I have a rear axle that I plucked from a 39 Merc. I plan on using this axle for my AV8 project, so I need to shorten the drive line and torque tube. When I removed the torque tube I discovered that there is no spline coupler for the pinion and drive shaft; but it is in fact all one piece. similar to a Model A. Do I have some sort of odd ball rear axle or is this typical for the Mercury's? Anyone have an Idea? (And yes pretty darn sure this was the original axle in the 39). Thanks John
I have a '39 Ford rear end under my '32 (shortened) and it, in fact, does have a spline coupler. So, I don't know if the Merc is different, or not. Just for info., the only axles that fit these rear ends are '39-'41. Some axles are the same length but, have the wrong tooth count.
I have the same rear end and it has been A pain to shorten ,anyone have any pic on how to adapted A driveshaft yoke.
Ford rear ends with a spline coupler for the driveshaft are more plentiful and much easier to work with, life is too short to fool with shortening that oddball Merc rear with the one piece pinion and driveshaft. I didn't know that '41 6 cylinder Fords used that setup, too.
Another odd item about the '41 Ford 6 cylinder rear was a 3:63 gear set. I did shorten a one piece setup a long time ago by cutting and welding the drive shaft. It worked OK behind a mild 283 SBC.
I am running a 283 SBC , just going to machine a sleeve and use a spline shaft off a ring & pinion I picked up , it should work I will p*** on the results.
This is second hand info, NOT verified. According t a Merc guy there is enough metal in the appropriate area to machine in Ford splines. Incidentally, after a couple of years Merc stopped selling replacement one-piece shaft and pinion sets and instead sold a normal Ford R&P as a kit with a driveshaft of appropriate length.
Up yours 1939 Merc. rear axle! What a pain to get the one piece pinion/driveshaft out, but I got it. The gear teeth are pitted so I will replace them with a standard gear set. No more odd ball. BTW there is enough material to cut and spline the Merc. pinion for standard spines.
My neighbor had a '37 Ford Woodie, inherited from his Dad. The car stopped one day, no power, as if an axle key had broken. Speedo still worked, but removal of the hub caps showed neither axle turning in hub. He pulled the rear end, and I pulled on the drive shaft...loose...Removed torque tube, and the pin was sheared at the coupling. I showed him the coupling's bore, teeth were cleaned of like they'd been bored! He said, "They don't have teeth in there..." I said, "Not any more...but what do you thing there are teeth on that pinion for?" He said it was obvious that the PIN DRIVES THE CAR! No amount of pleading, arguing, testimony, etc. would convince him that the PIN wasn't the connection. He replaced the pin, advertised the car for sale and sold it to a guy (for 12,5 K) that came up from Huntington Beach (L.A. area, 400 miles south of us) and the buyer DROVE THE CAR HOME, his wife following him in their late Suburban! Never heard a word back, wonder how far they got. ...and how long it took them to find the problem...
Holy cow, Johnny Mac! How tall is your shop ceiling? (or did you bore a hole in the upstairs floor???)
cut the shaft and weld on a splined coupler and double pin it for added insurance.. just dont be to rough with it
Yep in this case I am lucky to have a tall shop. So as I mentioned the gears in the Merc. axle are pitted, the housing is rough and one axle has a bad seal groove. So I bought a complete rear axle out of a 36 Ford at the swap meet a couple of weeks ago in hopes of it being usable as is. This is my 3rd axle ***y., the 39 Merc., a 47 Ford and now the 36. Well the 36 has nice bells and banjo, but a blown up diff and one axle shaft has the keyway smeared out of it. Oh and the 4:10 gears are 10 spline. SOooo. Three axles and still not enough parts to make one complete rear end. Ebay saves the day with a ring and pinion and shaft purchase. There goes my AV8 budget.
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