I need to remeasure the diff.axle from the outer side of the drums.  My objective is keep the original suspension with 4 speed automatic.  I don't think I am experience enough to change out the front clip of a car.  Maybe in the future, if I don't like the ride and handling of the 47 Plymouth. 

The situation is this:  looking down from a bird-eye view, the ball (gears)of the axle is centered but the joint connection to the shaft are not.  I believe it needs to be center all the way to the transmission and engine.  If not then i have to move the engine more to the driver's side but the steering box might be in the way.  Thanks for the information to align it horizonal but this is bird-eye looking down.
see'ya next week
thanks 

Gabriel,
You are going about your car project in the wrong way. The '89 Camero is not a suitable donor vehicle for a '53 Plym. Why???   The rear axle width is to wide for a '53 Plym and will thereby leave you with tire problems in the fender wells. If you MUST use a Camero you will need an early Camero, up to about '72 with an axle width of 54-1/2" backing plate to backing plate which is close to the original tread. The '89 Camero is somewhere around 56" with 3.5" wide drums.

If you feel that you must upgrade the power train of your Plym go for a Volare, preferably a V8 because the slant 6 is very difficult, but not impossible, to mount into the earlier cars. There are three advantages to the Volare, they have rack pinion steering and disk brakes. thirdly... the whole cross member unbolts making the switch over very simple. If you look around you should be able to pick up a late '70, early '80 Volare sedan for a couple of hundred dollars. I purchased a nice 81 Volare last year for $100. and drove it away.

In response to your question about the angle of the pinion on the diff. The nose of the pinion should be down between 2/5 degrees, the reason being that when the power torques up the nose will rise bringing the drive line into a near straight line....Bill

Hello everybody,
I have 47 Plymouth Sedan deluxe.  This is where I am at on my car restoration or fix-up: I just remove the body from the chassis.  My 'part' car is a 89 camero.  It sounds crazy but I hope I am not breaking any Codes of Honor by making it Chevy power. 

Anyhow, I am going to replace the differential axle before I sand everything but I notice the connection part of the shaft is not centered.  WOW.  I wasn't counting on this.

My question is can the shaft have an angle?  It won't be aligin with the transmission (700r4) or 250inline engine. I don't want to be switch the front suspension or the steering system.

help

Found a 3.55 complete rear end out of a 53 Desoto. SWEET DEAL!!!

Phil,
Sorry for the incorrect addressee ..... I will quietly stand still and take my forty lashes with a wet noddle....  :P ....Bill

Quote from: Wm Steed on February 19, 2008, 01:34:11 PM
Phil,
Before you get carried away with your quest to change the gear ratio in your car, you must first access just what is the purpose of changing the gear ratio? If you are running a stock engine and only driving the car a couple of thousand miles per year why bother? On the other had if you drive the car a lot on long trips in Flat Country, a taller gear ratio might be in order.

As a general rule.... a car that originally had an auto trans will have a higher gear ratio in the rear end. Check into the '53 Plyms that came with the Hy-Drive option.
A better solution to your gearing problem would be to put an overdrive in the car. Historicly, an overdrive car has a lower gear ratio in the rear end than the average car because the overdrive is usually somewhere around 25%. In the mid 1950's a Ford with overdrive had 3.89 gears where-as the standard gearing was 3.71. The modern cars also use the same thing, overdrive AOT 3.73 compared to 3.42.

I recently read an article about the early Ford V8's that was very interesting. The early V8's were commonly referred to a SCREAMING 8's because of the noise they made. The noise was actually emitted by the fans not the RPM's of the engine. At 60 mph the early Ford with a 3.78 axle ratio was turning 2,400 rpm, at this rpm the engine was producing 75hp of it's advertised  95 hp, as the rpm's increased the actual efficiency of the engine decreases.     

The overdrive option is a much better idea as opposed to a tall rear end because you have the option of low gearing in the hills or for passing, where-as the only option for over gearing is to down shift into second gear ....Bill

I will be using this car quite a bit and will be making some 2000 mile round trips.  Plus I want to be able to cruise on the highway at 60 and not hear my car screaming. As for a overdrive I would love one, but I dont have the cash to drop on one yet. All my cash went into my hopped up flathead 218. I found a 47 desoto pumpkin and a 52 desoto entire rear end. Would either one work?

