler used the same return spring 677446, but not 1936. According to my Chrysler Master Parts List 1936-1942 1936 C7 and C8 used 651767. Also Desoto 1936 S1,(ex deluxe after 6052846 switched to 301477 on rear), 1937 S2, 1936 C9, C10 and C11 used 653607. 1937 C14 and C16 used 301477. Also Desoto 1936 S1,(deluxe after 6052846 switched to 301477 on rear), 1937 S3 1937 C15, used 667673. 1937 C17 used 653607. 1938 C18, C19 used 677446. along with 1939 C22 and C23, 1940 C25, 1934 C34 (ex 7 pass & Limo), 1941 C28 and 1942 C34 (ex 7 pass & Limo). Also Desoto 1938 S5, 1939 SS6, 1940 S7, 1941 S8, 1942 S10 (ex 7 pass & Limo) 1938 C20 used 653607 along with 1939 CC24 1940 C26, C27 used 854059 on the front wheels and 854049 on the rear wheels along with 1941 C30, C33, 1942 C34 (7 sedan & Limo), C36 & C37. 1942 Desoto S10 (7 pass & Limo) used this set up too. Possibly 1946 - 53 Chrysler, Dodge Desoto too I wish I knew if any numbers interchanged. I don't know if the difference was number of coils. I believe after the war many went to a 2 cylinder setup and a totally different spring.

Mopar Mall seems to imply 301477 and 677446 interchange. This is the same direction I was leaning towards but not sure of. Replaces MoPar p/n's 301477 - 677446

I just feel all the sites seemed to be doing the same thing and saying good enough. I found similar info on Robert's and other Mopar sites. Seems to have fallen into the cracks. The parts manuals that cover many years seem to have caused the confusion such as they show a spring # 854059 working on the front of a 42 Dodge but fail to mention 7 passenger only in 42. Because they went to 2 cylinders and 2 springs per wheel after the war they did switch to that spring. but 38 -42 Dodge, Desoto and Chrysler 6 mostly used the #677446. The bigger Chryslers used the other spring but again the multi year books don't cover it real well. Better with the 35-42 books. But either way I have not been able to locate the ones I think I need.

I thought it would be simple to order some front brake springs for my 42 Dodge but it has turned into a research project that I still have no clue. My 42 Dodge front brakes are a single cylinder with dual pistons just like most 42 Chrysler C34 DeSoto and Plymouth. These used 1 return spring #677466 pulling from both shoes close to the cylinder. This appears to be the Spring used for Chrysler, DeSoto and Dodge 6 cylinders and a few early 8 Cyl Chryslers. The 7 passenger cars and C36 and C37 had 2 Cylinders in the front (one upper and one lower. According to my books they still only had 1 spring # 854059 (18 coil) but I don't know how they were placed to return both shoes The 7 passenger rears and C36 and C37 were single cylinder dual piston and used spring #854049 (26 coil) Plymouth was a single cylinder dual piston but used Spring #301477 According to my D19, D22, D24 shop manual the 41, 42 and 46-48 Cars had 11" drums except for the 42, and 46-48 7 Passenger had 12" After the war Dodge went to 2 cylinders on each front brake and 2 #854059 Springs on each wheel. Each sping has one end attached to the the other shoe but one end is near the pivot which doesn't move much and the other end is near the expanding cylinder. In my mind Springs that work on single cylinder (dual pistons) have to stretch more and also have to return more than springs that only return a single Cylinder. Springs for 12" drums would seem to be 1" longer than for 11" drums I don't know what size drums Plymouth used from 1928 to 42 to know if the #301477 would work. I'm just not believing the #854059 is the right spring like the ones listed on Ebay hint It seems like spring #677466 has no replacemnt. Has anyone found a good answer? Looking at Andys site he shows one spring covering 28-47 All Mopars. I assume they had different part numbers for a reason.

What are your plans for the grille?

My NAPA book says, 4 Cylinder 1926-28 Chrysler, All Engines, All Models use Ignition Coil IC9, 6 Cylinder 1926-27 All Engines Models 60, 65 also use IC9. Pretty much 1926-1930 they call for IC9. I don't have any info on Mopar numbers

Kind of confirms the answer.

So I ran into a similar situation but the oil wasn't as old. Estate sale of a corvette owner. Had about 26 quarts of Quaker State from the late 90's (W10x 30) Plastic bottles. They were going to recycle it. I took it instead. Is it a problem to use it in an older 40s car with a rebuilt engine?

