I'm buying a 1931 Plymouth business coupe with no front brakes. The axle and springs are present. I have the opportunity to buy a 1932 DeSoto chassis. With front axle and brakes. So I'm wondering if the DeSoto brakes will work on the Plymouth axle. Or if the whole axle might fit the Plymouth. Another option might be to put the Plymouth body on the DeSoto chassis. I wonder if the Ford F1 front axle and brakes might be a better choice overall.
Thanks Dave. I did that but they don't seem to have much for those two cars as far as brakes. I see a brake cylinder and a bearing and a brake hose, but I need to know whether the spindle, backing plate, and axle itself might interchange. More than anything else I guess, I really need to figure out if the DeSoto spindle will fit the Plymouth axle with no modification. I'm hoping one of our early Mopar gurus will stop by. Both the car and the chassis are hours from me. I'm comparing what few pictures I can find.
Cool car. My pal had a '33 back in the day; as I recall there was no, or very little, wood in the body. If you're going to hot rod it you probably want better brakes than either of the options mentioned but there's nothing wrong with the stock axle and spring setup.
Thanks. I love a '33. If anybody has any info or can point me in the right direction as far as adapting later/better self-energizing drum brakes to the original axle...
The forked or female part of the connection between the spindle and the axle on this car is on the axle. Like a Model T. I doubt I'd be able to find a later spindle to fit. I think to use the original axle, I'd have to adapt the later brakes to the Plymouth spindle. If that's even possible. Or just use the F1 axle and springs. Upgraded to the later self-energizing brakes. Build my own spring perches. Bob's your uncle.
Ricky, Ricky. You forget my PM to you? I have some ‘32 Plymouth hardware, backing plates to spindle nuts you can have for UPS store from me to you. I’ll never use them, and will be less heavy to remove the axle under my truck
Or, the whole sha-bang. That’s if spring perches line up (did under my Dodge PU) Edit: give me a pic of your axle king pin style. Measurement of what the space is and diameter of it. If so inclined, measure up the spindles as well. Id bet my stuff would just bolt on, but if spindle is different sized, but will work for you, makes the axle even lighter!
Hey, @Budget36 ! I guess I did forget! That was when you and I were talking about what I should put under the front of my roadster, before I knew I was going to buy this coupe. And at the time, I was thinking that shipping heavy parts might cost too much. But I think I'd rather spend the money to ship a fellow hamber's (your) parts that I know will fit, rather than spend the money and time to rent a trailer and drive 4 hours to Ohio to haul that chassis home. And then the parts won't fit. Besides. Ironically, though he had agreed to wait for me, the seller just sent me a message this morning saying he has another buyer interested. I wrote back, Oh well, never mind, thanks anyway. Very fortuitous that you stopped by! I'll send you a message.
Well, even though it seems that Mike might be able to help solve my problem, I'm still very interested in any information some of you DB and early Mopar aficionados might be able to share concerning this area of expertise. Pleasantries and salutations.
Sorry I don't have the exact info required here. If the restorers are not helpful, I'd look into repair parts (spindle and bushings) and if they are the same. While I don't think Mopar brakes were worse than the competition back then, I would look at the later model upgrade you talked about. This is especially true if you can't find info on those repair parts. If those are your chop marks, I'd define the driving position before cutting. The Mopar stuff tended toward roomier than Ford stuff, but they were all small back then.
Thanks, @RodStRace Those are the previous owners chop marks. His dream. But he passed before he could finish. I'm glad he didn't get any further with the chop. I have my own dream. Whatever I do, I'll make sure the ergonomics are at least reasonable. Being only 5'8" 150lbs is in my favor in this particular sitch-ee-ation.
You might be able to find a later pickup axle with the same spring perch centers and spindles for which brake kits are available. Might get it dropped as well.
While I don't have it handy, iirc, Tex Smiths' Hotrodding Chrysler stuff book, had at least 1 article on the mopar axle/spindle/brake swap(ping), using later mopar stuff. Both 60s/70s drums(?) & later discs. It's been awhile since I've read it through. Worst case senario, you could always go w/the 70's/80's concept of using AMC bolt-on spindles/brakes(either drums or discs - both of which came in different sizes. Or apply the principle & use late model spindles/brakes from some(pick your poison here...) front wheel drive somethiingorother. Just make sure the spindle is modified properly/safely(whether turned down to new specs, or welded to old oem spindle, of which there are a couple of ways to do this). Maybe you can mix-n-match bearing shells/races/etc, or conjure-up a little bearing adaptor like they did for ford stuff eons ago. IDK... . Marcus...
So, I have that Tex Smith book. I just looked through it and there is very little information concerning the oem front axles, and even less concerning swapping in anything else Mopar. There was a brief mention of a Dodge van or truck beam axle from a 1965 - 1971 1/2 ton as an option. If you can still find one, it would at least have the modern drum brakes. Almost sounded like that truck axle was a bolt in to the old 30s cars. There was about a 1/4 page covering installing a Ford axle, cross spring, and crossmember into the early Mopar frame, but the info there is very generic. The book I have was copyrighted in 1990. That book probably won't be very helpful.
You can add this to the really doesn't answer your question but just more information. This is taken from one of my old Flat Rate manuals, however my manual is not old enough. I also realize what I'm showing is independent, not straight axle suspension. By the way, great looking car. ras
Maybe you could tell us what direction you plan to go with the car? Stockish? Fenderless hotrod?Lower than stock? IMO any axle newer than the 30's will be too wide and most are ugly as hell. Many people bastardize these cars with a buggy spring setup. They lack imagination IMO. Mopar wavy axles are cool to name just one. My avatar coupe is a '31 Plymouth(with lots of non Mopar parts!) Think outside the box!
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