Now time to press on new bearings. With everything setup time to start pumping the handle. With each pump of the handle the bearing pressed down. Once I felt resistance I stopped and took a look. Turns out it worked fantastic. Flipped over the carrier and pressed on the other bearing. So that’s where I’ll leave off for today. I want to do some cleaning up and have a whole day to run through getting everything setup correctly and I need to get a pair of safety wire pliers and safety wire for final assembly. So I'll be back at it next weekend and if all goes well the rear will be ready for paint by the end of next weekend. Now that I just said that, I am sure I just jinxed myself
Your build is actually one I am following, looking good. I have the same seal install tool and it worked great, just used it today. Good luck on your rebuild and if you have any questions just ask away and Ill do my best to answer.
Looking good! Really like the bearing race install tool. Helps a lot to see it in action. I don't have a press so I may need to have a buddy help me With pressing on the carrier bearings. Won't get a chance to hit the garage until Thursday. I will let you know how things go for me.
I've done one of these at about 15 yr interevals, often to install an overdrive which is a wonderful thing. When the axle bells are in the lathe, I save myself a lot of future fit problems by triming off about a tenth off of the brake backing plate ears which is partly needed from skinning back the taper, cleaning up damage. Axle shims are a poor patch. Another thing, take it easy on the bell center bolts and threaded holes. Ford made these very tight from the factory to control leaks. Using a tap to clean is poor practice. In the off years when I won't be doing a rearend, I buy good axle housings that have good bearing. Salt away a few and you'll save another $150. That's enough to buy a nice pair of bud vases and some flag holders. Good Luck: Fred A
Ran into a snafu today trying to get the carrier preload set. With .055 of gasket installed the carrier is still locked up. Something doesn't see me right. I double checked that the races and carrier bearings where fully seated and stuck everything back in the press and gave a few more pumps ford good measure. Still same problem. The carrier did come from another rear as the original had a spun bearing obviously it was too tight as well. Anyone ever run into issues with the repo bearing and races being out of spec? Or am I missing something?
I am doing our A rear for the second time at the moment ,,last build I used parts from 2 diffs and had no problems ,,,it's scary though,,but I had read there was some difference in real early bells ,,not sure if any truth or what the differences were,,,you could skim a bit from behind a bearing ,,,mine this time has a Hot Rod Works carrier ,,I've got to about .035 in shims and only needs bit more so it's not too thick ,,,keep adding to get your clearance for interest sake to see what it takes and make a decision then ,,the guy that did my driveshaft shortening suggested he make a solid spacer to go between the pinion bearings to give a solid pre load and not rely on the lock washers ,,,
Figured I would do a little research before I started machining parts and double check everything. Just realized I have a typo in my previous post. I had a total of .045 of gasket and still locked up. So not as bad but I think still excessive.
Was about to embark on a similar rebuild of mine, but found one, that seems to might work... maybe. When I'm done fumbling around with sticks and mud (I'm rebuilding our house), it goes in. If it works, fine- else I'm following your thread! Thanks for posting. Talked to a friend, who has a '32 with the early rear end (apparently), and he put several gaskets under the one side of his (remember it as being 5, but not sure), before it was as it's supposed to be. So a single gasket might be supplied with others. -Have you considered turning it down a 10th or two of an inch?
So I also had this question on the Ford Barn and heard back from Tom Endy and others who have used "lots" of gaskets in the past without issue and recommend I try adding another .010 gasket. I am also going to remove the races and double check for any crud/grit that maybe I missed and order up some extra gaskets. As a last resort I will turn down the bearing stops on the carrier.
I had good luck with my rear end rebuild over the last weekend. Went together with no issues. Locked up just as expected with no gaskets and ended up using only .016" total on each side of the banjo. Thanks again for posting the tech on this. Good luck with your project.
Be Super careful when putting on the bearings, I did mine when it was apart and used something for backing. The old center was cracked all around the base of where the bearing sits (non ring gear piece), from what looks like from the bearing being pressed on (pushing down the center too far) without any backing.
After much double checking and research I had two options, buy more gaskets and keep adding until the carrier would turn or machine down the bearing stop effectively moving the bearings inwards creating more clearance. I chose the latter. Throwing caution to the wind I could see no reason not to remove perfectly good metal. The first go round I removed .010 from each bearing stop on the carrier halves. Put it all back together and still too tight. Back apart and removed another .010 from each side. Back together and apart two more times to figure out I needed .045 worth of gaskets. The next small hurdle was my inch pound torque wrench is a ¼ inch drive and the biggest socket I had was for ½ nut. Well my pinion preload tool has 11/16 nuts. Being a crafty guy I found a ½ nut and drilled and tapped it for an 11/16 Thread. VIOLA!!! After assembling, disassemblimg amd reassembling more time than I can count I was finally rewarded with 20" lbs of preload
So now it's time to take it all back apart and start on installing the pinion and setting pinion preload. First things first install the pinion bearing race in the center section. I know it looks crooked in the pic, I ended up taking it back out of the press and giving the race a few whacks using the old race and BFH to get things started. Next install the inner bearing on the pinion. For this I used and old race and a couple scraps of steel. I guess I forgot to take pics of installing the pinion. It installs from the inside of the center, then slide on the outer bearing followed by the preload shim, inner nut, locking tab and outer nut. It was at this time I called out my helper to help me install the drive shaft who decided to ham it up for the pic. Next step to set the preload then I remebered I need a 1/4 to 3/8 and a 3/8 to 1/2 adapter to connect the inch lb torque wrench to a 1 1/16 6 point socket to turn the drive shaft. Guess I'll be stopping at Harbor Freight on the way home tomorrow.
