two questions.

[AndreFordT]

I am trying to get the 1915 touring back on the road.
In September 2018 this car had an accident on the right front corner. See photos.

I changed the front axle, spring, both perches, spindle with arm, drag link, steering link, wishbone and all the bushes needed to rebuild a front axle.
First question:
I can not set the in - out setting of the front wheels right. The steering link is still too long turned all the way in. I am wondering if there are different spindle arms, what is the different between left and right? How can I see what spindle arms are on the car now?

Second question:
To make the front light burning I like to use the 1915 light switch T-6589-X(not on magneto, on battery). What is the right location for this switch?

Thanks
Andre
Belgium

[Wayne Sheldon]

Hello there Andre!
Do I recall reading that you bought this car after the accident? If so,how much do you know of the car from before the damage?
I zoomed in on the pictures. There are a lot of incorrect parts, wrong years mixed and matched together. That makes everything suspect.
And did you use ANY of the old front axle assembly in what you put under the car? I can see in the picture that the left side spindle arm is bent.
Another possibility could be that you may have mixed an early style tie rod (between the right and left front wheels) with a later style tie rod adjustable end. The early style rod has the knuckle ball affixed on the tie rod itself, with a smaller adjustable end piece. The later rod has the knuckle ball bolted into the adjustable end piece which is therefore slightly larger. That later adjustable end piece can have the knuckle ball replaced with a bolt and used on the earlier tire rod (using the affixed ball on the tie rod itself), but it MIGHT be too long.

That frame appears to be rather badly bent. Did you remove the body and straighten everything on the chassis first? I am sure that frame can be repaired. But with that much damage, the body is most likely fractured, but should be repairable. And the engine needs to be taken apart and carefully inspected. It should be "freshened up" at the same time. The pan needs to be carefully checked for straightness because it was almost certainly bent by this. The block should be inspected for cracks around the crankcase, and the transmission shaft and crankshaft flange should be checked that they are straight (both of those need to be withing a two thousandths of an inch of PERFECT) (my apology, I cannot translate that small of a number into metric or the machinist measurements in my head).

One of the great things about a model T Ford is how fixable they are. When disaster strikes? A model T can almost always be repaired. Most vintage European cars, and most other vintage American cars, with that much damage could wind up with some part basically beyond reasonable repair, and no replacement available. I expect you can make this T a fun vintage car to be driven and enjoyed for many years to come!

[DanTreace]

The headlamp push/pull switch mounts to the dash board. Here is a photo:

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IMG_2542.JPG (95.32 KiB) Viewed 3553 times

The front end parts are different over years of mfg. So you should identify what parts are now to know if they will interchange.


Early tie rod to 1918 has right end fixed forged ball, later have replaceable. The early tie rod adjustable left ends vary, the1918 adjustment was made at the new design ball end. The drag links are different lengths and must be used with correct tie rod.

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[John kuehn]

The spindles and arms should have T part no.s on them to differentiate between them. I think that’s correct as I remember. Others might know for sure. I can my remember that the spindles and arms on my 24 Coupe and 21 Touring had different no’s on them respective of left and right.

[DanTreace]

Andre

All the front components on the wrecked chassis appear to all be later versions, after 1918 , so as long as you stay with the later parts, things should work out, saying too that the frame and front crossmember were brought back to std. Ford dimensions.

The parts on the wreck are later under axle wishbone parts, spindle with curved arm, and later tie rod, and drag link, and even the springs on the wreck aren't early taper leaf.

Forged numbers in the spindle arms for late parts should be T-282B for the right spindle arm (19-27) and T-270B for the left spindle arm.


Drag link for this range of year, with range of same year axle and front spring, should be this one:

[AndreFordT]

Wayne al All,

Yes I bought the car after the accident.

The car have a California title dated 11/20/2009.
The title say Model Year: 1915, Make: Ford, Plate Number: 3QGH868
It was build by Jack Rendell, Big pine CA93513 during the period 2008 -2009.

The car came to Belgium late 2009 and was owned by someone living in Ghent who soled the car in 2015 to the man who wrecked it in september 2018. Later that year I bought it cheap as a "look a like" 1915 car wreck. Since than I am trying to get it back on the road.
I took it all apart till the nude frame, replaced the front cross member and did all what was needed to get a straight solid frame again.
All the body parts are redone and painted in the same color as I get the car.
The engine is 1919 and had a total overhaul with a straight oil pan. It should be a simple pan change but it became a total overhaul with a bill of parts only for about $1,000.- .

I will post a few photos later today.

During the night I was thinking to replace all the steering linkage by the linkage I have rebuild some time ago for a future speedster project.
Thank already for the Information
Andre
Belgium

[AndreFordT]

Hello again,

Here the photos as I promise.
First serie are how it was.
Second serie, in the next tread, is what I have made out of it.
Andre
Belgium

[AndreFordT]

Second serie.

Andre
Belgium

[AndreFordT]

Just forgot to tell.
The firewall and the water outlet are just for test running the engine. Normally I test run the engines on a special build stand but here, as it is mine, I build the engine directly in the frame.

Andre
Belgium

[DanTreace]

Andre

Great rebuild work, you made good from a pretty nasty smash. Nice looking T now.

As for the front end, your photos shows the correct '19 and later spindle arms, for the under axle wishbone set up.

But your spindle connecting rod or tie rod is indeed the '18 and earlier, and will be too long to get any adjustment when using the '19 and later spindle arms.

You need to replace with the '19 and later tie rod, (as shown in the photo below) and check the length of the steering gear connecting rod or drag link to be sure it is the correct length for the all the parts to mate and be correct for safe steering control.

The correct tie rod on the passenger side will look like this on the end, the adjustment is threaded, and the ball is removable, and easy to change when worn to an oval.