Follow me along and help me get a 34 roadster ready for a wedding!!

That's what Logan said!!!

 

Yeah, when he offered to do it for me I did not even have to think about it. He is very modest but man is he talented!

 

It's all for the cause of progress! August and September (B-ville and wedding) will be here before we know it and I still have a ton of work to do!!!

 

OH hell yeah...any of us would be lucky to have a guy of Logan's talent work on our cars!

 

Maroon is an excellent choice. I'm glad the car 'told' you that. I can hardly wait to see the results.

 

Don't hold your breath....

 

Good choice on the Maroon! Roadster is looking great man.

 

Thanks man, get off the hamb and get to work! I wanna hear that supercharger!!!

 

Only a true car nut knows that cars talk to them. Ah, whats that? Just a sec, I'm on the HAMB.
Mike

 

Tonight I tore the rear end down...I am really glad I am doing this as the rear end was not gone through. It sure looked nice on the outside so I ***umed that it was rebuilt. Well, everything is pitted pretty bad- gears, bearings, etc. The good news is almost everything inside I have out of the 35-36 rear end donating the 3:54 gears which is all in EXCELLENT shape. Tomorrow I am going to press both pinions out of the banjos and prepare them for machine work required to put a 35-36 ring and pinion in a 32-34 housing. Also took some internals to my Dads and hot tanked em.


One question though- the gears on the ends of the axle have some pits. Will this REALLY effect anything? I do not have another set of axles...

 

I asked the same question regarding my rear axle. I have some pits on the ends of the axles where the bearings sit on and was told that they would have to be fixed.. And that it's pricey too.

But there's a company that trades axle bells for a fee or something. HitchHiker was the one who explained all this to me.

Maybe he'll chime in on this issue.

 

How bad do yours look? this is the worst part of mine..

 

Bad enough id fix em, or run em and look for better ones, i have a buddy that made a fixture for machining the axle ends and presses on the new sleeves, also the sleeves that macs puts out are ****, they machine them then harden them and they get out of shape when hardened, theres a guy that has some done that machines them after they are hardened. cant remember his name tho.

JEFF

 

This is on the axle shaft itself, on the gears that mesh with the spider gears. No bearing surface, my bells are nice.

 

Ah. Gotcha.. Wrong parts.

Read through it real quick and not clear enough. My bad.

 

The side and pinion gears (slang term: 'spider gears') in the diff only turn going around corners. You can get away with a ton more pitting on them then you could on a ring and pinion set.

 

Thanks Kris, that was kind of what I was thinking but was not sure.

 

Damn!

 

Yeah, Chris, I wouldn't be too concearned with "some" pitting on the side gears because like said before, they only function on turns. At the shop we have 2 levels for parts: What's good enough to use in our own cars and what's good enough to put in a customers car. In the 2nd case pitted gears wouldn't fly but for our own, whatever.

You probably already know this, but you will need to shorten the driveshaft when using the '35/'36 gears because the snout on the pinion is longer. You'll also need a 1/2" spacer to go between the pinion bearing nuts and the bearings. If you have any laying around, a '32-'34 upper steering worm bearing race works perfect for this application. Just make sure it's a junk race because you can't buy new ones!!!

We've been down this road a few times and I'm dealing with all these same issues on a hybrid '33/'34 w/Columbia that I'm building at the shop right now. Couldn't find any decent '33/'34 4.11 gears so we had to use a '35/'36 set. At least they were local and in *****in' condition. Got lucky and rounded up a pair of NOS axles and spider gears for it too! Finished the set-up and ***embly on the axle last week, down to shortening the driveshaft/torque tube to fit a '32 now.

Also, since you have it apart you should really consider a seal at the back of the torque tube to keep the lube from running forward. Danny @ Bruce's Rod Shop in Texas makes really *****in ones. I just ordered one from him yesterday for the Columbia.

 

Thanks Dennis, Funny you mention it I emailed your Dad yesterday regarding the spacer and he told me about the upper race...found a junk one in my ol man's stash last night!

Another funny note, Danny is bringing me a seal retainer to the roundup this weekend. Those are super nice, I bought a 37-up one from him a couple years ago.

Tonight I went to a good friends house. He's an older guy with a TON of *****in stuff. He gave me a set of decent axles, and an NOS set of Ford pinion bearings and race! What a guy! I owe him BIG!

 

Havent chimed in on this build but once so far but I have definitely been watching. I must say that this is one of the best roadsters I have ever seen. The style and details I couldnt have imagined any better. Excellent taste you have.

 

Now that is funny because when I talked to Danny to order our seal retainer he said he was making another '34 version to deliver to a guy at the Round Up. You must be the guy, haha.

Wow, that was some good luck scoring the axles and bearings. Sounds like you're in business now! Those bearings and race can be a little tricky to find. We have a whole drawer of NOS pinion bearings that my Dad managed to get from MAC's just recently. I think he bought all they had, lol.

 

Hmmmm...so when I put my other set of 3.54's in my pickup this winter and I find my race and bearings are bad I'll know who to call

 

Thanks man, that truley means a lot!

 

Logan text me these pics as he's been working on some repair. I have not seen it in real life...need to get over there. Sorry for the cell pics, Thats Logan's only way to send em He made all these panels by hand




This is the lower rumble hinge area








I also had the 35-36 pinion turned down to 32-34 specs. Had to take a little off the beg end of the gear to clear the housing.

 

The upper is stock '32/4? Love seeing this kind of stuff made to work! Do you think the sharper transition between the stock edge and the new machined edge of the teeth will make for any kind of excessive wear pattern on the ring gear?

 

I don't think it will...I got the info needed on Fordbarn and a lot of guys have done this and say it works slick. I will have to shorten the driveshaft a little, too

Yes, the upper is the pinion out of my car...you can see how screwed up it is. Will be nice having 3.54's in it!

 

Last night we chucked my axles up in my Dads lathe and polished them. The thrust surface on the bottom of the gears also needed attention. I pressed the inside bearing on the pinion shaft, brought it home and put the pinion together. Everything fit like a glove. Notice there is a spacer between the pinion bearing and lock nut...thats required when installing 35-up gears in a 32-34. As Dennis Lacy pointed out, a 32-36 upper steering box race works perfect Should be about ready for final ***embly soon...

 

OK, I'm showing how green I am in certain areas- what is your Pop using to polish the axles? Thanks.

 

Just a little emrey cloth...you can get it at a parts store