MTFCA Forum

My 27 TT came with an early TT axle that has two spider gears instead of the later four. All of the differential parts look good aside from case bolts that will be replaced. As big as these things are, is there any reason that I shouldn’t rebuild it and find a later axle just because the 4 spider gear is correct? It’s all apart and I’m cleaning it all now. All parts needed are on order and I have a FRESH set of 5:1 gears to go back in it. Just trying to do this thing right the first time but on a reasonable budget.

Brad

https://mtfca.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=15813

Here is some good info

One of the things I like about TT ownership is my own attitude toward
trucks, which is that I value their post-factory history as work beasts more
than I do their as-delivered/gotta be perfect aspect. Your early rear end
is telling of a long-ago failure that resulted in a junk pile example being
swapped in as the easier path forward to keeping that truck on the job.

That said, it's just a dammed truck ! ... do just like the guy who stuck
that early rear end under it, and do what works best for you to keep it rolling !
If it is easier to run the early one, do it. If a later one is close at hand and
easier, go that route. I doubt anybody but the hardcore T person would
be able to tell the difference anyway.

No pictures, it never happened. Let's see this truck you're talking about !
We never see enough TT photos.

Hi there, I would say build it as you would like

just because the 4 spider gear is correct?

That is not actually accurate to say as 2 spiders ARE correct too - for 18-22 trucks - and 4 come later, because these trucks were worked VERY hard back in the day, the extra gears were found to be a good idea.
https://mtfca.com/phpBB3/app.php/gallery/image/865
https://mtfca.com/phpBB3/app.php/gallery/image/864

You are not likely to haul heavy loads on a regular basis so I would say 2 is just fine given the type of use your TT will have today. They will not break on you!

Cheers,
Adrian

I know for a fact that my '18 TT has the early 2 spider gear rear end because I've had it apart. My grandfather used this truck from 1946 until 1963 as his orchard truck. During the fruit season we'd load it with 90 or more fruit boxes that were 40 pounds each (plus the weight of the empty box). That works out to nearly twice the "One Ton" rating of a TT. We'd go through soft orchard soil in Ford low/Muncie under. I suppose this situation put a fairly heavy strain on the rear end. We never had a problem and I'm still using that rear end to this day.

Frankly, I never really understood why Ford changed it to the 4 gear spider in the first place. I've never heard of an early stock TT rear end failing. Such an upgrade is inconsistent with Henry's economy based decision making process.