Now that spring has sprung, decent weather projected for this weekend and I have some free time I hope to get back on this and finish up the rear this weekend. Photo's and descriptions to follow Sunday evening.
After spending Saturday at TROG I'm tired of being a spectator so wit a fire lit under my ass I jumped back into the rebuild and setting the backlash. In my first shot I got .0065, .010 is max I also cleaned up and primed the driveshaft tube. I need to order some safety wire and get some new gaskets as these got beat up during all the assembly and disassembly . Sent from my SCH-I545 using H.A.M.B. mobile app
I noticed you have some small pitting on the bearing surface for the hubs, how much is acceptable. I have some pitting on mine too but I don't have any replacement bells.
Not sure how much pitting is acceptable but I took another look and it and I'm not worried about it. If it had heavy pitting now that would be a different story. The Big thing is to make sure the surface is round and does not have excessive wear, usually on the underside, and has become egg shaped. This would warrant it to be machined down and new races pressed on.
Found my notebook and I actually used .050 of gasket not .045 as I stated earlier. During assembly yesterday to set the backlash I installed .025 worth of gasket on each side as a starting point and lucked out. During all the assembly and disassembly the gaskets got a little beat up and one of the .005 actually tore so I ordered up some new gaskets and some safety wire this morning. Hope to have it for final assembly this weekend.
TROG fever strikes....no better motivation than to be there and see the cars in action. Sent from my Nexus 6P using H.A.M.B. mobile app
Ok I'm a little behind in updating this thread as the rebuild is done so without further a due. Differential and axles going together for the final time. After torquing is done all the castle nuts are lined up and safety wired. Assembly is dropped into the housing and I find out my jig isn't high enough off the ground, oops Easy shade tree driveway fix, just grab some patio blocks to raise it up. Now coat the gaskets with Indian Head Shellac and assemble. Note I had already assembled the other axle tube with the appropriate gaskets and sealer. Now it's time to drop on the axle tube and torque it down. Sent from my SCH-I545 using H.A.M.B. mobile app
Laid down the banjo assembly and removed the assembly jig. Time to prep the torque tube with new seal and a race. I had a spare drive shaft and with a 21 mill socket if I remember correctly I dropped the torque tube over it and gave it a few taps. Note put the driveshaft on a block of wood as to not damage the threads. With a short pipe and seal driver I drove in the new seal Then I dug into the parts bin for the new bearing race, something looked odd and after comparing with the old race it did not have the locating dimple. The old race looked ok but I had another torque tube and figured I would see if the one from it was in better shape. Not only was it better it was also an original Ford piece, so I used that. To install you need to compress it and wire it shut, then when you tap it in, again use the seal driver the wire slide right off. Sent from my SCH-I545 using H.A.M.B. mobile app
Now it was time to bring in the Big Guns and install the torque tube. Again I used all thread to make the install easier and coated the gasket with Indian Head Shellac. Viola! Looks like a rear end once again I need to take a few more pics as it is painted and I didn't show safety wire on the torque tube mounting flange. We still need to clean and install the speedo gear assembly and install the rear bones. Plan is to have it mounted back in the chassis this coming weekend. Sent from my SCH-I545 using H.A.M.B. mobile app
Very helpful! Good detail and great pictures Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Found a couple pics I forgot to uploa After painting the rear assembly and his shins my main mechanic is cleaning out the spring bushing bores with a wire brush mounted on a drill. After rebuilding the rear spring which consisted of reversing the main leaf and removing a couple leaves the rear is mounted back up in the chassis.
Another post helped me find your banjo rebuild thread, and it's a good one. In cleaning, inspecting a re-assembling the banjo for my Model A, I'm trying to reach a decision if the amount of galling/pitting on the taper of my axles is a huge concern or not. Referring to your photos on post #20 of this thread, it just makes me wonder...just how bad is too bad to use once galling has been somewhat cleaned up, either with the help of a lathe or just careful use of some emery paper. Somewhere in trying to find an answer I found a post that said that when a hub is properly seated on the axle taper that even the keyway and key would hardly be needed because of the taper fit of the axle and hub. So, it seems that if the hub nut is torqued and re-torqued a couple times after short drives that even moderate pitting/galling wouldn't be a huge issue. But, just what would be considered acceptable on a low HP (<60 HP) car? I'll be ordering some parts for the rearend as well as other things for the car and would probably order a couple axle shims as "just-in-case" insurance. Another rearend related question, but it regards brakes. I will be converting to later hydraulics instead of the mechanicals. On the '32 spindles I'll be using on the front I understand the need for the "centering ring" for the backing plate/spindle interface to center the backing plate, and the need to elongate, or plug and redrill the mounting holes. Also I understand I'll need a bearing spacer on the axle itself for use with the later hubs. It appears on my Model A rearend axle bells that the raised area that centers to backing plate is a larger diameter than that on the front spindles. Is it the same diameter of the center hole in the later hydraulic backing plates? If that's the case then only the mounting hole locations need to be modified, as well as the typical "rotation" of the plate for the wheel cylinder to clear the spring perch? I did some searching, but either my search skills are inadequate (likely) or it isn't often addressed in brake conversion write-ups. Thanks Lynn
Hi Lynn I guess when I post from the app it doesn't list my signature and links, glad you found my thread. The center hole on the rear backing plate is the same size and will fit onto the A rear. I am making things more difficult by using wide five mechanical brakes and also needed to turn down the outer lip on the backing plate and still need to turn down the inner lip on the drum so there's don't rub and to get the hub to properly seat on the axle. I cleaned up the axle tapers with a little emery cloth though used the lathe to spin it. Also check for cracks on the key way. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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