Hello All, I came up with this old quickchange center section, and need a little help identifying it, and locating a rear cover for it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
You have a fabricated qc made from a banjo. Probably won't find a rear housing. Be enterprising and fab one up for it.
I was told that this is not a home made unit, but rather an early Frankland. I think that the cover is one of those finnned art deco style covers with the retaining strap for the bearing retention. Any thoughts ?
Kida looks similar to mine....but probably not the same guy, Mine was ba*****t built around '65. This guy may know http://jalopyjournal.com/forum/member.php?u=27612
Sure, maybe Frankland made it but it still is a fabricated qc from a banjo center section. Lot of them made over the years from various shops/people.
I ***ume from the pics it is cast iron. We ran one very similar in our flathead powered Fiat Altered. Was made in Springfield, MA by Highland Machine for circle track cars. They made a half ton model and a 3/4 ton model. Use to see them in flea markets in the old days. These took the same back cover as the Halibrands, that is what we ran. Have you checked the rear dimensions to see if a Frankland or Halibrand cover will work?
Have not check rear measurements as of yet. Trying to get shafts to free up and upgrade it to open drive. I think the cover was just a cover, according to my local experts, and did not hold the bearings in place. Are there any particular welded on flanges or markings that would lead to an identification of a unit?
Also looks like a Franklin type setup to me. The quick change gears are exposed with the cover off rather than being recessed in the center section. The Franklin used a deeper rear cover over the gears than the Halibrand, and yes, there were an upper and lower bearing in the rear cover to support the input and output shafts. Jim
I had a Bart-bilt unit similar to yours,old me is correct about the bearings in the rear cover. otherwise the pinion and the lower shafts would deflect and would wear out or break bearings,spur gears or the shafts. Wayne Atkinson in Idaho installed one of his rear covers on what we believe was a Frankland modified V8 center section for us years ago,it is still in service today. We had a Parham unit that was built here in Oregon in the 50's, it had a hollow cover with a dog-bone unit with the bearings pressed in it. The unit just slid on the shafts and somewhat controlled the shaft deflection.
Any chance that Wayne still would have a cover that would work on my unit? Do you have contact information for him?
After further researdch looks like Atkinson is retired in Iowa and does not mess with QCs any more. I think that Wilson welding has some information on the covers, and also Franklin Welding in Balm Florida is mentioned in an older post. I am also going to contact South 40 Street rods for parts. I am using Dennis Frings in Charlotte to rebuild the unit. Will keep an update in this thread as I make progress. Thanks
I would contact the boys at the Hot Rod Works, they posted here on #5, good guys and they might know what became of Wayne's parts and or mold for that cover.
From what I understood (talking with Atkinson at a swap meet once), the Hot Rod Works guys have all the tools and parts from his old business. If they already said you'd probably have to fab your own cover, it must be true. I recently purchased a one-of-none (no name, no recognizable marks) magnesium A/B quickchange that needs a lot of work. It's neat having something so rare that nobody else knows where it came from.
I just built up a winters quickchange for my roadster, but I was thinking it would be cool, like you said, to have an old original.
A fellow by the name Ben Zimmerman out of Post Falls Idaho picked up where Atkinson left off on the fabricated V8 centers. He made a new pattern for the cover & made new fixtures to machine the case for the lower shaft. He made and sold several over the span of 5-10years. PDQ was cast into the rear cover (Performance, Durability & Quality). I now own all the remaining stock of his parts and the tooling and the cover pattern. I have built and sold a couple of them. My good friend Don Marks and I put one in the pictured '34 coupe. Monte Pixler
I would think the banjo was cast steel instead of cast iron. the welding looks like it is stick. I could be wrong, but Ford used a lot of cast steel or forged steel in the early cars. I know the front hubs pre 48 are steel. Ago
Here is another testiment to the power of the HAMB. My new best friend Steve Swavey in Eire PA came up with an original Franklin cover for my center section! Thanks a ton Steve!
I have a old Frankland Quickchange V8 size not the 10in size. I got this about 8 years ago for a 34 I was building. It is made out of a stock ford housing . It has a alum gear cover with frankland on it. I have I think all the parts,ring gear, repaird change gears,looks like new bearings, bells with the bearing cut off was going with 9in type bearings. Look like the one [dodoed] posted. looking to sell as is. it needs to be rebuild.... I am MI
Ford used forgings and quality steel in his castings, malable and weldable, this why his suspension parts, transmissions and frames are still around when the rest went the way of the DO DO bird, read the story where he bought a German steel factory for his steel. I have seen these QC's at swapmeets and wondered who made them, quality workmanship, I would like to find one, or maybe make one, got enough parts to do so!
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