If the gearing, tire size, etc are equal - Is there really much of a strength difference between a quickchange and a later Ford banjo? What is actually going on inside when a banjo or quickchange is coming apart? I've heard "ring gear is the weak link" but does the ring itself just break or is it more an issue of the pinion not being supported enough?
From what I know the pinion starts to move in a quickchange and breaks the case holding the bearings then gets loose real quick and the pinion start to climb over the ring gear and finally takes out the pinion gear. That seems to be why so many cases are cracked supporting the pinion. i don't know if the bearing start to fail causing the pinion to move first, but i would think that is why it all starts. So far mine is holding up well.
The real weak link is the axles....all else being equal. My guess will be you would break an axle at the tapered outer end before you would hurt the quickie.
I've never owned a QC, but have noticed that an awful lot of the ones I've seen, both V8 and truck type, have cracked and rewelded pinion supports. I'd say that weld bead there probably has a Halibrand part number... I'd expect the iron stocker to be stronger here. Tight setup with no slop in bearings is important. Failure usually does result from pinion climbing ring teeth, I think, although I guess it is possible that the failed supports are a result rather than cause. I have heard of failures with a modern posi conversion that requires most of the nearly solid center of the stock ring to be cut away. Common axle conversions like '49 Merc and 9" Ford require cutting in center, but that's very minor and shouldn't cause problems unless sloppy work leaves stress risers. Axles are gonna break first, and the important thing out there is good condition of tapers and ridiculously tight retaining nut.
What type of QC??? I've run several QC's (Winters, Franklin, and Halibrand) and I've run High ten seconds in the qaurter with them and put on over 100,000 miles on the street with Big Sticky tires and never had any issues...!!! I haven't any experience with the early QC's except for installing one in a customers 34 coupe..., so I don't know if they're fragile...!
The problems we had with them, when racing, was the ring gear flexing out away from the pinion...So we welded a nut on the axle housing where we could scew in a br*** thrust bolt against the ring gear to keep it in place...Solved a lot of our problems...bigticket
Axles are gonna break first, and the important thing out there is good condition of tapers and ridiculously tight retaining nut.[/QUOTE] The axles in my V8 quickie have been converted to 28 spline from a fairlane. The first two years I ran cheater slicks and was afraid to let it loose because of the stories of breakage, I have since put bias ply on the rear and have had a little fun but haven't dumped the clutch. The guy I got this from draged with it in a GTO for a couple of years but he had the tapered axles and became tired of shearing axle keys. I don't have a lot of money in this since I only paid 125 for it, and had help from the tool room at work to do the conversion, but I see the replacement costs as too high to stomp on it. I don't know if it matters but i ended up using four spider gears from the fairlane (two rearends to get two short side axles) like the stock set up. I like it because the gear change is easy and I have ten sets of gears that I bought from a oval guy for $100. I don't have a lot of tourqe because it's hooked to a 289 four speed but then again I love the looks of it with 36 endbells the whole package is small and light. I hope it continues to hold up so far 8,000 miles no problems.
Hijack of a post....... Kevin, It is the Lawrence swap this weekend......just to give you a heads up. Chris
The axles in my V8 quickie have been converted to 28 spline from a fairlane. The first two years I ran cheater slicks and was afraid to let it loose because of the stories of breakage, I have since put bias ply on the rear and have had a little fun but haven't dumped the clutch. The guy I got this from draged with it in a GTO for a couple of years but he had the tapered axles and became tired of shearing axle keys. I don't have a lot of money in this since I only paid 125 for it, and had help from the tool room at work to do the conversion, but I see the replacement costs as too high to stomp on it. I don't know if it matters but i ended up using four spider gears from the fairlane (two rearends to get two short side axles) like the stock set up. I like it because the gear change is easy and I have ten sets of gears that I bought from a oval guy for $100. I don't have a lot of tourqe because it's hooked to a 289 four speed but then again I love the looks of it with 36 endbells the whole package is small and light. I hope it continues to hold up so far 8,000 miles no problems.[/QUOTE] Same as Oldspeeds for mine. 28 spline axles and outer bearings. EVERYthing new internally except the R&P, including spider gears and cross. Triple bearings (Muncie trans) on the pinion for extra support. Max HD bearings everywhere else. A light car and AT lessen the shock. But like he said, at today's replacement prices, no need to purposely TRY to break it. Mine's been doing great for 10 years. And I love the sound. Mine came out of a roundy-round car running a spool and was perfect inside. Not bad for $75 (with the spool and 6 sets of gears)!! From what I've gathered, chipping a tooth would let the piece momentarily jam the gears and the pinion snout support was the weakest link. Also, bouncing across railroad tracks with the power on/off/on/off would be a NO-NO. whereas a constant application won't hurt it. Also some side plates with bolt-on tubes for V-8's had a boss cast in them for the br*** ****oned bolt to side-load the ring gear. Check the lube regularly for shiney dust (bearings) and don't ignore it. Just some thing to consider if you're taking the plunge.
Grim baby. What exactly are you looking to do?? If you are serious about a quickie for your little hot rod, there are a few ways to go...none are terribly cheap. You can make your own out of your basic 39 Ford housing, or you can get ahold of joints like Wilson Welding and pick up one of thier set ups... Or, you can scrounge E-bay for an early Halibrand unit, (not cheap) OOORR...you can find a Winters/Franklansd style and they will handle just about any amount of power you want to put to em. So..what is the deal... are you just tired of your stock ge****t, or what?? See you at the Drags. -Abone.
One more thing....I finally got the quickie in mine.... And boy, are you ****ers in trouble at the Drags....No more 3.00:1 single spinner....I'll be packin a 4:11 w/ a locker.... Should drop about 3 tenths......-Abone.
What am I doing? I'm collecting parts again. I'll be finding a place for my car to spend the winter so I can start on another ch***is. Nothing too crazy. Deuce rails with another flathead in between and your basic Ford parts on the front end. Rolling stock will be '40 ford wheels with Firestones all around. 750's out back and ribbed fronts...And that's about as far as I've been able to get. Front and rear crossmembers, transmission, and rear end are all undecided.
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