I bought some old Ford banjo rearends today, and also a pile of Columbia stuff. The housings measure out to be a ‘40 and a ‘41. Now I need to bone up on these things to see if I have enough to put one together. I knew this was going to turn into a new rabbit hole to lose myself in….. Any of you Columbia experts have good exploded diagrams with names on the pieces so I can see if I have them all? Or any other instructional documents to guide a new obsession?
Just painted this one today! Did final assembly on Friday. It’s a 37-40 style. It will be electrically actuated. It was a definite learning curve as there seems to be no walk-through literature or videos to rebuild. John Connelly at Columbia Two Speed Parts is a good resource!
I recently bought a '46-'48 Columbia from a friend that ran it in a '47 Convertible and removed it before he sold it. I plan to install a '40 driveshaft and tube and radius rods and run it in my '40 Sedan. It has electrics to run things too. Dave
So, for someone who doesn't know, what is so special about them? What are the electronics for? Thanks.
Yes. I suspect you have to use the foot clutch to 'allow" the shift. With the vacuum canister you have to be rolling to shift out of overdrive and use the clutch. I'm sure you are aware the 46-48 columbia bell is wider than the stock '40 bell . You can have the Columbia bell narrowed to the '40 width.
You already have some reliable sources lined up, also may try Tom Secora (Omaha) has one in his 'A' roadster may be of some help as well.
Auburn and other orphan car companies also used Columbia stuff. I only mention it for other info resources. LAter on I'll dig out my 10lb service book of all makes and see whats there for ya.
I have one in my avatar coupe. I made the linkage for a manual shift, I like it, but it does not change the speedo reading, you have to figure it out. John Connelly is great, but he doesn't speak english, only talks in part numbers so be sure to have the parts schematic in front of you before you call. At the suggestion of many, I used a 4.11 diff ratio, then the columbia drops it about a whole point to around 3 to 1. I have no tac, so I can't give you those numbers. Mine is a wide, late housing that I cut down to 40 size in my lathe, not a big deal really. Its nice to have that "highway " gear!
Here’s some more photos. I didn’t take any of the internal planetary gears or synchro clutch. I designed a system to use a 12 volt linear actuator to shift instead of doing vacuum.
In clicking around the internet I've spotted some pics of modified assemblies where guys use levers and idlers to shift rather than the vacuum or an electric actuator. Any of you done that? I guess I need to disassemble my stuff a bit to check out the innards: the drum for cracks, the weld joints for splits, and any other spots you guys might recommend? Sounds like there is only one source (Connelly) for new parts, and maybe the best for the bulletproofing mods.
One of the issues I see with doing a mechanical linkage is creating something that would allow for a good seal of the shifter opening. You’d almost need an enclosure with a seal similar to what I did for the electric actuator.
@alchemy this may not be the same as your Columbia units but I suspect in general it will be close. For what it is worth you can smell the old time carb cleaner that emanates from the pages:
@dlw1932 Dave that actuator you made up looks an awful lot like the actuator on some truck 2 speed rear axles I've worked on.
This is the Columbia specific stuff. I did get the other axle tubes, and a variety of center sections and ring & pinions. Unfortunately not too many axle shafts. Everything has a lot of grunge, a bit of rust, and has obviously been taken apart for quite a while. Can anyone see anything I’m missing for a Columbia conversion? What’s the favorite R&P ratio to use with these?
Yes I am aware but thanks for the thought! I would be able to run my steel wheels and stock caps but not my slot mags. Dave
I must have been in the right train of thought when I designed it! I didn’t look to see if there were any big truck applications that would use a similar design.
Looks like you have everything Columbia specific that you would need. Obviously you’ll have to disassemble and inspect the parts to make sure they are usable. You’d then need to figure out what direction you’d want to go for controls. I talked to John Connelly about a month ago and he strongly recommended a 3.78 ring & pinion. That’s what I just put in the one I’m doing.
Favorite R&P from the barn guys is 4.11, and they are not running 750's on the back, so do the math. My car, 4.11 with 750's seems rite. First thing to check in your pile is the condition of the planetary gear set, lots of rust would be bad. I had John C bullet proof mine, and after it came back I thought I could have done that at home. sorry, no pics, but I know you are a capable lad, try to get some pics and do it at home. My experience with 2spd rears was farm trucks where both electric and vacuum make a huge amount of unhappy grinding noise when they shift. Were they worn out? or was my technique bad? who knows, but I did not want that in my old ford so I made a manual shift so I was in control, and hopefully get good skills at shifting smooth. as it turns out, the columbia has a set of "shoes" I'll call them, that act like a brake to help the rpm's match for a smooth shift. They work quite well, and shifting mine requires no skill or special technique, it just works. Figure it like this, a vacuum unit, at idle, would be high vacuum, so instant shift. An electric solenoid would also be instant shift, and so is me shifting a lever. Real men have lots of shift levers in the cab, I'm an old trucker! So here's some pics of my set up. The box I made for the axle housing has a seal, and a stainless shaft sliding the shift fork. A crude box, but machined for a seal, and flattened on my big disk sander to seal at the housing. All the other pivot points are just a heavy wall bushing with a grease zerk. The shift lever is a cut off 36ish swan neck, in another heavy bushing, on home made bracket to the trans tower bolts. I have a lathe, but really if you had the rite size bushing and rod stock on hand you could do without. Here's some pics, you can do it.
The Jalopy Journal
