If you guys had a chance to buy a complete NOS halibrand quickchange for 2000 would you choose it over a rodsville for 1700? I'm not against a little more money, just is it really work the extra 300 and will it hold up like a rodsville?
The Rodsville casting is a great improvement over the original Halibrand. Having said that, if the NOS is really NOS and complete ready to bolt up to your housings...then YES.
Yeah I almost pulled the trigger on one recently, but there were so many unknowns for the price. I couldn't do it, I'm going to go with one from Rodsville instead.
The NOS Halibrand your looking at most likely came from Sig Emerson out at South 40 Street Rods . He aquired some surplus NOS Halibrand raw castings along time ago (maybe from Halibrands bankrupt problems years ago...not sure). He is the guy CNC machining the Rodsville Quickchanges and the Halibrand cases are done on the same CNC. These Halibrand cases have alot more ribbing inside compared to the older ones that you see cracked and repaired quite often. He was machining these for either a Ford pinion bearing or a Halibrand bearing...the Ford bearing size is for guys with a 40 banjo to attempt to build yourself. You still need to get your pinion turned down on the end that slides into the rear cover bearing. I would say if it's one of these Halibrands, it's pretty much the same as the Rodsville. The Halibrand logo cast-in is costing you 300.00. (I think it's worth it). Also, when you say complete, you have to mean "complete parts" to build one right? At $1700 or $2000 for a complete ***embled unit, that's a steal. Give Sig a call.
flthd31 I think your right. it was purchased new in 90 and then sold to my former boss. it looks to be used but the story was that they didn't get the pinion bearing in correctly and had to remove it, never doing anything else with it. here re some pictures. any thoughts?
with the black marks on the housing I think its been all put together and probably ran, 2k high for used?
Used. With possibly something wrong with it. Not a lot of confidence your could put it together and go, but maybe with a little work?
That sure looks like one of Sig's. He was selling them with the lower shaft installed. That unit looks new to me and never had any lube in it. Those case marks probably were the handwork of a half-***ed attempt to ***emble it. The story about the pinion bearing sounds correct. Like I said in my first response, the pinion bore can be two different sizes. Halibrand or Ford. You have to get it right. It also takes some experience to get the case expanded and pinion seated with that lower shaft already installed. I see the pinion and it's bearings are missing so that ring gear is useless. They must be matched. My only concern would be that it may have been damaged from the attempt to ***emble it. It's not as easy as it appears. Sig may have some of these left, I'd call him...might be cheaper and consider having a pro ***emble it.
Just to clarify; Halibrand originally used ball bearings on all pinions. Then there was a Timken (Tapered Roller) bearing option for the Champ rear ends. (Most other QC manufacturers had long ago opted to use the rollers.) In either instance, these are off the shelf bearings not something special. At some point the V8 cases were available for the Timken. You just need to determine which case you have. You can adapt the old style case to the Timken with a little work. flthd31 is correct, the ring and pinions are matched sets. I have successfully mixed sets a couple of times and turned one set into s**** metal. If you decide to try this, you need to paint the gears with gear setting compound and turn them through several rotations. Check the pattern carefully and adjust for .002" backlash. Check again and see if you have an acceptable pattern. (Acceptable is your judgment call.) Might be noisy. The correct ***embly procedure involves heating the case and dropping in the pinion/bearing ***embly. It isn't all that hard but you have to pay attention. The Winters web site has a fairly good procedure outlined, as does the old Halibrand ***embly book. There have also been several threads here on the H.A.M.B with good advise. I can help you out here, too.
Heating the case with the lower shaft installed could swell the lower shaft bearings and crack the case. Heating the case empty and installing ALL the components before it cools is the way I was brought up. Maybe I'm over cautious but for that kind of money...why not.
I wasn't suggesting he heat the case with the lower shaft installed. It really doesn't matter though, because the case expands much more than the bearings. ***EMBLY generally starts with the pinion sub***embly being dropped into a heated case then the lower shaft and it's bearings before the case cools. Could we see a picture of the pinion and it's bearings?
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