Quote from: Wm Steed on February 19, 2008, 01:34:11 PM
Phil,
Before you get carried away with your quest to change the gear ratio in your car, you must first access just what is the purpose of changing the gear ratio? If you are running a stock engine and only driving the car a couple of thousand miles per year why bother? On the other had if you drive the car a lot on long trips in Flat Country, a taller gear ratio might be in order.

As a general rule.... a car that originally had an auto trans will have a higher gear ratio in the rear end. Check into the '53 Plyms that came with the Hy-Drive option.
A better solution to your gearing problem would be to put an overdrive in the car. Historicly, an overdrive car has a lower gear ratio in the rear end than the average car because the overdrive is usually somewhere around 25%. In the mid 1950's a Ford with overdrive had 3.89 gears where-as the standard gearing was 3.71. The modern cars also use the same thing, overdrive AOT 3.73 compared to 3.42.

I recently read an article about the early Ford V8's that was very interesting. The early V8's were commonly referred to a SCREAMING 8's because of the noise they made. The noise was actually emitted by the fans not the RPM's of the engine. At 60 mph the early Ford with a 3.78 axle ratio was turning 2,400 rpm, at this rpm the engine was producing 75hp of it's advertised? 95 hp, as the rpm's increased the actual efficiency of the engine decreases.? ? ?

The overdrive option is a much better idea as opposed to a tall rear end because you have the option of low gearing in the hills or for passing, where-as the only option for over gearing is to down shift into second gear ....Bill

Bill,

I assume that you meant to address this to XmikeyX rather than me. I have already changed my gears to 3.73 (around 1992).

Phil

The R 10 overdrive used from 52 to 56 and easily retrofitted back to 40 reduces engine speed 30%.
Plymouths originally equipped with OD had ratios of 4.1 to 1 rather than 3.9 to 1.   Other ratios were available such as 4.3 to 1 and 3.7 to 1.

As mentioned elsewhere there can be differences in axle splines . In general splines were the same from 37 to 52. Axle lengths were the same from 37 to 48.  49 were unique  then 50 to 56 were the same but in 53 to 56, there were more splines. You can put a 53 rear end in a 50 by using the axles as well.

A good non overdrive ratio is 3.7 to 1. It was most often found in business coupes  49 to 52 and in Desotos 1947 and 8 which came equipped with 15 inch wheels.  If you were to use one of these  units in a 53, the axle gears need to be changed to suit. (re read paragraph 2)

Phil,
Before you get carried away with your quest to change the gear ratio in your car, you must first access just what is the purpose of changing the gear ratio? If you are running a stock engine and only driving the car a couple of thousand miles per year why bother? On the other had if you drive the car a lot on long trips in Flat Country, a taller gear ratio might be in order.

As a general rule.... a car that originally had an auto trans will have a higher gear ratio in the rear end. Check into the '53 Plyms that came with the Hy-Drive option.
A better solution to your gearing problem would be to put an overdrive in the car. Historicly, an overdrive car has a lower gear ratio in the rear end than the average car because the overdrive is usually somewhere around 25%. In the mid 1950's a Ford with overdrive had 3.89 gears where-as the standard gearing was 3.71. The modern cars also use the same thing, overdrive AOT 3.73 compared to 3.42.

I recently read an article about the early Ford V8's that was very interesting. The early V8's were commonly referred to a SCREAMING 8's because of the noise they made. The noise was actually emitted by the fans not the RPM's of the engine. At 60 mph the early Ford with a 3.78 axle ratio was turning 2,400 rpm, at this rpm the engine was producing 75hp of it's advertised  95 hp, as the rpm's increased the actual efficiency of the engine decreases.     

The overdrive option is a much better idea as opposed to a tall rear end because you have the option of low gearing in the hills or for passing, where-as the only option for over gearing is to down shift into second gear ....Bill

I installed a 3.73 from a 1955 or 1956 Dodge into my '41 Dodge (originally 4.11). However, this was not an easy swap since the axles shafts have a different number of splines and I didn't obtain the axles with the rear end. I effectively had to switch out the gears and make a small machining mod to some internal parts. Can't remember the specific details since this was many years ago.

Phil

Im looking for a rear end that I can put in my 53 Plymouth. I know about using a 8 3/4 rear end out of late 60s B body mopar, but I wanna keep the original look. Was there a better mopar rear end made in the 50s that I can put in my 53 Plymouth???

Come on guys....lets figure this out.  ???