Go Back   The Ford Barn > General Discussion > Model A (1928-31)

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-19-2014, 09:17 AM   #21
Mitch//pa
BANNED
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Bucks County, PA
Posts: 11,454
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

i dont like the blog deal either but will try and stay in touch with your trip. i have been enjoying Runnerbun's advetures and updates here on the barn.
good luck and be safe
Mitch//pa is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-19-2014, 01:19 PM   #22
Slotblog
Senior Member
 
Slotblog's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Norcross, GA
Posts: 242
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Guys,

Perhaps I wasn't clear...

One of the links I gave goes to a thread that will contain only posts I make, with no well-wishing or discussion permitted.

The other link goes to a thread where people can post comments.

So, Brent, what you desire is already in place.
Slotblog is offline   Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)
Old 10-26-2014, 04:50 AM   #23
Slotblog
Senior Member
 
Slotblog's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Norcross, GA
Posts: 242
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Got to OR and picked up car. Drove it about 26 miles to where we're staying today in winds gusting to 50+ MPH and combined with the excessive play in the steering, it was a pretty exhausting and frightening experience.

Going to check the steering to see where the play is happening and expect to adjust the two-sector box. Any tips for me?

I really need to reduce or eliminate (hah!) the excessive play in the steering before we head back east.

It would also be nice if the storm and high winds pummeling the Pacifc Northwest would abate, too...
Slotblog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2014, 06:50 AM   #24
Mitch//pa
BANNED
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Bucks County, PA
Posts: 11,454
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Just wondering did you go over the entire car mechanically?
Looking forward to any updates you post here good luck
The adj procedures are in the service bulletins and les book I believe
Mitch//pa is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2014, 07:40 AM   #25
montanafordman
Senior Member
 
montanafordman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Meridian, ID
Posts: 568
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Another thing you might try to do is see if you can or should snug up the drag link and tie rod ends a turn or two, also make sure the pitman arm bolt is tight and there is no play between your steering shaft and pitman arm. I'd recommend going through everything but since you are on the road and that is not possible my suggestions above are a good start. In the end the best course of action would be to rebuild all your steering arm and pitman arm balls back to round, new tie rod and drag link inserts and springs, and then go through the steering box.
__________________
Aaron in Tacoma
(although still a Montana hillbilly at heart )
montanafordman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2014, 09:21 AM   #26
Slotblog
Senior Member
 
Slotblog's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Norcross, GA
Posts: 242
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mitch//pa View Post
Just wondering did you go over the entire car mechanically?
LOL... I suspect there's some unposted thoughts referencing insanity that could have accompanied this question!

Going over the car is what we're doing now, before setting off for Georgia.

I greased the car completely, though as usual, a few of the fitting were frozen and wouldn't take grease, but most did. We changed the oil, using the ND 30 Mike's offers, and I added 600W to the steering box (it was pretty low). Will be topping up the trans and diff today. Replaced the dist cam as it was worn and added some Water Wetter to the coolant.

Car cranks strongly and starts easily, motor pulls well, clutch releases a little high but grabs smoothly and doesn't judder at all. No shimmy from the steering.

Even in the high winds yesterday, it cruised nicely at 35-40 and will I believe easily do 45 without strain if I don't have to contend with such gusty conditions.

Quote:
The adj procedures are in the service bulletins and Les' book I believe
They are and we'll be starting that procedure as soon as the coffee hits bottom.

Last edited by Slotblog; 10-26-2014 at 09:36 AM.
Slotblog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2014, 09:24 AM   #27
Slotblog
Senior Member
 
Slotblog's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Norcross, GA
Posts: 242
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Quote:
Originally Posted by montanafordman View Post
Another thing you might try to do is see if you can or should snug up the drag link and tie rod ends a turn or two, also make sure the pitman arm bolt is tight and there is no play between your steering shaft and pitman arm. I'd recommend going through everything but since you are on the road and that is not possible my suggestions above are a good start. In the end the best course of action would be to rebuild all your steering arm and pitman arm balls back to round, new tie rod and drag link inserts and springs, and then go through the steering box.
Yes, the plan is as you have suggested. Going to look at all the places where play could develop in the steering system today. If I can reduce the slop in the steering by half or better, it will certainly be roadable.

And as mentioned above, we're not actually on the road yet, but hope to start back east later today.

