Modern high-speed rearend in late 30's Hudsons

Jon B

This is for those who have a late thirties Hudson product, and would like to squeeze a bit more cruising speed out of it, on the highway.

As you may know, rear axle transplants are one way to go.  (The other way is to simply purchase a set of high-speed rearend gears from Ivan Zaremba on the West Coast).  However, I have never seen actual detailed instructions on precisely which year and make rearend most closely fits the Hudson, and the precise procedure for doing this.  (There was an article in the WTN some years ago but, again, I don't recall its mentioning exact year of interchange.)

Anyway, I had an interesting phone conversation today with Gus Souza, who is forgotten more from his 70 years experience with Hudsons, than most people will ever learn.  He's telling me that the '69 Plymouth Satellite rear is an excellent match, and in fact any of the Chrysler "B" bodies of that era will work.  (Newer years than '69 will work also, but he didn't recall the cut-off point.)   Chrysler made a number of ratios available in these rear axles, such as 3.30 and 2.97, which are pretty appealing to anyone who has driven (for example) a 1937 Terraplane with stock 4.11 down the highway at 50 mph!

Gus is going to send me some detailed info on the transplant and I'll be happy to pass this along when I get it.  If you have any interest in going this route (as opposed to the repro rearend gear route) do drop me a PM or e-mail me at xxxdetailed@verizon.net (delete the xxx before sending) and I'll keep you posted as I discover more information.

StillOutThere

The Dana 60 is a bullet-proof rear end that will handle  many hundreds of horsepower!   I'm sure Gus is talking about the standard Mopar 8.75" axle assembly which I believe is in both B (intermediate) and C (full size) body Mopars around '66-70.  They are moderately narrow to allow for lots of wheel and tire sizing in the hot Mopars.  

The question is how to hook up my '34 Terraplane cable brakes to the Mopar 8.75.......

tombia

A Dana 60 rear was used in the earlier hemi cars and 3/4 ton trucks.  (Overkill)  Gus more than likely is talking about the common 83/4 mopar rear and they had a smaller rear too. All you need to do is find a rear the correct width and move the perches in or out as needed. Over the years I used a 66 fairlane rear, a 51 Hudson Hydro rear and a 52 Hudson dana 44 under my 33 Terraplane. They all were the correct width . Very easy swap.

tombia

StillOutThere said:

The Dana 60 is a bullet-proof rear end that will handle  many hundreds of horsepower!   I'm sure Gus is talking about the standard Mopar 8.75" axle assembly which I believe is in both B (intermediate) and C (full size) body Mopars around '66-70.  They are moderately narrow to allow for lots of wheel and tire sizing in the hot Mopars.  

The question is how to hook up my '34 Terraplane cable brakes to the Mopar 8.75.......

That is the easyt part. In the case of putting a dana 44 under my 33 terp., I simply cut the brake cables in the front to the correct length, drilled a 3/16 hole for about 1/2" in the end of a 3/8" dia. bolt , cut the head off the bolt, attached each cable using L brackets to the center emergency brake pivot in the center of the car, using a. 3/8"  bolt made it easy to adjust the cables, I forgot to mention I brazed the cut cable ends into the 3/16" holes.

StillOutThere

tombia said:

StillOutThere said:

The Dana 60 is a bullet-proof rear end that will handle  many hundreds of horsepower!   I'm sure Gus is talking about the standard Mopar 8.75" axle assembly which I believe is in both B (intermediate) and C (full size) body Mopars around '66-70.  They are moderately narrow to allow for lots of wheel and tire sizing in the hot Mopars.  

The question is how to hook up my '34 Terraplane cable brakes to the Mopar 8.75.......

That is the easyt part. In the case of putting a dana 44 under my 33 terp., I simply cut the brake cables in the front to the correct length, drilled a 3/16 hole for about 1/2" in the end of a 3/8" dia. bolt , cut the head off the bolt, attached each cable using L brackets to the center emergency brake pivot in the center of the car, using a. 3/8"  bolt made it easy to adjust the cables, I forgot to mention I brazed the cut cable ends into the 3/16" holes.

So you are using the Dana's emergency brakes and not the hydraulics?  Isn't that less total braking surface than the original Terraplane?

tombia

I guess that if you want to use the cable brakes that is true, but I miss read, I thought you wanted to use hydraulic brakes and original cable emergency brakes. My 33 had hydraulic brakes and they sure were nice.

junkcarfann

There is an alternative solution than the Mopar unit that is probably cheaper, and easier to find.

The problem with the 60's 70's Mopar rear end is that it is now difficult to find and expensive, because they are found only in cars that are now collectible and antique. I put one from a 1970-ish Plymouth in a 1940 Hudson, so it does fit, but there is a much cheaper alternative.

I put a late-model Ford 8.8 rear in my 1936 Terraplane. It was from a mid-size SUV Ford.

The Ford 8.8 axle is almost indestructible, (is used with Mustang 5.0 drag cars that have 700+ Horsepower) has a wide variety of ratios available, has the same lug nut holes for the wheels as the Hudson, the width was 1/4" on each side narrower which can be remedied by spacers which are available, the Hudson driveshaft bolted right up with a change of the yoke, and the hydraulic brake tee fitting had the same threads, and the hole for it in the axle housing was close enough so it just screwed right in.  For e-brake cables, I used a Lokar unit (hot-rod item). 

And, because it was a nearly new unit as compared to the Mopar, I did not have to rebuild the brakes, change the seals, etc. It was in excellent late model nearly-new condition. 

The Ford axle is almost a bolt-in, readily available in any junkyard, cheap, as compared to the MoPar unit.The major work was to have a welding guy cut off the Ford suspension brackets, and fabricate spring pads for the Hudson. 

Jon B

Thanks for your interesting responses. It's entirely possible that Gus likes the MoPar rears because that's what he got started with 30 years ago.  And since then, the price has gone up on the MoPars, while (on the other hand) other rearends came along that were a better match, and cheaper.

 I'll get back here with Gus' thoughts after he gets back to me.  His thoughts may be helpful even if one uses the Ford rearend and not the MoPar.  For example, Gus mentioned that the spring pads must turn down (or was it up? Or did he mean splay outward?  Oh dear...) at a 7 degree angle.  Little tidbits like this, could probably save someone some time, as opposed to the trial-and-error route.

junkcarfann

The spring pads must turn down (I think) a few degrees or else there will be vibrations in the driveshaft. And they must splay inwards because the spring pads on those Hudsons angle inward from front to rear, i.e. the springs are not parallel, but are further apart from each other at the rear of the car than at the front.
 

For the tilt, I measured the degrees that the housing pointed down with a protractor. I put a long bolt that had some length without threads thru one of the bolt holes on the yoke that holds the u-bolts for the universal joint, and with a nut on each side, tightened it to the yoke.. Using a small level, I measured the difference between true level and the angle of the bolt, which yielded the amount of tilt necessary.

This was done while the car was resting on the ground.