MTFCA Forum

On my 1926 Ford Model T coupe the throttle lever slips down making an unwanted acceleration especially if I have hit a bump. The notches where the lever is supposed to click in are almost worn smooth. How do I fix it?

Bend the quadrant up so it's tighter against the lever. The real fix, of course, is to replace the quadrant with one which has notches. That's a lot of work.

I believe one or more of the vendors sells a device consisting of two wooden blocks which clamp around the steering rod and lever rods below the firewall. The blocks can then be adjusted to give proper friction on the rods and prevent rattles.

In addition to bending the quadrant up like Mike said, the grooves in the quadrant are probably worn almost smooth. You can dress them with a triangular needle file. The springs on the other side of the column mounting plate are probably worn out too, but will require you to partially disassemble your column to do it. The temporary fix for that is the wooden clamp already mentioned.

Glueing some kind of rubber material to the quadrant might help.

Another fix, which I have done, is to wrap a few turns of good stout cord tightly around the rods.

https://www.modeltford.com/item/3524-25T.aspx

Pillory for you steering column. Whats old is new again

Your throttle lever may be bent and or worn where it contacts the quadrant, the quadrant may be bent or worn, the spring on the throttle rod may be broken or rusted or somehow damaged, or a combination of the above. What you describe is not normal, and the wood block recommended by some may be a good bandaid fix but is not the final solution.

Titus told somebody on Facebook what year that Model T really was.

I do have the same issue with a slipping lever since I thought I should oil the connection at the carburetor - now gravity is doing it's work on the system and I have to hold the lever up when I want to decelerate.
Is not the quadrant a cast iron so it might break when bending ?
I did not dare to put stress on it until now.

joe.wal wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 22, 2021 7:23 am

I do have the same issue with a slipping lever since I thought I should oil the connection at the carburetor - now gravity is doing it's work on the system and I have to hold the lever up when I want to decelerate.
Is not the quadrant a cast iron so it might break when bending ?
I did not dare to put stress on it until now.

The quadrants are drawn steel. There is a description of the manufacturing process in "The Ford Shops".

To bad that the steel quadrants are not being reproduced, I could use one on my 26 Touring.

Do not forget to throw some rotten tomatoes, apples, or cabbages after you fix the quadrant. Personally I would throw them away from the car.

One thing I learned years ago, is to lift up on the spark and throttle levers when changing position. This saves wear on the quadrant.

Thanks MWalker for the tip on bending the quadrant down. It worked great for me this morning. I had been putting off disassembly and adding heavier springs. This was much easier.
Rich