Technical 31 Dodge suspension help...

Ok, well that's good to know. Is it possible the cross member had been replaced with this toyouta stuff? I'll peruse your pics, but where could I locate stock stuff do you think? I feel like I'm stuck with adaptions offered by the aftermarket which in my mind is either a tube axle setup of some sort or mustang 2 unless there's some other awesome thing I'm missing.

For informational purposes we are installing a 331 hemi and 4 speed.

 

Original Stuff is going to be more difficult to find. '33 and later Plymouth's, Chrysler's and Desoto's seem to be fairly well represented by a variety of Antique Mopar parts vendors, but '32 and earlier can be difficult to find. You might want to try the AACA forums if you are looking for original stuff.

http://forums.aaca.org/

 

...here's couple pics of the front frame on my 32 DeSoto, same as a 32 Plymouth PB
doesn't look like the one under your body, it looks like the truck frame posted on page one,...

 

I would say it looks like you're correct, but the very front of the frame rails appear to be there, where the are rounded on the nose. Maybe the added that part back on. I am gonna knock the mint green paint off and see if I can spit where it was spliced. Guess I'll probably have to resort to a aftermarket solution and build off he frame I have.

Thanks.

 

I am not hung up on having the original stuff. I guess I want to go with whatever would be the most economical option and offer the best ride & performance since it appears going back to stock may be alot more effort and difficulty to find parts.

 

@Hardcaliber--- I don`t think I`ve ever seen a 32 Plymouth of Dodge 5-window. Please post a pic.

 

@stanlow69 - That would be because I clearly cannot count. Its only 3 windows. Its at my fathers house and I haven't spent a lot of time on it clearly lol. I ve edited all my references to it as such.

 

I hauled home a 33 Plymouth body the week of X-mas to my boys house. I have seen it more on the trailer on the way home behind the pickup than at his house.

 

People used to run what they had lying around....could have damage original parts or who knows

 

I sorta like parallel leaves as it would have come originally, they are available and one place that you may have already looked is Speedway and they are not the only one that can supply them. I hate to tell you (and partially because I can't remember) but I sold the beam axle and springs out the 38 Chevy in my avatar pretty cheap. You might find some swap meet items pretty cheap.

 

OK, so I went back and forth through the pictures. I sure wish you would have posted pictures that covered more of your suspension without the tire in the way.

I have to wonder if whom ever modified the steering from the front steer to the rear steer didn't also modify the struts and their mounting location. The purpose of the strut bars are to stabilize the lower control arms and reduce the forward and rearward movement of the lower control arms. It also looks like your strut bars have been bent to clear the steering.

My suggestion would be to see if you can move the strut bars to the front of the control arms, and anchor the front of them near the bottom of the rad. The strut rods appear to bolt onto the lower control arms. Unbolt them, move them to the top side of the control arms and see if you can't get close to the bottom of the rad, swap them side to side it it would help. Modifying the struts and their mounting points will be a lot easier then changing the front suspension.

If you go with any style of beam axle, you will also need to change the rack & pinion steering to a steering box and add the needed steering tie rods and links. To keep the rack & pinion, you will need to go with an independent suspension.

A Mustang II style front end like most aftermarket suspension kits are patterned after are front steer, which means a different rack, and a different rack location, which also adds more stuff to attach the rack to the column.

If you intend to change over to a beam axle, I suggest a parallel leaf spring suspension. Easy to make spring mounts at the ends of the springs, U-bolts to hold the axle in place, shocks, then deal with the steering box and brake issues.

Or, you could just cut the whole mess off at the firewall and start over. That might not be as bad as it sounds. Gene

 

@gene-koning i will take a closer look on Monday and see if your thought about swapping strut rods would work. I feel like I had considered that after my original post. I could potentially make my own strut rods right? The other thing I am concerned about with the existing suspension is overall travel potential. With no engine there’s only like 2 inches from frame to bump stop which isn’t a lot I feel, but not sure if mustang 2 style setup has much more? I would definitely prefer to modify what is existing than completely replace. In 4 weeks or so I will have my ‘56 project done finally and will have this car drug out and can get real pictures. I am super appreciative for the feedback I’ve gotten thus far with basically the worlds worst pictures.

