I'm wondering if any of you Mopar owners can help with any Pros/Cons on the front suspenion of the 1942-48? I'm thinking should it be replaced or rebuilt? Also any thoughts on the Fluid drive? Are these transmissions worth keeping behind the orignal engines? Thanks for any responce.
search here----> http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/. i decided to keep my stock front suspension after studying that site. just relocate the shock mount.
The stock suspension is actually pretty decent design. Move the shock mount and put on disc brakes and you are set. Send a PM to olddaddy for disc swap info. Fluid drive? There are two camps; one likes/tolerates it, the other hates it. Is it difficult to change to something else? Well, it would not exactly be a Saturday morning project but certainly doable. You can find another similar make/model that has a 'normal' 3-speed and swap everything or get even deeper and change to a modern 5-speed or Torqueflight. .
There's a bunch of threads on here covering shock relocation, rack & pinion steering conversions & disc brake kits. Q.E.C., "73RR" here on the Board, makes adaptors for putting modern ******s behind the flattie. Fluid drive ain't much to cheer about.
is there only specific years for this disc brake set up, would love to find something to work on my 56 front end
'56 is a diffrent set up. There's kits by AAJ, Old Daddy or someone here on the Board makes one, plus disc brake spindles from some 70s cars can fit, depending on how widely spaced your A Arm mounts are. check www.forwardlook.net in the "Exhaust pipe-hot rodding" section
My 55 Desoto front suspesion looks almost identical to my 50 Chrysler's. Sooo, is the difference in the spindles or ???? I am following this thread as I want front disc brakes too. I am considering adapting some late 70's F100 disc brake spindles to my uprights. The king pin diameter is only .020 larger for the Ford spindles. We shall see.
that is what i gather as well "spindle diameters" but there can be other variences as every where i look 55/56 are not interchangeable with anything else??? i have not come across other 70's spindles that fit these
Move the shock mounts, discs brakes, rack and a nice sway bar I had a 51 plymouth set up like this it rode and handled great. The only down side is it is metal on metal no bushings so it must be greased every 1000mi. The fluid drive on my dodge was not so much fun.
Oh, a '56 DeSoto, yeah those are still king pins, The other 3 brands were ball joints by then, guess you'll have to do the kit.
Fluid Drive is one of the first efforts at an automatic transmission. In operation it is like a cross between a standard and automatic. It takes a special driving technique which is hard to figure out for yourself but easy to learn if someone tips you off (just ask). Performance is on the lousy side especially takeoff from a stop. Chrysler compared it to the way an airplane takes off, slowly with lots of revs, then picks up speed rapidly when it gets going. On the + side they are extremely well built, rugged and trouble free. Basically you have a Fluid Drive unit (like a torque converter, but does not multiply torque) then you have a dry plate clutch and a 4 speed manual trans with a built in self shifter mechanism. If it doesn't work, 9 times out of 10 it is the wiring frayed, broken or shorted out. Or low on oil. I wouldn't put one in a car if I had a choice. On the other hand, I would not swap one out if it was working. And as I said, 9 times out of 10 you can get it working without too much trouble and without spending more than a few $$$ bucks.
Suspension is a good IFS for general driving. Not hard to repair or rebuild as such things go. Usually a minimal amount of repairs, adjustments, and an alignment job and you are good to go. As others have pointed out, improved brakes and shocks are available. I would be inclined to keep the original suspension, engine and trans. Of course it depends on the individual car, but as you can't be bothered to give any details, not even year and make, it is pretty hard to be specific.
I would like to thank you guys for the feed back. (Rusty) The car is a Chrysler '42 cp. I'm leaning toward the stock supention a 4-speed with open drive. Thanks .
The Jalopy Journal
