MTFCA Forum

A friend of mine bought a car with a Ruckstell. I assume it is set in high. The shifting lever and rod from lever to housing are not installed. We dont know if we should reinstall them. If we do, are there only 2 positions for the shifting lever? It lookslike it would go forward or back and not side to side. Chaffins book doesnt really explain it.

Hi Dave, Yes, the Ruckstell shift lever goes front to back, not side to side. With the shift lever in the rear position (back towards the seat) it's in the low gear position. With the lever to the front of the car, it's in high. There is no neutral, and the Ruckstell should only be shifted when the car is moving forward. If you're not sure what gear the Ruckstell is in now, just drive the car and see if the engine is really reving high at about 20 mph. If it is, then it's in low Ruckstell. Once you know what gear the Ruckstell is in now, position the shift lever to that same gear and then install the connecting rod.

There should be someone in your club that has a Ruckstell that can demonstrate all this for you.

Keith

I would suggest that you obtain repair, service and owners manual literature prior to doing anything with this unit. All are available from any of the peddlers.

David

Believe your question is what position is the little arm on the shift lock assembly for putting the Ruckstell into gear? Since you don't have the linkage rod or the hand lever at the u-joint mount.

The little shift lock 'arm' on the Ruckstell when in full rear ward position, to the rear of the axle, keeps the differential in standard Ford gearing or 'high'. When the little shift lock 'arm' is pulled forward, toward the front, the Ruckstell is now engaged and puts the differential into Ruckstell gearing or 'low'.

There is no "HIGH" in a Ruckstell, ether the under drive is engaged or it not . With the lever pulled back (to the rear of the car) and it is disengaged or pushed forward (to the front of the car) the Ruckstell (under drive) is engaged (this is at the rear end). At the handle (when it is installed) the action is reversed only for the handle. IE; when the driver pulls the handle back it pulls the shifting lever at the rear end forward. This all assuming that the shift lever at the rear end is installed the correct direction, pointing to the pumpkin.

So basically it is an on-off lever. Either you are in Ruckstell or you are not? Is that correct?

Thank you for the picture Dan.

Keith, I thought I would just wait til you got back from OZ and stop at your place for a few.

And now to throw even more confusion...

The Ruckstell gave a "half low" range to the Ford 2 speed - If you were to work your way from low to high, it would be Ruckstell low (lever back) + Ford low (pedal mashed) --> Ruckstell High (Lever front) + Ford Low (pedal mashed) --> Ruckstell low (lever back) + Ford High (pedal out) --> Ruckstell High (lever forward) + Ford high (pedal out).

It was figuratively like doing the jitterbug on your car, ESPECIALLY when you also had your throttle and occasionally spark levers to contend with at the same time. You can get used to it (when we lived in the Oakland, CA Hills, I made good use of all 4 ranges (in order)), but (like anything else) it takes some practice to get it all coordinated. (And you feel a bit like a steam locomotive engineer moving pedals, levers, et al, constantly when in hilly country - especially at night, when keeping your engine revved was what gave you your headlights...).

And as long as they're not worn out (or hade the shifter buggered with) they're relatively safe. I still don't recommend shifting on the fly unless you know what's in front of you and have planned for (and have auxiliary brakes for) a panic stop.

Yes, lever on the axle is forward in low (Ruckstell) and back in direct (Ford).
Determining the gear ratio is next.
You could put the axle in direct and the pedal in high, jack up a rear wheel and take the plugs out. Turn the crank and see how many turns it takes to make a full revolution at the wheel.

Kind of a PIA, but unless you have the axle out, I don’t know how else you can do it.