Last edited by Slotblog; 10-26-2014 at 09:35 AM.
Slotblog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2014, 09:25 AM   #28
Tom Wesenberg
Senior Member
 
Tom Wesenberg's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Mpls, MN
Posts: 27,582
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Five years ago I drove a friend's Model A from the seller's home to his. It steered like a paper airplane in a tornado. 20 miles later we got to his house and I tightened one front wheel bearing 2 1/2 turns and the left side 1 1/2 turns, and that's all it took to make it steer nicely.

Pitman arm bolt and steering box to frame bolts are often not tight enough.
Tom Wesenberg is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2014, 09:40 AM   #29
Slotblog
Senior Member
 
Slotblog's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Norcross, GA
Posts: 242
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Aha! I hadn't considered the wheel bearings and we'll certainly take a look at those. Thank you for this suggestion.

And yes, the plan is to confirm the tightness of all of the bolts you mentioned.

Tapping into the vast experience with these cars represented by the members of this forum is my main purpose for posting here. Tom, your very positive reputation and knowledge seems well known and I am grateful for your experienced input. Thanks again.
Slotblog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2014, 12:31 PM   #30
Slotblog
Senior Member
 
Slotblog's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Norcross, GA
Posts: 242
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Problem solved!

LF wheel bearing was quite loose and that seemed to be perhaps a bit more than half the problem. Repacked and adjusted the bearing on that side.

One of the steering box to frame bolts tightened up a little and the three sector cover to box bolts were a bit loose. I did adjust the sector maybe a flat or so and now the play in the steering is essentially gone.

Thanks to everyone for the great advice. We'll be heading out for Georgia within the hour.

If anyone along our route sees a Model A Tudor with "Georgia or Bust!" vinyl lettering on the rear side windows, that's us...
Slotblog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2014, 12:36 PM   #31
sethkestenbaum
Senior Member
 
sethkestenbaum's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Westchester County, NY
Posts: 632
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

have a great drive
__________________
Seth Kestenbaum
www.oldcarroadtrip.com
sethkestenbaum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2014, 12:49 PM   #32
Mitch//pa
BANNED
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Bucks County, PA
Posts: 11,454
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

lol,, lol glad your spending an hour or so to go over the car before the cross country trip
not trying to be a smart ass i just find it amusing
i do wish you much success on your trip, be safe thats the most important thing mechanical things can be fixed..
looking forward to updates on your adventures
Mitch//pa is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2014, 12:55 PM   #33
Slotblog
Senior Member
 
Slotblog's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Norcross, GA
Posts: 242
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Actually, I've spent about a day and a half... LOL!
Slotblog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2014, 03:42 PM   #34
Fred K-OR
Senior Member
 
Fred K-OR's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Stayton, Oregon
Posts: 3,806
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Greg,

Sorry I did not check my PM soon enough and it sounds like you may be on the road already.

If your friend suggested you go from Salem, through Bend, through Burns and then on the Ontario that is probably the best off interstate highways. Going up over the Cascade mountains between Salem and Bend is going to be your greatest climb. But the road where you are climbing has passing lanes that you can run in most of the way up the mountain. You will also find on the road between Bend and Burns sections of the road where you won't need to turn your steering wheel at all. Straight highways for miles. This should help your steering situation if you still have problem.

Good luck on your trip and keep us posted. Sorry I did not get to chat on the phone prior to your departure.
__________________
Fred Kroon
1929 Std Coupe
1929 Huckster
Fred K-OR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2014, 07:49 PM   #35
Slotblog
Senior Member
 
Slotblog's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Norcross, GA
Posts: 242
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Fred as correct, we were already on the road, but I rang him back anyway once we got to our hotel and we had a very nice extended conversation.

Just for a quick update, we left Salem about 11 AM and made it over the mountain (three inches of snow on the ground at the summit!) to Bend, OR, where we are staying tonight. The car runs better and better with every mile and the steering adjustment has worked out quite well. The winds are still blowing and push the car around a little, but with 3/4" of play in the steering wheel, I can deal with them, as well as the moderate tramlining behavior on poor pavement. I suspect this is alignment but it's not so bad that I can't deal with it on the trip back.

On arriving in Bend, we noticed a little coolant waterfall and it is a problem I anticipated, a pretty good leak out of the water pump packing. I brought along one of the gland nut wrenches so if tightening it up doesn't do the trick, I'm thinking the local hardware store or plumbing supply will have some graphited packing material that will suffice. Any advice from you experienced A'ers in this regard?

Car runs well and happily at 50 MPH, though I am going to try to keep it closer to 45 MPH. FWIW I only had to grab second once to get over the ridge. Top gear sufficed for all other climbs.

So tomorrow it's eastward ho! