Hello all. I have 46 Hudson pickup with a Mopar clip..

[46Hud]

Hello everybody. I bought a 1946 Hudson pickup with a (supposedly) 1969 Plymouth Fury iii front clip welded in and a 69 Monaco Trac-Loc rear diff with a 3:23 gear ratio and 1985 5th Avenue front disc brakes It had the same owner for 52 years and he's deceased now, so I'm trying to unravel the mystery of what all he did. I'm in the process of rebuilding the upper control arms and boy what rabbit hole that's become lol. I have also owned a ton a 12 valve's ( I realize that's a different forum but I'm just sayin, Dodge/Mopar rules. I love em.)
I just wanted to say thank you to all the admins and members who keep these forums active and alive.

 

[Toolmanmike]

Hello everybody. I bought a 1946 Hudson pickup with a (supposedly) 1969 Plymouth Fury iii front clip welded in and a 69 Monaco Trac-Loc rear diff with a 3:23 gear ratio and 1985 5th Avenue front disc brakes It had the same owner for 52 years and he's deceased now, so I'm trying to unravel the mystery of what all he did. I'm in the process of rebuilding the upper control arms and boy what rabbit hole that's become lol. I have also owned a ton a 12 valve's ( I realize that's a different forum but I'm just sayin, Dodge/Mopar rules. I love em.)
I just wanted to say thank you to all the admins and members who keep these forums active and alive.

Let's see some photos of that bad boy. Love the style of those Hudson trucks.

 

[46Hud]

Although it has a 41 front clip it is a 46. The old boy that had it for 52 years really put it through some changes. I got a file of receipts, notes, and repairs he'd had done. He mentions 69 Fury iii in the notes. I'm attempting to rebuild the upper control arms and the parts don't match that model. Now I have a mystery on my hands.

 

[live4theking]

Do you have any parts on the truck that have part numbers on them? That may lead to what you really need/ have.

Cool looking truck btw.

 

[46Hud]

Not many. The numbers off the disc brake calipers led back to a 5th Avenue. This is what I'm working with, if anyone recognizes it.

 

[Rainy Day]

Thats a real hodge podge of parts.. Looks like 74-93 dodge D100 d150 truck strut rods brakes and spindles, van upper control arms.. c body sway bar hangers. That'll be fun sourcing parts.

 

[46Hud]

Thats a real hodge podge of parts.. Looks like 74-93 dodge D100 d150 truck strut rods brakes and spindles, van upper control arms.. c body sway bar hangers. That'll be fun sourcing parts.

Thanks RD. That tells me more than I knew. I've tried 3 different part # upper control arm bushings. The OD has been different. 2 sets with the same part #, one set would slip easily over the connecter rod but the other wouldn't. Crazy. smh.

 

[kowalski1970]

Welcome from Virginia!!

 

[fury fan]

That's not a C-body subframe at all.
It is an isolated-style, used in 73-76 A-bodies, 73-79 B-bodies, and possibly 79-81 R-bodies.
That threaded rod welded to the frame is the clue there. There's prolly another one bypassed toward the front.
I see no transverse torsion bars, I see what might be a front-rear one on the LH side of the picture.
So that rules out F-M-J bodies (Aspen, Diplomat/5th, Mirada).

Circled characteristics that will be your clues:
The 2 bolts holding the strut rod.
The LCA tapers to a narrow pivot at the LCA bushing (not circled).
The floating-caliper clip.
Rotor dia and thickness.
Bolt-down shaft-style UCAs C-bodys and some others mount to pedestals, with no shaft.
That 4-bolt shock and UCA mounting housing - that's unfamiliar to me.
Socket size to fit on the UBJ.
Some parts might swap between groups, though. E.G. the 11.75" disc brakes of a 75-79 Cordoba will fit on the earlier B-body spindles.


My gut says 73-79 Charger or Cordoba, but it could be a mix of things.

 

[46Hud]

Thank you for sharing your experience Fury Fan, and the in depth reply. I ask for Mid 70's Cordoba when I need replacement parts, thanks to information provided from forum members.
This build was done about 35-40 years ago, pre-internet days, before you could get lots of ideas and parts at the touch of a button. I think the fellow used whatever he had on hand which is this case was a Cordoba parts car. I would not have done it this way myself, but this is what's there to work with. I replaced everything, and I took the truck on a 45 day 9000 mile journey thru 19 states and the steering was, fair. It required paying strict attention to it at all times.

At some point I'll put a different steering system under it, or I'll pull the engine & trans, sell it as a roller and build a different Hudson pickup. I have a 36 Hudson pickup project in line to do.

 

[Xcudame]

Would it be a Hudpar or Mopson pickup?

 

[46Hud]

Would it be a Hudpar or Mopson pickup?

 

[fury fan]

I obviously cannot see the extent of the fabrication, like what was done at the front isolator (which is hidden behind what is presumably a bumper bracket).
But, what I can see is that a lot of the suspension loads are transferring to the frame at this threaded rod. And if my eyes and the picture are accurate, it looks like not a lot of weld. Even if it's fully welded, that's still a lot of unknown reaction forces working in a small area of that rod. The forces would focus right at the intersection of free-air and welded-to-frame. (the length of the rod doesn't matter)

Hopefully the front isolators were also deleted. If not, they'll allow some squirm which will put some additional loads into that rod.

I presume this threaded rod was used to locate/true-up the suspension cradle to the frame. Not a bad idea.
But after it was finished, it should've been welded more solidly with plates, brackets, gussets, etc.

FWIW, the B-body Cordoba was a decent-handling car (I had a '77 as my first car) and the braking and torsion-bar setup would be worth keeping.
Not glamourous to the street-rod crowd, but very functional.

Also - there's a 'new' steering box option out there now, that replaces the large-sector Mopar box. Better feel than OEM.
See this one:
Differences in SLAB steering boxes - advertised to be equivalent 68 Newport but not so
Do some googling and you should get some more hits.

 

[46Hud]

That's interesting. I am running that later style steering box. I just put it on and haven't put a lot of miles on it but so far so good.

Since I posted that picture of the threaded bolt I've run another couple of passes with the welder down each side of them.

I'm thinking my next move would be to cross brace the frame. I boxed the frame on the inside in front of that bolt on each side. I'll probably need to continue that farther down the frame too.

Thanks again for the input.