My first Ruckstell questions

[Steve Jelf]

Yesterday I drove over to Pittsburg (almost Missouri) and fetched home a Ruckstell. The $700 I paid for it was a swell bargain or foolish overspending, depending on what I find inside.

This one came with two shift levers, one straight and one offset. The chap who sold me the Ruckstell wasn't sure, but I assume the 47½" rod with turnbuckle is part of the linkage. Or is it something unrelated?

Seeing my mention of this on my blog, Mark Strange kindly forwarded some Ruckstell tips from Stan Howe, along with a photo of Stan in Ruckstell rebuilding mode.

I aim to make it a winter project to get Ruckstells in my 1923 touring and my 1915 runabout.

We all know you can date a Model T engine by its serial number. Is there a similar list for dating a Ruckstell by its number?

[Chris Instness]

Hi Steve,
I was not able to find a list, but here is some info I got about dating Ruckstell patent plates when I asked a similar question a while back.

viewtopic.php?t=1041

[Craig Leach]

Hi Steve,
Looks like you made a deal. I picked up a Ruckstell for $350 all I got was a usable Ruckstell housing, good inards, 2 axles & a broken early shift
lock no shifter With some trading I was into a complete for $500+ I concider that a winner. You have a late shift lock, two shifters good looking
housing & linkage. You may not be as lucky as me but I dought it's a foolish buy. Good luck let us know how it comes out.
Craig.

[CudaMan]

You might be able to make the long steel rod work as a shift rod, but the original rod (and the ones the vendors currently sell) are made of hollow tubing and have a strategically placed kink near the middle, see pic. There should also be a tube guide that fits over the middle of the rod and clamps to the driveshaft tube, it keeps the rod from buckling under compression.

Some Ruckstell shifters came with a metal plate that helped to reinforce the casting, see attached pic. Also see a pic of the original style shift knob. I chose to drill my shifter pivot casting for a zerk fitting to help keep it lubricated.

[micshotrodgarage]

Earlier this month I was able to retrieve a 27 Roadster pickup I had purchased back in March, Going against my better judgment and buying this T pretty much sight unseen and only going off a few very poor photos, I was pleasantly surprised to see It had a Rucksell under it! This is all leading up to a question; My wood wheels are in poor condition, and I want to put on a set of Ford T 21" wire spoke wheels I have. I have all the parts for and conversion, but I was wondering will the backing plates on the ruckstell and the 27 larger brake backing plates from the standard T rear end all go on as a direct replacement, so I can add the wire wheel hubs and parts. Please advise... thank you.

[Original Smith]

Have fun! I have Ruckstells in all of my T's. Don't use that plate for the shift lever. They never had such a thing, plus you don't need a hole that size for it. I hope you find the components to be in good shape.

[speedytinc]

Earlier this month I was able to retrieve a 27 Roadster pickup I had purchased back in March, Going against my better judgment and buying this T pretty much sight unseen and only going off a few very poor photos, I was pleasantly surprised to see It had a Rucksell under it! This is all leading up to a question; My wood wheels are in poor condition, and I want to put on a set of Ford T 21" wire spoke wheels I have. I have all the parts for and conversion, but I was wondering will the backing plates on the ruckstell and the 27 larger brake backing plates from the standard T rear end all go on as a direct replacement, so I can add the wire wheel hubs and parts. Please advise... thank you.

Not clear what your new rux has. If its a big drum, then yes.
If its a small drum, no. The innards are the same, but the axle housings are not interchangeable with a large drum. Best to trade for large drum housings.
The Rux housing could be "re-tubed" with a later housing end, but its a fair job requiring a press & some precision jigging plus.......

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

Earlier this month I was able to retrieve a 27 Roadster pickup I had purchased back in March, Going against my better judgment and buying this T pretty much sight unseen and only going off a few very poor photos, I was pleasantly surprised to see It had a Rucksell under it! This is all leading up to a question; My wood wheels are in poor condition, and I want to put on a set of Ford T 21" wire spoke wheels I have. I have all the parts for and conversion, but I was wondering will the backing plates on the ruckstell and the 27 larger brake backing plates from the standard T rear end all go on as a direct replacement, so I can add the wire wheel hubs and parts. Please advise... thank you.

You can use the 21" wire wheels with the small drums, if you don't mind having small drums.

[Allan]

Michael, your 27 roadster should have 21" wheels and large backing plates on the axle housings. Wire wheel hubs and drums should just swap out when you take the wood spoke wheels off. Ford did not have two different rear axles, depending on whether the car had wire or wooden wheels.
Hope this helps
Allan from down under.

