A new member with 1939 41C projects

JimShelly

JimShelly

Member
A little background on this car. I've been hoping to do The Great Race for several years and this past June I did the San Antonio to Greenville TSD rally. I bought my car from a customer in 2019. This is a survivor car, I'm the 5th owner, the odometer isn't working but total mileage is now in the high 30,000s. The car had not driven more than a couple hundred miles a year for decades, forcing me into a lot of prep work. That included an engine rebuild, a new clutch, radiator recore, the brake system was rebuilt completely but I left the stock configuration, 6 new tires and a 12 volt electrical conversion. I'm guessing we ran about 3500 miles after reassembly including The Great Race itself. I left Greenville looking forward to an easy 2 day drive to home in NJ but only got about a 150 miles when my new pressure plate failed and I had to tow it home from North Carolina. At least I finished GR and this didn't happen during.
Therefore, I'm looking at another clutch job. Last time we pulled the front end apart and swung the engine and transmission out as a unit. Since I never want to do that again, I'll have to move the torque tube and rear axle back to pull the transmission. I'm thinking of adding an overdrive at the same time. Gearvendors builds a unit that welds into the torque tube.
AND, on day 2 of the rally, my rear lever arm shocks ran out of fluid and the car got very scary whenever it hit a bump. Every night thereafter I had to jack up the car, crawl under and refill the shock reservoirs. Not an easy job. (If anyone has to do it, a hand pumped oilcan works best, especially with a flexible nozzle.)
So I have a few questions.
1. Does anyone know how to do a rear tube shock or airbag conversion for this car? Adjustable suspension along with more reliability is my goal.
2. Does anyone have a good source for a new pressure plate? I bought mine from Cars but it failed young.
3. Has anyone experience with the Gearvendors overdrive? How hard is that installation?
I look forward to your replies.
Jim

The car in happier days.
 
Go to your local parts store an ask for a clutch/pressure plate for a 1995 Jeep Cherokee. I have one in my '50 behind a warmed up 263. Perfect fit.

Power Torque
K 1890-05
From O'Reilleys

Ben
 
Yes the 1995 Jeep Cherokee is a good fit.

Keen to explore idea of overdrive as well.

I have seen it installed on another '39. Will try to post pic of its installation.
 
1939 overdrive.
1939 46C said:
Yes the 1995 Jeep Cherokee is a good fit.

Keen to explore idea of overdrive as well.

I have seen it installed on another '39. Will try to post pic of its installation.
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No one has any thoughts on shocks? I'll have to do that project as a second effort then. I'd think airbags replacing the coil springs would work, but I'll have to do some careful measurement before ordering anything. The overdrive install along with a clutch re-do is a late September effort.
More follows...
jns
 
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My 52 had lever shocks in the back and factory shocks in the front similar to yours in the front. I removed the rear shocks and installed tube shocks from a chev ½ ton pickup. I left the front shocks in place, drained the shock fluid out and replaced with grease. I installed tube shocks on the front and had a larger sway bar made. Nothing else was changed. The shocks and sway bar made a 100% improvement. I can drive it 8 hours now and not be completely warn out. I chose ½ ton chev pickup because my car weighs about the same and those parts will be around for ever. You have to have welder and a torch. It is not a weekend job. I have some pictures if you are interested.

The Great Race came near where I live and I looked at the cars when they stopped for the night. No trailer queens!
 
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suntreemcanic said:
My 52 had lever shocks in the back and factory shocks in the front similar to yours in the front. I removed the rear shocks and installed tube shocks from a chev ½ ton pickup. I left the front shocks in place, drained the shock fluid out and replaced with grease. I installed tube shocks on the front and had a larger sway bar made. Nothing else was changed. The shocks and sway bar made a 100% improvement. I can drive it 8 hours now and not be completely warn out. I chose ½ ton chev pickup because my car weighs about the same and those parts will be around for ever. You have to have welder and a torch. It is not a weekend job. I have some pictures if you are interested.

The Great Race came near where I live and I looked at the cars when they stopped for the night. No trailer queens!
Click to expand...
Translating, I think you are telling me you put tube shocks on the front end. I was not considering that right now as I've rebuilt the lever arm shocks and they are working as well as can be expected. My problem is with the rear lever arms. They leak and they are weak. I'll be looking at the car again this week to order a few more parts, so I'll write back on what I figure out. Thanks for the thought.
No, there were no trailer queens on GR. If you can drive 2300 hard miles in 9 days you don't need a trailer. I was very proud of my prep.
 
For the rear shocks I would try to get the oem brackets from the 38 model year, they have tube shocks by factory.
The lower one is on the bolt on Coil bracket and the upper one is a simple angled bracket that is bolt on top on frame.
20210909_105610.jpg20210909_105533.jpg

In front I have Custom made upper A Arms for make room for Mustang ll tube shocks inside the Springs.
( but not so easy Job;-) ..)

I'm also ride since years with the Cherokee Clutch and a oem release bearing behind my hot 263 without any problems, no chattering like the most 3 arm Clutches.
I ride without the Clutch pan underneath, so all the abrasion and normal oily Air from the engine can go out and not contaminated my pressure plate.
 
Here are pictures of the rear shocks on my 52 Super I fabricated all the mounts. These pictures were taken during assembly. The final assembly has a solid spacer between the bottom shock mount and shock no washersDSCN2155.jpgDSCN2154.jpgDSCN2152.jpg
 

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Thanks for that shock information! I've pursued it and thought I'd make custom mounts with air shocks, until Great Race changed it's rule on upgading shocks by adding a 2 year penalty. That made me think I'll stay with the original lever arm units. Apple Hydraulics has sent me a rebuilt set, and I"m going to swap them this weekend when the "Change the bad pressure plate and reseal the transmission, install an overdrive, fix the exhaust, change the torque tube mounts and rear shocks" project starts. I'll post an update next week with how it goes...
Jim
 
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