Differential Housing Bolts

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2012: Differential Housing Bolts
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Van Cott on Saturday, August 11, 2012 - 12:04 pm:

I need your advice regarding the three differential housing bolts, this is the first differential that I have rebuilt. (1) Should the differential bolts be screwed down to the point that the shoulder meets the housing? My differential is an early 1914. (2)Should the nuts be secured with safety wire around the housing or should they be secured with carter pins. Seems to me that if you use the carter pins there is a possibility that the bolts can turn loose. I have also found that when I bottom out the bolts there isn't enough bolt left to secure the nut through the bolt hole. I would appreciate any advice that you can give me. Thanks, John


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Wayne Sheldon, Grass Valley, CA on Sunday, August 12, 2012 - 02:06 am:

I am not the expert on this, though I have reworked several T rear ends. There are two common types insofar as the differential carriage. Not including the very early '09/'11 straight axle type, most of the various parts will intermix from (about 1912?) early up until the last ones from 1927. Many rear ends have parts that are not from near their original year. There was recently a posting about a Dodge Brothers carriage inside a '20ish rear axle. The DB carriage was last used by Ford about 1914.
So to be clear. The earlier version, those three bolts are just that, bolts. they go through the carriage, both nut and bolt heads accessible to a wrench. A cotter pin works fine on these. But mechanics wire should be okay also. The later, and more common style, used studs in the one half of the carriage with only the nuts accessible to a wrench outside the other half of the carriage. These should be wired, although I have never seen one of those studs come loose. I would not recommend cotter pins here as the studs could turn out from the carriage.
I am currently working on two of them. One for a '13 is nearly finished, another for a '15 is nearly ready for final assembly. I won't tell which got the later carriage. I had a couple other early carriages, but none of them were really nice enough. I wanted good reliable parts in both these cars.
I hope this helps.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2


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