 

Hardcaliber, As long as your constructed strut bars and capable of withstanding the load that could be applied to them by the braking forces, I see no reason you couldn't make your own.

As far as the ride height, the nice thing about torsion bar suspension is the ability to adjust the ride height by adjusting the bolt that applies the leverage. Unless you go off road, I suspect you would seldom see more then 2" of suspension travel. You should be able to adjust the ride height to accommodate that much suspension travel with all the weight on the front end. The biggest problem with an adjustable ride height is sometimes when it sits high enough to accommodate the suspension travel, it sits higher then a person might like it to sit. Fixes for that are often difficult, depending on how the suspension is set up. Gene

 

@gene-koning I dont think there is enough frame rail to the front of the suspension and it sits too high to really have a effective strut bar. The other thing was I was thinking I could make it longer and mount it further rearward where the frame dips down and flip the rod to the top of the arm.

The adjust ability is the part I most like about the setup on this car. I just was not wanting to bang it off the bumpstops all the time..

 

Hardcaliber, I've run Mopar torsion bar suspension for may years, during normal street use there was seldom more then 2" of suspension travel, unless you got into extremely rough surfaces, that you would normally slow down for anyway. We only had 3" of travel on our dirt track race car unless we got the front tires off the ground.

I don't know how much room you have forward of the suspension, but the Mopar forward facing strut rods are about 15" long, and the front ends are mounted at least 6" above the lower control arms. The Mopar strut bars are solid steel about 5/8" in diameter and have big washers with a rubber cup sandwiched between at the front and are bolted to the lower control arm on the bottom. If you need to mount them rearward and the end up being pretty long, you will need to make them out of pretty heavy duty material. Gene

 

i have some original front springs. pm me if interested.

 

So I think I have narrowed it down to actuall being a '31 Dodge for various reasons. I finally drug this thing out to start on it. I have seen on various posts that there should be a serial number on the RH door post, can anyone confirm where this may be?

 

The 1931 Dodges have a right side A pillar tag....

 

If you could post some photos of the overall body, I can verify that it is a 1931 Dodge or not. It sure does look like it by what you have already shown.

 

Verified that it is a 1931 Dodge brothers DH6 coupe on another site.

 

Yeah I don't have one of those....

 

I mentioned this to you on the other site, but I will share the information here....
There is a serial number on the frame, too. Look around the driver's side, rear axle spring mount. The face of the frame near the front spring mount for the rear axle. It will be faintly stamped and hard to find, so a wire brush may be required to "gently" find it. The numbers are probably about 1/4" tall. The body is definitely a 1931 DB DH6.

 

Thanks so much for the info. You totally helped solve a longtime mystery! Do you have a source on any parts? It’s going to be pretty stripped down but I do need somethings like door handles and a hood and the proper grill/radiator as well. I’m sure these things are very hard to find..?

 

I will see what I can dig up for you. There is this....the price is VERY right....http://forums.aaca.org/topic/308547-1931-dodge-dh-to-whom-ever-wants-to-buy-it/

 

Stock Dodge suspension much better than Ford, a Model A axle would be a definite step backwards. Mustang II is the easy way out if you are not stuck on finding a stock axle.

 

Hardcaliber....as an aside....if you decide to purchase the sedan, there are parts I could use, too. That would bring your cost down a tad.

 

We pulled this torsion bar IFS from a 73 Baracuda and the struts do run at an angle in relation to the torsion bar so the easiest fix would be to bend the strut and reset the bracket. This would shorten the strut so one would have to move the suspension through it's full range without the torsion bars in place and see if there is any binding or change in steering geometry.

 

That thing is pretty sweet! I would be
Pumped to just have that as a starting point, I would hate to dis***emble that thing for parts! Thanks for the tip though. I’ll just keep perusing the cl***ifieds but if you see anything drop me a line!

 

I would be happy to put some stock dodge stuff on there, but the back has been switched to a Ford 9” with ladder bars and coil overs and it’s tubbed so going with a mustang 2 is probably the route I’ll choose. I feel the same way about the ford stuff as well.