I'm working with a 1939 banjo rear. I've been trying to find some information on moving the spring in-front of the axle. I've read swapping the bells from left to right is a solution, but I can't find details on this. But you can also rotate the tubes 180 degrees? Then you rotate the axle around. The spring is now in-front. With the rotation of the whole axel, the driving wheel is on the other side. The center section is upside-down so the drain is on top. What I haven't found is, does this work. I think this will put the thrust on the ring gear on the other side of the teeth and possibly put a load on parts of the center section that are not meant to have forces applied. I think the spiral cuts of the ring gear and pinion gear have to turn in a specific direction. This is a TROG car and only has to go down the sand for a little while. No street driving. But I don't want to be picking up pieces of the rear from the beach. Is there a good source of information on this somewhere on the internet?
I don’t have any information other than 1: it’s been done a bunch and 2: of your just swapping tubes side for side so the hangers are on the front not the back the rear axle functions 100% as stock seeing as the center hasn’t moved at all and the axle shafts don’t care where the hangers are
Yes, it really is just that simple. You do need to check gear pattern just in case. You do understand that the gaskets set the pattern, right?
Unless I misunderstood, you're wanting to end up with the center section flipped? I've done demolition derby for 34 years and flipped a Pinto rearend so the end result was 1 speed forward and 3 speeds in reverse. It was a bear to drive because the pattern was PDNR21
This one is done with the spring in front. it let me pot a bigger fuel tank in the back and is also what supports the rumble seat. I have about 30,000 miles on it and it works fine!
No. This is not correct. Just swap the axle housings side for side, keeping the tops of the housings in the same orientation. The center section stays in exactly the same place. Keep the drain hole on the bottom. As was said, you will need to reset gear lash and bearing pre load.
How’s the clearance of the spring and shackles over the wishbone? I’m ***uming you used an A spring. Do you think a 40 spring would have clearance at the shackles and over the torquetube too? I have a project I want to switch the housings side for side, but haven’t mocked anything up to check clearance yet.
Did not use a Model A spring with low QC driveshaft. The last picture is my own quickchange. Banjo turned backwards and upside down. 3 speeds forward and 1 reverse. The first 2 pictures the cars have narrowed rear ends with slip in axles so I used my K I S traction bars.
Well I’d ***ume he’d un bolt them, rotate the tubes 180 deg and bolt them back on. The center staying in place. the amount of “I don’t get it” on this thread is insane. “if I put a left sock on my right foot wouldn’t I walk in circles?” Is what half of this thread reads like.[/QUOTE]
When you take it apart, keep track of the gaskets for both sides - as using the same gasket "stack up" thicknesses when you put it back together would be a good starting point for gear mesh and backlash.
This is probably the best advice. Plus as he stated this is the "starting point for checking the lash. \
[/QUOTE] Like @Ken Smith said, swapping axle tubes left to right will get the job done, but wasn't there talk of flipping the axle around as well? In that case the center section is not staying in place...
When you put it back together, don’t forget to use the proper torque setting. You might need a big *** wrench. Got to be gawd auwful tight.
There seems to be an awful lot of confusion here for something so simple. 1 Remove the left axle housing. 2 Remove the right axle housing. 3 Exchange them; do not rotate anything. 4 Set lash.
No matter how I do it, I'm going to have to take the tubes off because you can't rotate the tubes without ripping the gaskets. I do like the advice of measuring the old guests as a reference for setting the lash. Switching the tubes is the common method. I was just interested in hearing if there was any 'old school' opinions or reasoning for doing it differently. Rotating the axle as I mentioned, puts the drive wheel on the driver's side. Also, the direction of the helical pinion and ring gear meshing in the opposite direction will change, (they will rotate like you're driving in reverse all the time.) There definitely is a specific direction the helical gears are cut. I'm ***uming there is a reason. I think I will post some pictures and that will clarify what I'm trying to describe.
No expert here, but aren't you answering your own question concerning the meshing of the gears? I think they all go the way they go for a reason. Chris
Why are you so insistent on complicating it? If you flip the banjo upside down the car will go in reverse when it is in a forward gear. That's not old school or traditional. It's just wrong. Leave the banjo where it is. Remove the left housing and exchange it with the right housing, keeping the tops in the same orientation. Yes, you will have to reset the gear lash and bearing preload. That's the old school way of doing it. There is a reason it's done this way. It works.
Final conclusion is the demolition derby answer. Rotating the axle will cause the car to go backwards. Thanks everyone for chiming in. I will be posting more knucklehead questions as I build this car.
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