[Steve Jelf]

Chaffins being the chief source of all things Rucktell, I asked there about dating from serial numbers. Dave says no, no list of numbers and dates survived. It would be neat if somebody found that info, but I don't expect it will happen.

[Wayne Sheldon]

I don't know how Ruckstell handled the manufacturing and marketing of their rear axles. A large number of them were made to match fit the pre 1920 enclosed spool rear ends. That in spite of the fact that Ford had already switched to the open spool housings by the time Ruckstell was put on the market. So I would guess that Ruckstell or Hall Scott was making center housings to fit both styles for at least some while.
Early "Ruckstell" housings had "Hall Scott" cast into the backing plates. (Don't try to weld one of those!) I see very few of those, so I would guess they were made for only a year or two. Later ones appear to have Ford backing plates on a lot of them. I have welded a few of those in order to repair them.
Beyond that, dating Ruckstells or pieces can be difficult. The brass name plate changed a few times. Reproduction ones are not exactly like any of the originals, but look fine.
Shift locks changed with distinctively different early and later styles, however the shift locks often got switched around, so don't help with dating the axle assembly itself.
Of course the 1926/'27 large brake Ruckstell is very apparently different than the earlier ones. However the center housing changed very little over the years. I really should get a copy of Glen's wonderful book on the subject. I know there was a slight change where the shift lock bolts on, but I don't know when that happened.
Later Ruckstells had brass name plates with "clipped" corners. However again, quite a few of those nameplates got switched around over the years.

I wouldn't worry much about the year of a Ruckstell axle. Almost any small drum would be right for your 1923 touring car. And technically none are right for a 1915. However, few people in the hobby care about that. Even the HCCA as far as I know has never restricted a car because of a Ruckstell. And hundreds of them have been on HCCA tours.

[micshotrodgarage]

Thanks for all the good information on ruckstell rear ends, I'm new to the T community; having been around Model A's from my father. Together we always thought it would be neat to have a T but never got one. Now I can introduce my son to model T's and model A's. As for my 27 Roadster pickup;It does have the big drum Ruckstell with the wood wheels, so the other chassis I have that has the wire spoke wheels I will just switch the parts over! Now another question; were the rucks tells a dealer installed option swell as over the counter accessory. I don't recall ever reading this was put on at the factory? I hope to post some pictures of my truck on the form soon. Thanks...Mike

[Original Smith]

Eaton took over the manufacture of Ruckstells in 1925 I believe. They are the ones with the clipped corner name plates. They are also used on the small drum models as well. The photos above could be a lot clearer. I have the earliest style plate in one of my cars. It has two serial number areas on the tag. Mine has a 4 digit serial number.
Montgomery Ward sold a lot of Ruckstells. I saw a crate once that said Montgomery Ward and Ruckstell on the crate.

[DanTreace]

Now another question; were the rucks tells a dealer installed option swell as over the counter accessory. I don't recall ever reading this was put on at the factory? I hope to post some pictures of my truck on the form soon. Thanks...Mike

No, never was the Ruckstell a factory or assembly branch install. All were done after delivery of the Ford, either by selling dealer or participating garage or other aftermarket sales companies.

Off-hand remarks (without verification) have been made that Ford supplied the Ruckstell as factory, as it is listed in a Ford Price List of Parts. However, the only Ford Price List of Parts containing the 1924 Ruckstell Parts Price List of Ruckstell Sales & Mfg. Co. is in the Polyprints reprint of August 5 1928 Ford Price List of Parts, the currently available and commonly found reprint. That addition was done by the editor of Polyprints.

Edsel did indicate interest in the new Ruckstell (Hall-Scott) rear axle in 1922, having visited an auto show in CA and saw it there. One was shipped to Ford, and this office memo shows perhaps one was installed in a T for Edsel to test, or maybe not, no records exist.

Ruckstell marketed the axle as mfg., all the parts were their own, no Ford productions parts came in the Ruckstell kit for assembly to a Ford or Ford TT.

Letter from a large dealer and supplier, to another about the Ruckstell and the $$ to be made by providing install in cars and trucks for customers.

Image 7-3-23 at 10.10 AM.jpeg (48.96 KiB) Viewed 1690 times

[Steve Jelf]

I don't recall ever reading this was put on at the factory?

Yes, that's correct. As the only accessory Henry ever approved, it was sold by Ford dealers.

[Original Smith]

When you decide to rebuild you Ruckstell, if you wish to install the correct fiber thrust washer inside the bell, I had a number of them made awhile back. They are a bit thicker than needed .125, and need to be fitted to your application. The factory thickness was .110". I don't know why Glen chose not to make these?