Questions?????????? 1941 Desoto

[kenn59]

  Good evening everyone , I thought I would post my question here hoping someone could straighten me out on this I am looking at a real nice 1941 Desoto deluxe 4 door I love the 4 door sedans of the 40'sChrysler products,anyway this is a real nice solid car will make a great fun car for Sunday rides with 3 grandkids, my questions are ,I thought all Chrysler products from 1941 -1953 had some so of fluid drive trans, all the 40's chrysler products I have owned did this one has a standard shift I have driven it and it drives well but Noticed it has a very tight shift pattern and the clutch pedal is not the same height off the floor as the brake, its lower,  I have never seen this in any of the Desotos or Chrysler's I have owned , I was  wondering if this is correct????? car runs and drives fine is this something of concern thanks in advance for any and all replies I will stayed tuned   Ken

[uh6077]

The 41 came standard with a manual 3 speed and the Fluid Drive was an option. My 41 Deluxe 2dr has the 3 speed manual. My pedals are pretty even and it shifts nice and smooth so the one you are looking at probably needs some adjusting. Nothing to worry about, just needs and little attention. There are numerous connections that need to be cleaned and lubricated at least yearly. Sounds like maybe it hasn't been done in a while. When a clutch wears out the pedal will have a lot of slack. Maybe they adjusted the pedal to remove the slack. Worst case it needs a new clutch plate.

[Chrycoman]

Fluid Drive was not the transmission, but the fluid coupling between the engine and the clutch.   The clutch plate and the starter ring gear were attached to the fluid coupling.

 

You could get the Fluid Drive mated to the 3 speed manual, which means once you placed the car in gear you could drive accelerator / brake without having to worry about it stalling,  Of course you would need to use the clutch when you shifted gears.

 

The semi-automatic transmission, Simplimatic, was optional for 1941, but you had to have Fluid Drive as well.  In this set up you needed the clutch to choose reverse, low range, high range or neutral.  In either low range or high range you started out in low gear (of that range) and shifted to high by lifting your foot off the accelerator, and then placed your foot back on the accelerator after you heard the "clunk". 

 

Again, with Simplimatic you could come to a stop in gear and, thanks to the Fluid Drive, the engine would not stall. 

 

If you own to Chrysler product with Fluid Drive and want to look up information in your pre-1954 parts book or service manual you will need to check the Clutch section and not the transmission.