We designed a lot of shops with them at customers requested and over time had a lot of feedback. Most learned this should not be your only source of heated as they do tend to shut down and need maintenance. Filtering used oil is key. Just expecting to dump used oil in the tank is not a good plan as you will just create a lot of need for servicing it. You obviously need access to used oil and place for storage. Our oil change garage customers eventually went away from them because they did not seem to have time (or reliable help) to filter the oil. Other customers loved them but did the filtering prperly. If you have access to enough oil and have the means to filter they can be good but have a backup system.

Rusty, Just like a natural gas furnace the fuel is burned and exhausted through a heat exchanger so all the exhaust fumes are vented out side. Air is blown across a heat exchanger. It is not like you are setting a pot of used oil in the middle of the room and lighting it on fire for heat. in that case the burned gases would not be vented and that would be bad.

It is a shame there is no part number so I could tell which this is. Cool piece for the wall if nothing else. Thanks for that input.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I think it is a reverse light for a 1954 Studebaker Commander and 1955 Studebaker President. Still looking to see if other models used it.

I would appreciate any help in trying to identify this light. There is no part number on the bezel. The Lense has the letters A-H-B and STC on it along with a 3 point star bust pattern made into it. It has a cloth wire coming out of it so I'm leaning towards the 40's or 50s.

Steve, I think you are confusing the 2 door sedan as being the same as a 2 door club coupe. The center pillar on the 2 door sedan was vertical like the 4 door where the club coupe has a forward sloped center pillar. I would not consider Club Coupes frumpy. They only made about 469 1942 Desoto Deluxe Business Coupes and 120 Custom Business Coupes. Probably not many left The 42 DeSoto is so famous for those hideaway headlights but in my opinion it looks like it is missing something when they are closed and doesn't look good at all when they are open. Might be just me. But I'm hooked on the 42 Dodge.

I once had a pair of 42 DeSoto fender Skirts. Strange looking to say the least. Even were Blackouts.

So a few months ago I went to an auction of a 42 Dodge convertible that was mostly original and very low mileage. Now I am really confused on the body Tag number. Apparently my tag has a bolt through the first half of the number. The Auction converttible had a body tag number of 424-1505. There were 1185 total 42 Dodge Convertibles made. I had assumed mine was # 1134 of 1185. This car had the Dodge Brothers red tag higher up on the firewall but also had 2 empty holes below it. There was also a thin piece of metal with a number pressed into it that appears to be attached just below the body number. I might have to remove my bolt to see if I can read the rest of my number.

Thanks Frank. I removed second picture. I will see if I can find a better image.

I've have a 1942 Dodge Convertible which came with red leather seats. The side panels and back of the from seat have a leather looking material that is slightly darker than the seats and I don't believe it is leather because it feels thin and in the side panels they have nicely details patterns that I don't believe could have been done with leather. Does anyone know what material was used on the door panels? I have to replace my door panels as someone had discarded the original ones and used a naugahide like product with padding. I want to attempt to clean the original seats and side panels and am looking for suggestions for cleaning products. I've seen some products and videos on leather cleaning and reconditioning but I'm not sure if you can use the same products on the door and side panels that I don't think are actually leather. I am attaching 2 pictures of my back seat and one picture of the original 1942 Dodge Convertible that just was sold at auction. The red leather of the seats does not actually match the side and door panels nor the cover of the back of the front seat. My front seat was previously redone but still needs to be color adjusted to match the original. I would like to preserve as much of the original seats as I can. After seeing the original convertible I was even more inspired. It was beautiful.

Part of this whole conversation has been trying to set straight what Fluid drive was. It was not part of the transmission and had nothing to do with shifting. It was a one to one torque converter located between the engine and clutch that allowed you to come to a full stop while in gear. You could also start from a stop without having to use the clutch. The tranmisiion type handled the automatic or manual shifting depending on whether you had a Chryler, DeSoto or Dodge and later Plymouth. Too many folks think the fluid drive is part of the transmission but it is not.

Great explaination. I did not know the floating power refered to the Fluid drive. I always assume it was a reference to the ride / suspension.

Dodge, DeSoto and Chrysler all had the Fluid drive advertised on the trunk which really only was promoting the ability to stop without pushing in the clutch. The Chrysler and DeSoto had the early automatic shifts which had various names like tip toe shift, Vac Amatic etc, which were part of the transmision, not part of the fluid drive. Kind of like saying it had a fluid drive engine. No it didn't. I describe the fluid drive as a forgiving Clutch as it is more difficult to kill the engine when starting out. But it is only atached to the clutch and not part of the clutch. All the fancy names were usually refering to the transmission, not the fluid drive.