one forward three reverse

[boxroller]

I just purchased a 1929 R0adster and it has a problem. It only has one forward speed and three reverse . I put the shift lever in the normal reverse position and it goes forward first,second,and third it goes forward . Any ideas what the cause might be?

[Mitch//pa]

that happens when the differential ring gear is installed on the wrong side of the pinion. the rear needs to be opened up.

[160B]

the ring gear was installed on the wrong side in the rear axle!!!

[Keith True]

Yep.Easy one.Somebody had the rear end apart and loaded the assembly from the wrong side.It has to be installed with the ring gear on the left,or drivers side of the pinion.They were not the first to do that.

[1crosscut]

Welcome to the Barn! You're in the right spot to get your questions answered.

[H. L. Chauvin]

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Hi Boxroller,

Humble Opinion:

This one forward & three reverse vehicle condition is not the first time that a Model A owner reported such a problem on a Model A Forum.

My guess is that this happened many times with others but was never reported for fear of their being labeled stupid.

As parochial as it may appear, one very helpful bit of advice when working on "any" vehicle or any vehicle "part" is to totally forget about the descriptive terms either "spoken" verbally, or "written" in manuals such as the vehicle's "right" side & "left" side.

For example, once a differential is removed, "right" side & "left" side could be interpreted differently by many, depending on whether this person is standing in front of or behind the differenitial.

Substituting in their place the terms "Passenger's" side & "Driver's" side could possibly make people think & possibly avoid many of these types of mistakes.

Hope this very simple tip can help somebody some day when performing work on a vehicle.

[ctlikon0712]

Mr. Chauvin, I couldn't agree more, that's the way I always refer to things on a car, Passenger/Drivers side. That is until my British friends told me that to them it could mean the incorrect side! Lol
Anyway, it’s good to be as accurate and concise and to know the vehicle's setup.
Cheers!

[Tom Wesenberg]

This reminds me of a go kart my neighbor built in the 60's. To turn right you had to turn the steering wheel left. Sure made for some interesting driving.

[Rowdy]

I have several rear axles that way, Farmers around here may haysweeps out of model A's, They made them run backwards so hay was not getting in the radiator plugging them up. Most have farm engineed steering so they would be facing the normal direction of travel and steering althopugh rear swing would turn the dirction you wanted it to. Seen this accomplished in several ways. Rod

[quickchange]

It might work downunder as we turn all upside down, ??? Could be a RHD model.
Not a big job to fix, just takes time . good luck ,its not a first & won,t be the last ,

[dumb person]

Is that why they sold it?

[Rock Hornbuckle]

Boxroller, did you get a bargain price on the car?

[dave in australia]

Originally Posted by H. L. Chauvin

Hi Boxroller,

Humble Opinion:

This one forward & three reverse vehicle condition is not the first time that a Model A owner reported such a problem on a Model A Forum.

My guess is that this happened many times with others but was never reported for fear of their being labeled stupid.

As parochial as it may appear, one very helpful bit of advice when working on "any" vehicle or any vehicle "part" is to totally forget about the descriptive terms either "spoken" verbally, or "written" in manuals such as the vehicle's "right" side & "left" side.

For example, once a differential is removed, "right" side & "left" side could be interpreted differently by many, depending on whether this person is standing in front of or behind the differenitial.

Substituting in their place the terms "Passenger's" side & "Driver's" side could possibly make people think & possibly avoid many of these types of mistakes.

Hope this very simple tip can help somebody some day when performing work on a vehicle.

I tend to be the other way to avoid confusion between different driving sides. USA, Can etc - drivers side is the left, Aus, GB, NZ etc - drivers side is the right.

[PeteVS]

It should be a fairly easy fix. Seems that all someone would have to do is remove the rear, unbolt one axle housing at a time, carefully separate it just a bit from the banjo without breaking the gaskets and rotate it 180°. Repeat with the other axle housing and the torque tube.
OOPS- forget the "easy" part. The brake drums would have to be removed to flip the radius rods. Still not TOO bad.

[Keith True]

Pete,you have to remove the whole differential/axle assembly from the right side,and re-install it from the drivers side.Then adjust the gaskets for the clearance.If you was to do it your way the drain plug would wind up on the top.It's not a hard job,it's already been apart so it should be fairly clean and easy to work with.I looked at a 30 pickup a few years ago that had been done that way.The previous owner had spent 20+ years redoing the truck,and died before ever firing it up.The man that bought it got it running and drove it into his toolbox in front of him,expecting to back up.He acted as if it was the end of the world.The guy that bought the truck from him fixed it in a couple of hours.

[larrys40]

Keith.. you beat me to the punch! Pete's way would not work as you described... Rear axles are one of my forte's and they are really not that complex.. just a little bulky/heavy, and time consuming... plus there is a little bit of a science to them. More than just bolting halves together. I would suggest reading Tom Endy's article herein on the barn... and/or getting on of the How To Restore series books ( I think it's in #1 or #2 . Just fix it right! Use the opportunity while apart to make sure your bearings, axles, brakes,hubs & drums, axle keys..etc are all in good shape. It would be a shame to fix the problem and overlook another failure or problem along the way.
Good luck!
Larry Shepard

[PeteVS]

Sorry. I was thinking along the lines of just rotating the axle housings in order to retain the gasket setups for carrier bearing preload and pinion mesh. I haven't done an A rear but I did do an early V8 rear and I was impressed that the A axle housings are the same left and right. Forgot that the banjo casting isn't top to bottom symmetrical. Oh well....

[H. L. Chauvin]

Hi Boxroller,

Whether above or below the equator, or in any right hand drive country, the worse case scenario I can think of for fixing your differential gear situation as far as time & cost would be to mechanically rearrange the steering wheel & foot pedals, flip the body around so the windshield faces the rear, & thus have (3) forward gears & (1) reverse gear with the bonus of having Model A front wheel drive.

Naturally, the gear fixes recommended above are the way to go; however, in life, most find that their problems could always be worse.


Just trying to offer a peaceful thought for a tiny bit of consolation in your differential gear dilema -- it could be worse!

[Rowdy]

Here I thought maybe driving while standing on his head and looking backwards would be the best solution. Rod

[H. L. Chauvin]

Hi Rowdy,

Nothing like being kind enough to let somebdy know it could be worse -- I'm sure more consolation from others will be offered -- appears serious people are not always the happiest people.