MTFCA Forum

This is how I set up the bands. Is there a better (easier) way? Is the band clamp enough better to be worth the $13.50 + shipping?

Same question here. Is there a better way to compress the low pedal spring?

I have always used cotton string. Less concern about loosing bits!!

You are asking for trouble with the wire. Use plastic zip ties. If a little plastic falls into the transmission it will not cause trouble

Steve, I use the band clamp sold by Langs and it works fine. After lots of use it began to spring out a little and I just bent it back it. I would recommend getting one.

Steve, I use copper wire. It's non magnetic, should a bit come loose, and it is softer to to bend around when withdrawing it . On our RHD set-up we have two springs to contend with, reverse and brake. I do not like the new springs available because they seem to be longer than necessary and too strong. Unless there is damage to the springs, I leave them well alone. I do measure the gap and wire the band ears together to match the gap. This leaves the maximum clearance to get the cover over the springs. Obviously, others do it differently.

Allan from down under.

I'm using the clamp. The only thing I'm concerned with is once the hog's head is on and the springs and bolt are on. How do you get the clamp off. Seems like it will be under the bolts. I think wire or string is going to be the best way.

I’ve used heavy zip ties, work fine. Once had to find a busted wire end.

But you can use that excess wire for the bolt heads on your driving plate before fitting your alum. hogshead


Note the black zip tie, use two and lace together and grab all three band ears. Use dental floss on the washer/nut assembly, loop tied.

Turn the nuts a few threads, then remove the zip tie by snipper, the band ears will catch on the hogshead bosses.

Do that prior to setting and bolting the hogshead all the way down.
Zip ties will sneak out under the band lugs, that big fat tool won't! Tried that, been there

Steve, I bought the clamp years ago, never did work for me...use wires just be careful...I hold one end with needle nose and cut with side cutters then pull out the wire...works for me...

I like the zip tie method. No wire bits to fall in.

Steve - you could give Mike Bender a call, he's done one or two in his day!

I have had good luck using three separate pieces of wire. One on each band. As I lower the hogshead at an angle with the rear lower than the front onto the drums I cut each piece of wire one at a time as each shaft engages the band ears.

This period tool works amazingly well to compress the band springs. Although it won’t work on ‘26-‘27 hogsheads. One of my better Hershey finds!

Jim, could you post more on how to use the clamp. It looked to be in the way to set the hogs head, so we wired it and went on.

Hi, I wasn't successful using the clamp. I used black zip tie and steel wires but just be careful...I used a lot towel surrounding the band in the goal to avoid any steel wires fall down in the transmission. Also bellow couple pictures for the springs tips. Hope that help.

I have exactly the same tool that Ed shows. I will never install a hogshead without it! Once you have the band ears tied together with the plastic ties and the springs compressed with the tool, the hogshead just drops right into place. Easy peasy.

The Ford script u-shaped band tool works better than the modern copy that Lang's sells.

It has slightly different dimensions.

heres a silly question. why isnt the low pedal shaft cut per service bullitin? this t is using demountable bands, but low cant be replaced without pulling the hogshead. i do realize with kevlar you wont need to change the bands for the life of the transmission. then why waste a demountable band? nondemountable bands are a throwaway, like a buck a piece @ swap meets. i generally keep a few n/d bands around for kevlar or wood band installations, where removing the hogshead is necessary. just wondering.

I have often thought of cutting the low speed shaft shorter, I do on the cast iron ones but the Aluminum covers I think that gives the shaft more support for wear? Am I just thinking to much?

Joe, I do believe there is a potential support issue on the aluminum hogsheads and I don’t cut the low shaft on them either. Also, many of the demountable bands will have interference issues inside the aluminum hogshead on the left side and you are generally better off using non-demountable bands because they have a lower profile. This is also a factor on about 50% of the iron hogsheads that were not originally manufactured for quick-change bands. It almost seems like the placement of the mould cores for the inside of the hogshead was real hit-or-miss. The towers on the inside for the low and reverse shafts can be anything from well centered, to paper thin on one side. I built by own fixtures and tooling and have rebuilt more than a few hogsheads.

The major “catch” with modifying an earlier hogshead for later bands as is in the Ford Service Manual is that they were using cotton bands that were much more forgiving and quickly wore away in cases of interference. The majority of us use Kevlar bands and a small spot of interference is likely to result in a cracked drum.

In case anyone’s interested here’s two examples of iron hogsheads that originally had non-demountable bands and where they had to be ground to eliminate interference when switching over to using quick-change bands. These are the “usual spots” and it depends on where those cores ended up.

Steve, where is the lock wire in your driven plate bolts?

When I install a hogshead I use the clamp sold by the vendors. When I sit the hogshead in place, I start all the bolts and nuts to make sure the gaskets are in the proper position and every thing lines up. The bolt are just barely long enough to get started towards the engine. Before tightening everything down, I install the pedals, band springs, washers and nuts. Next I pull out the clamp and gradually draw the hogshead down until it's seated and snug up the bolts. The clamp cannot be removed if you tighten the hogshead down on it.

Stephen

Don't know if there is a better way ( it is) but there is a different way.
In the HUDCO thread I posted how I altered a RHD hogshead to allow removal of the pedals so it is easy to change the bands just as the Hudco hogs head does. See page 2 Feb 18th of the forum. - Hudco Hogs head.

I altered my Town Car aluminum hogshead for detachable ear bands and cut the shafts of the reverse and brake shafts ( they have internal cams the same as LHD low speed pedal.) and changed the adjusters to the later type with built in shaft ends. which made it easier to change the bands.

On the modified hogshead similar to the Hudco when I looked at the now removable pedal piece it was obvious that there was no need to cut off the shafts, it was really an advantage leaving them long.

The removable pedal section was light enough so I could hold it it one hand , guide it into the hogshead with the springs on the shafts and put it in between the band ears and into the ends of the hollow adjusters and then lever the other end of the spring in between the two band ears. Easy Peasey.

As there are probable many more hogs heads than needed the modification to allow the band replacement to be quickly and easily replaced ( on the side of the road in less than 20 minutes) is worth the trouble, especially if your Model T is to be used for some serious road use where you may be far away from home. ( like in another country like I was)

No need for wire, zip ties, or any other stuff at all and the hogshead stays in place probably never needing to be removed again as a complete unit.

Rusty Ford is right about the copy of the band tool not fitting well. I have one of those and wound up not using it. I can’t understand why the repo tool can’t be made to the same dimensions as the original.

why not magnetize the nut and washer ????? might not fall so far in tranny ?????