MTFCA Forum

Does anybody know where the noisy sound can came from if my T is turning in neutral.
All looks good and proper in the transmission, installled a torbo clutch.
Kevlar bands installed also
Only when it is in neutral, when I am driving in hight it runs smooth
Bert

When sitting, engine running, in "so-called neutral", a model T's transmission is spinning three different ways inside. All the gears are turning and usually whining a bit. When in "high gear", it all spins as one. Some amount of noise is normal in "neutral". And most model Ts run much more quietly in high gear.
Whether the noise you have is within "normal" amounts or not is a judgement call, and best listened to up close. A video posted with good microphone audio can help with diagnosis. But up close and personal is better. Most model T people get used to it.
The funny thing, is that many of the nicest sounding model T transmissions are the ones that are the most worn out. I had one like that many years ago. The whole engine was so tired and worn out, but when I lifted the engine out of the car to replace it with one I had rebuilt for the car, the engine hanging on the lift, gears and pins fell out of the transmission inside!. It was so worn out it was hard to believe that it ran at all! But it was the smoothest and most quiet model T transmission I ever had.

What he said.

Without hearing it, I can't 100% for sure and certain guarantee it's not something wrong, but I suspect it is normal. Both of ours make a noise in neutral. It even changes a little bit based on whether the brake band is engaged or not. The triple gears are straight cut spur gears. Straight cut spur gears are noisy under the best of circumstances. Add in a bit of misalignment due to some clearance/wear in the bushings swapping sides and it will likely change the note of the noise a bit. I don't worry about it in mine.

When I got my T, I noticed the drums had play in them and could be rattled around by hand. I was told any play was unacceptable. 17 years later, and coming up to 40,000km, the drums still have the same play in them. And of course there's always been a rumble in neutral which changes when the foot brake is applied. In fact, I can tell by the sound of the rumble exactly where neutral is on the low pedal. Beautifully quiet and smooth in high. Am I worried? No.

JohnH

the advice you got was and is all too common. Aren't you glad you remained ignorant of the perils you faced by ignoring it?

I have observed that when you freshly rebush a transmission with used gears (which is the typical process) it will be very noisy in neutral, less noisy in low and reverse and of course quiet in high. Eventually the noise will reduce as the used gears wear into each other.
So it sounds typical to me.
All the best

The noise of the Model T transmission is different yet similar from car to car.
One thing that can make it worse is if the bands are adjusted too tight, any of them can cause "extra" gear noise in neutral if dragging.

Thanks all
Now I am happy with my noisy transmission, and yes I rebushing all.
Buth still diving it every day, actualy using it as a normal car, if it is not raining ...
The climat change makes holland more sunny..
Bert
Bolow a photo from 10 minuts ago
[image][/image]

Over the years from reading posts on the forum more than a few times people have found out that hard way about rebuilding a T transmission and having everything better than factory tolerances doesn’t always work out like you think. I guess it comes from the idea the closer fit the better. But I have to agree that if everything is still pretty decent when you rebuild one even if you have to rebush it they can still run pretty quite. At least mine did.

When I did rebuild one with a slightly worn gear on the low speed drum I finally found a better one with less wear and it did help the transmission run quieter with the better less worn drum.

A beautiful model T ! I have always liked the Ford body pickups.

I agree. That is a very nice Pickup, Bert.