The Ford Barn

rjhink · 06-11-2016, 01:20 PM

Anyone have problems installing 3.54 gear sets for 1934 banjo?
While I had the rear end apart on a ’34 Cabriolet to fix leaks, I thought I’d put a new 3.54 gear set in it (supposedly Italian and engraved with “40-4209HS 9224 3.54 03/12”). I bought the set from a very reputable vendor, but I can’t get it set up correctly (details below). I did use typical heating/cooling strategies to fit the new bearings as well as a hydraulic press to fully seat the ring gear onto the carrier.

Was there a mid- or late-year production change or variation (i.e., carrier change?) that could have affected the installation? The vendor has not heard of any problems with these gear sets, but has anyone else heard of an issue with any of the gear sets made in 2012? I could be missing something, but I’ve checked things several times and the original 4.11 gear set did work fine.

Further details if the above sounds familiar:
For the carrier, I used one NOS 18-4221/18-4222 carrier bearing set and one new Timken 22325/22168 bearing set. I did measure the total thickness of the new bearings from back of the seat to the center of the cone and they’re only a few thousands (0.003-0.006 in.) thicker than the slightly pitted originals that I removed. With new gear set, if I set the ring/pinion lash to ~0.008 in. with gaskets on the right, the ring gear rubs against the left axle housing on the left and leaves a gap of ~ 0.030 in. between the banjo and left axle housing . . . with the axle housing tightened just so that I can’t turn the ring gear anymore. This also puts the left carrier bearing > 0.030 in. out of contact with the left bearing seat in the axle housing. If I fully seat the carrier bearing on the ring gear side and place to gear/carrier into the left housing, the gear won’t spin unless I pull the bearing away from the seat by at least 0.030 in. The original ring gear spun fine in the left housing with about a 0.25 inch gap between the gear itself and the housing as it spun. At this point, I would have to add a ~0.030 shim to the left carrier bearing and a ~0.030 gasket to the left side of the banjo to resolve both issues.

Although I am new to this era car and Ford Barn, all data that I can seem to find indicate that this was the correct ‘34 rear end for the car since all bearing part numbers matched the originals: the pinion is 10-spline, the original gear set was a 4.11, the banjo is marked 937 and is 3.5” wide, the spring is the correct curved unit, the spider gears have 12 teeth, the axles have 18 teeth, the axle lengths and distance between shackle mounts of the assembled rear end matched data I found online, etc. The only thing that seemed a little odd was that a Ford parts book I have (published by Ford in 1937) does not list the axle housing numbers, which are stamped: 18-4016 and 18-4017 inside the big ends.

MANY thanks if you have any insight. If not, I’ll just have to put the original ring & pinion back in the differential.

06-11-2016, 01:20 PM	#1
rjhink Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Yorktown, Virginia Posts: 12	'34 ring/pinion (3.54 set) issues? Anyone have problems installing 3.54 gear sets for 1934 banjo? While I had the rear end apart on a ’34 Cabriolet to fix leaks, I thought I’d put a new 3.54 gear set in it (supposedly Italian and engraved with “40-4209HS 9224 3.54 03/12”). I bought the set from a very reputable vendor, but I can’t get it set up correctly (details below). I did use typical heating/cooling strategies to fit the new bearings as well as a hydraulic press to fully seat the ring gear onto the carrier. Was there a mid- or late-year production change or variation (i.e., carrier change?) that could have affected the installation? The vendor has not heard of any problems with these gear sets, but has anyone else heard of an issue with any of the gear sets made in 2012? I could be missing something, but I’ve checked things several times and the original 4.11 gear set did work fine. *Further details if the above sounds familiar:* For the carrier, I used one NOS 18-4221/18-4222 carrier bearing set and one new Timken 22325/22168 bearing set. I did measure the total thickness of the new bearings from back of the seat to the center of the cone and they’re only a few thousands (0.003-0.006 in.) thicker than the slightly pitted originals that I removed. With new gear set, if I set the ring/pinion lash to ~0.008 in. with gaskets on the right, the ring gear rubs against the left axle housing on the left and leaves a gap of ~ 0.030 in. between the banjo and left axle housing . . . with the axle housing tightened just so that I can’t turn the ring gear anymore. This also puts the left carrier bearing > 0.030 in. out of contact with the left bearing seat in the axle housing. If I fully seat the carrier bearing on the ring gear side and place to gear/carrier into the left housing, the gear won’t spin unless I pull the bearing away from the seat by at least 0.030 in. The original ring gear spun fine in the left housing with about a 0.25 inch gap between the gear itself and the housing as it spun. At this point, I would have to add a ~0.030 shim to the left carrier bearing and a ~0.030 gasket to the left side of the banjo to resolve both issues. Although I am new to this era car and Ford Barn, all data that I can seem to find indicate that this was the correct ‘34 rear end for the car since all bearing part numbers matched the originals: the pinion is 10-spline, the original gear set was a 4.11, the banjo is marked 937 and is 3.5” wide, the spring is the correct curved unit, the spider gears have 12 teeth, the axles have 18 teeth, the axle lengths and distance between shackle mounts of the assembled rear end matched data I found online, etc. The only thing that seemed a little odd was that a Ford parts book I have (published by Ford in 1937) does not list the axle housing numbers, which are stamped: 18-4016 and 18-4017 inside the big ends. MANY thanks if you have any insight. If not, I’ll just have to put the original ring & pinion back in the differential.