Howdy, y'all. Finally found a 3.73 RE w/ disk brakes locally and pounced on it. My question for others that have done this swap is - were you still able to use your stock wheels? - and if not, what wheels did you get that worked? As I understand it, the bolt pattern is the same - I'm asking more about fitment, rubbing, etc. Follow up question - how have folks gotten the stock parking brake handle to work with the parking brake system on this axle?
can't help on the rearend ?, but can we see a pic?...workin on my 50 Ply after buying it 20 years ago..
There's like 4 different widths to the 8.8 rear end, depending on year and application. Hard to tell you how it would fit without knowing what your wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface distance is. I have a 1950 Plymouth here in the shop I can compare to for you once you supply those dimensions.
What is/was the donor? 1992 -up Ranger and Explorer should be near perfect width. Seems like the guys over at www.p15-d24.com have done this swap several times. Check them out.
Does your Plymouth have 14" wheels or 15" wheels? Are you sure the wheels on your 50 Plymouth are 50 Plymouth wheels? Lots of stuff could have happened over the years and your wheels could be older, or newer, or not even for a Plymouth. I'm betting the 14" wheels won't clear the brake caliper. The 15 inch wheels may or may not. The diameter of the center hole, and caliper clearance are the two biggest issues with wheel to disc brake clearance. Sometimes a 1/4" thick wheel spacer between the rotor and the wheel solves both problems. My son ran more modern 15" disc brake wheels on his 57 Dodge wagon with the disc brake 8.8 before he bought mags for it. We did have a pair of 54 Chrysler Newport 15" wheels here that did clear the disc brakes on the 8.8 in his wagon (but did not clear the hubs on the front disc brakes). He wanted all 4 wheels the same, that was why he got the 70s version of 15" disc brake wheels.
Parking brake cables can be flipped, so the end can be on the side the factory cable is located. Just a matter of connecting the two cables together. With a bit of ingenuity it's easy peasy.
I don't think it is a two cable issue but rather one of the original parking brake being behind the transmission. In any case, the lever under the dash should be useable.
I'm thinking that that Plymouth uses the same wheels that are on my high school ag shop built car trailer as it has Mopar spindles and hubs and 15 inch Mopar wheels. I've got a stack of those wheels that came with the trailer and can measure one in the morning if I remember to.
Pretty much all 15" Plymouth/Dodge wheels are the same from 1947-52. I think they might have gone a little wider with the arrival of the Hemi for Dodge in 1953, but all Plymouths should be identical. Let us know when you get back to the car and we'll help you out with dimensions.
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