Rebuild rear axle for newbie who need help

[Quickm007]

Hi,

I have to rebuild my rear axle on my 1914 stock speedster. I would like to have A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE to Repair and Restore my Rear Axles. I would like to have a guide with image or video step by step how to make the process for a newbie guy like me about rear axle but I have a lot enthusiasm to make it happen.

I already read the official Ford book and the book made by MTFCA with Glen Chaffin but I'm really worry to make things or steps wrong because I'm inexperienced to this kind of restoration. Also after reading both twice, I'm not sure I understanding correctly all steps. Unfortunately, in my area not one are good with this.

I dissembled all parts, cleaned and inspected all of them. My ring gear and pinion gear are not good at all. Rear shaft not good either and most of the parts are not reusable.

So now I have a brand new ring gear and pinion gear as well, new axles, all new trust washers, new sleeves, neoprene seals, new keys, new trust plates (I have to remove the old one, Some are very hard to see), I also ordered a new Modern Drive Shaft Pinion Bearing Kit, new gaskets, etc.

Now I'm ready to put all together parts and it is that step I'm struggling with... I don't understand if I need or not some shims ???? Shim trust plate ? Or ring gear shim?

So to make a short story, any help with pictures or video to share will be really appreciated. Thank you in advance. Humbly Super Mario who feel not really super with this topic...

[DHort]

Do you also have the MTFCA video?

[Steve Jelf]

Here are some videos. I haven't watched all of them, but some may help.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... +rear+axle

[Mountainrider]

My 15 axle needed a full rebuild, and I was reluctant to attempt it. All the literature you have and this forum was a big help and I got it done. Take your time, you can do it.

[Retro54]

While this doesn't answer all of your questions, I would recommend reading through this post by my brother...

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17157

Like you, he rebuilt his axle when he was young and inexperienced. 20 years later he rebuilt again the right way, but discovered some simple things he should have found and fixed the first time.

[Humblej]

Yes, there are mtfca videos you can buy, they were a great help when I did my rear axle.

[rickd]

I will echo the advice given to you; the Chaffin book, the video and this forum will be of great assistance. Build an inexpensive axle stand out of wood that you can mount to your bench, get your dial indicator and micrometers and dive in. I rebuilt four rear ends so I could get those babbit thrust washers out of them. The first one was slow going, but they were all great fun. Enjoy!

[Art M]

I did my 23 touring rear axle last winter. A sleeve puller is needed. It takes a long time to get the gears properly set. I have absolutely no oil leaking into the brakes.
Good luck. Art Mirtes

[Quickm007]

May I borrow the MTFCA video about rear axle as well from someone? It may have 3 video DVD-5-1, DVD-5-2,DVD-5-3. Thank you in advance.

Regards

[rickd]

Mario, which Canadian Province do you live in? Good chance I may be the closest person in the USA to you. (I'm 80 miles south of the Manitoba border) My mtfca dvds are at my cabin in Minnesota and I will be out there hunting this coming weekend. Email me with your address through this site and I will mail them to you. Its two or three dvds as I recall.

[Quickm007]

Hi Rick,

PM sent Thank you really appreciated.

[StanHowe]

There is a lot of information out there, it's not that big a job once you get everything apart and cleaned up.

One thing I do that will get you vilified by some and applauded by others is setting the ring and pinion clearance. There is no real way to get accurate readings with the bearing setup that I have ever found. I see people trying to get .004 clearance all around the ring. Maybe, but I have yet to see it.

Here is how I do it, take it for what you paid for it.

I take a second housing and cut about a third of it away so I can see in and reach in. Put it together, stand it up in the stand with the ring gear down and the drive shaft/pinion gear installed with two gaskets on it. Run some soft solder through the mesh of the gears. If you have it all set up right it should leave a little flat spot about .010 thick. If it's too tight, pull the driveshaft and add a paper gasket. If it's too loose, pull the driveshaft and take one gasket off. If it is still too loose you need a shim on the thrust side washer. If it's pretty close, put the other housing on and bolt it all together. Put it in the car and go drive it. It's a Model T. It was designed to be worked on in blacksmith shops, barns, side of the road, wherever.

Lewis Rector -- who went to work in a Ford garage as a mechanic in 1915 when he was 12 showed me this about 50 years ago. Works for me.

[StanHowe]

Make 4 disks from plywood that are snug in the housings. Drill a 1/8 inch centered hole in each one. When you have the sleeves out, press the wooden disks in, bolt the housings together and look through the hole. If you can seen all the way through your housings are straight. If they aren't you need to straighten them. You can make another set with bigger holes and sight through those until you can see where the housings are off.

Best way I've ever found. I have a big table with a flywheel mounted on 2 inch pillow blocks that is machined and drilled to bolt the housings to. There is a sliding piece with a hydraulic jack and a backup piece over the top so I can bend housings, tubes etc. I built it when I was doing Ruckstells. Now it is setting in my "antique car parts salvage area" that some people would call a junk pile.

You can do this in a lathe, too but I don't like putting pressure on the headstock on my lathe.

[rickd]

Mario, no pm in my message box from you. Rick

[rickd]

Mario, received your email message and address. I will get the dvds out to you next week.

[Quickm007]

Hi Stan, I made some progress in rebuiding my rear axle. Here bellow some pictures where I am by now. Perhaps if you can share pictures of your second housing you cutted about a third of his way... That will gave me an idea how it works. Thank you.

