Hogshead tools worth producing again

[NealW]

Recently I finished putting back together the engine for our 1911 touring restoration project. One task that I was not looking forward to was installing the hogshead. Granted, I had two things in my favor. First, that the hogshead is aluminum and lighter to handle, and second, the engine is out of the car. I had watched Mike Bender's video on installing the hogshead and even with Mike's experience, it looked like it was a bit challenging doing it without specialty tools.

Fortunately I had picked up a couple of old T specific tools on eBay a while back that made the job very easy. The first was a band spring clamp made by Star manufacturing. There was another company that also made a similar clamp. That clamp allows you to easily compress the springs on the pedal shafts in the hogshead and to start the washers and nuts on the shafts before putting the hogshead on the engine.

The second is the official Ford 5-Z-445 band clip that compresses the bands and holds them in place. It is thicker and narrower than the APCO replica clamp sold by the vendors. My first dry run without gaskets I didn't use the clamp, but used tie wraps to compress and hold the clamps. They worked OK, but I then tried it using the Ford clip. Much easier using the clip in my opinion, and I could easily pull the clip back and then out the access hole. Even though the clip is thicker, it allowed the pedals to go down into the band slots enough that they stayed in place after I pulled the clip.

The third tool I had to make myself, which was the slotted aluminum piece with two bolts threaded into it. I found the dimensions for one that Royce posted some years back, and it holds the pedals and keeps the shafts for the spring centered. I believe that one of the original spring clamp tool makers also supplied something similar with their tool.

Anyway, these tools really make installing a hogshead easy, and I think would be useful tools to replicate again. The spring clamp has two unique details used twice. It could be sand cast or even probably 3D printed out of metal. Of course, the big question is if they could be made at a price T owners would be willing to pay. The Ford clip would be easy as it could be laser or water jet cut out of the correct steel thickness. The spring clamp would be more work. Here are a few pictures showing the tools.

Neal

[Scott_Conger]

SSHHHH!!

you're giving away the secrets

[Mike Lebsack-Iowa]

I have the Star tool but would be interested in the other two.

[Norman Kling]

Would you happen to have a picture of the three in the first picture in use? It's hard to understand their use.

Norm

[John kuehn]

The center tool in the picture is the one that’s shown in use. It’s folded out when it’s in use.
And the band clip is shown in place in the transmission.
The band clip that’s currently being made is a copy of an accessory clip. Some have good luck with it and others don’t. The clip that’s being shown is made a little better than the current repo and I’ve wondered why it hasn’t been reproduced,

If all three were reproduced and sold as a set that might be feasible but when anything is reproduced it has to sell and the maker would have to make some profit to make them in quantities. Maybe selling them individually would be feasible but it goes back to making a profit in making them and the time and effort to put them on the market.

[Pep C Strebeck]

Oddly enough for me, this arrived in the mail this morning:

There is one of the Star spring compressors on Ebay. I came across the one in the photos while doing a search for some other things, it is not cast steel or iron (don't know what the original Star was made from), instead it is cast bronze. It should hold up well and I will happily give it a try instead of my Briggs and Stratton valve spring compressor that I normally use (always works well, but only does one spring at a time). How could I go wrong for a $9.99 bid?

[NealW]

Would you happen to have a picture of the three in the first picture in use? It's hard to understand their use.

There is currently one on eBay that shows the Star clamp in the open and closed position:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284987848583?h ... R7a7zsn7YA

Here is a picture showing the pedal clamp holding the pedals. The Ford band U clip is shown in the picture I posted earlier

[Norman Kling]

Thank you.
Norm

[Rich P. Bingham]

These are great tools to have, they eliminate the frustration one can encounter setting the hog's head. The band clip is indispensable, it's too bad that a new-fangled item is being sold that doesn't necessarily work. I've made my own from 3/16" round stock. Some folks have used zip-ties and that seems to work.

Personally, I've never felt I needed help with the return springs. Some being sold are either too long or too robust, so a tool could be very helpful.

The "secret" to easing the whole process lies in locking the pedals in position ! That alone makes a tough job go smoothly. This can be accomplished without a special tool, zip-ties to the rescue once again, but the tool is easiest.

Regardless of one's preference for band lining, the model T owner will be dealing with this often enough that having the tools is certainly worthwhile.

I confess to having a dim view of quick change bands wrangled through the inspection access. I don't think it is "easier" and the risk of tweaking the bands out of round isn't worth it - especially if you opt for kevlar.

[CudaMan]

If somebody made a batch of those pedal clamps, I would certainly buy one.

[speedytinc]

Keep in mind that 2 of the 3 tools wont work on a 26-7 hogs head. The pedal shaft spacing is further back for the brake pedal.
The spring compressor would be special. The low pedal locking clamp could be made with 2 threaded holes corresponding to the early & late transmission cover brake shafts.

[TRDxB2]

Couldn't a band clamp be made long enough to work on all years? Then a single spring compressor to do one band at a time as you slide in the spring clamp.