[jab35]

This might help, that site may have other useful info:
https://modeltfordfix.com/rebuilding-the-drive-shaft/

[Allan]

The one critical area in the assembly is setting the correct crown wheel/pinion gear mesh. Often this is interpreted as setting the backlash, but there is more to it than that. Stan's adding/removing paper gaskets in the driveshaft assembly will help to achieve an alteration in backlash. He also mentions perhaps having to use a shim if removing gaskets will not close the backlash far enough.

I come at this from a slightly different angle. the first thing I do is select 4 steel thrust plates of different thicknesses, the larger the difference the better.

Then introduce the axle/diff centre assembly into the left axle housing, with any two of the steel thrust plates and one of the new bronze thrust washers.

Next, fit the right hand axle housing, thrust plates and bronze thrust washer, and using three of the bolts, lightly clamp the two halves together, leaving the assembly still free to turn. This will leave a gap between the two housings.

Measure this gap. This measurement, plus .003" to .005", will need to be machined off the bronze thrust washers. When machining the thrusts, I aim to end up with a difference of some .012" between the two. Now you have a pack of steel plates and two bronze thrust washers of differing thicknesses with which to play. I mark them with a felt pen.

The whole assembly can then be reintroduced to the housings to check that the steel plates, bronze washers and diff centre are free to move.

Remove the right hand housing and plates and the driveshaft assembly can be bolted up to check the gear mesh. When the mesh is correct, the bevel on the back of both gears will be in line. The backlash may well be out.

Prussian blue on the pinion gear will mark the ring gear to indicate the depth of mesh. It should register along the centre of the ring gear teeth. Deep on the teeth indicates the two are into a too deep mesh, high on the teeth a too shallow mesh.

Rather than readjust the mesh by shifting the pinion gear, the variable thickness stack of steel thrust plates and bronze thrust washers allows the diff centre to be adjusted sideways by swapping the plates/thrusts from side to side. That way the correct rolling fit to the gears is maintained, with correct full width contact across the gear teeth. Shifting the pinion gear in and out shifts the wear pattern in and out on the gears. Backlash becomes a byproduct of this procedure. It is what you get when you have finished the setting up.

When the right hand housing is bolted up, I check that the whole assembly is free to move in the housings. If not a paper gasket between the two housings will correct this.

Others do it differently, and it works. I've no doubt the factory didn't go to these lengths either, but it does make for quiet, long wearing components.

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

The one critical area in the assembly is setting the correct crown wheel/pinion gear mesh. Often this is interpreted as setting the backlash, but there is more to it than that. Stan's adding/removing paper gaskets in the driveshaft assembly will help to achieve an alteration in backlash. He also mentions perhaps having to use a shim if removing gaskets will not close the backlash far enough.

I come at this from a slightly different angle. the first thing I do is select 4 steel thrust plates of different thicknesses, the larger the difference the better.

Then introduce the axle/diff centre assembly into the left axle housing, with any two of the steel thrust plates and one of the new bronze thrust washers.

Next, fit the right hand axle housing, thrust plates and bronze thrust washer, and using three of the bolts, lightly clamp the two halves together, leaving the assembly still free to turn. This will leave a gap between the two housings.

Measure this gap. This measurement, plus .003" to .005", will need to be machined off the bronze thrust washers. When machining the thrusts, I aim to end up with a difference of some .012" between the two. Now you have a pack of steel plates and two bronze thrust washers of differing thicknesses with which to play. I mark them with a felt pen.

The whole assembly can then be reintroduced to the housings to check that the steel plates, bronze washers and diff centre are free to move.

Remove the right hand housing and plates and the driveshaft assembly can be bolted up to check the gear mesh. When the mesh is correct, the bevel on the back of both gears will be in line. The backlash may well be out.

Prussian blue on the pinion gear will mark the ring gear to indicate the depth of mesh. It should register along the centre of the ring gear teeth. Deep on the teeth indicates the two are into a too deep mesh, high on the teeth a too shallow mesh.

Rather than readjust the mesh by shifting the pinion gear, the variable thickness stack of steel thrust plates and bronze thrust washers allows the diff centre to be adjusted sideways by swapping the plates/thrusts from side to side. That way the correct rolling fit to the gears is maintained, with correct full width contact across the gear teeth. Shifting the pinion gear in and out shifts the wear pattern in and out on the gears. Backlash becomes a byproduct of this procedure. It is what you get when you have finished the setting up.

When the right hand housing is bolted up, I check that the whole assembly is free to move in the housings. If not a paper gasket between the two housings will correct this.

Others do it differently, and it works. I've no doubt the factory didn't go to these lengths either, but it does make for quiet, long wearing components.

Allan,

Excellent! Spot on!

Bottom line: Don't worry about backlash! When the correct mesh and contact pattern is achieved, the backlash will take care of itself.

[Quickm007]

Thank you Allan, I will try your advices this week-end, first experience for me, I feel nervous about it.

[Allan]

Mario, it is not difficult to do. Even if you are a bit off with the settings, it will work OK. It's just that understanding what is required and how to get there is not covered in most of the advice. The end result may be accelerated wear and a bit more noise as components get to know each other, but the amount of use the cars get these days probably means it will never have to be done again in a long time.

Allan from down under.

[Mark Nunn]

Allan,
I had previously saved a link to your instructions for assembling the differential. I measured and marked the thicknesses of the nine washers I had on hand and then selected the combination that produced the correct settings. I used your method last winter with great success. Thank you for the advice.

[Alan Long]

Does anybody remember the old phrase..

Face and Flank poor reading move the Crank
Toe and Heel poor reading move the wheel

Crank = Pinion
Wheel = Crown Wheel

Alan in Western Australia

[Susanne]

No but I will now, thanks!!!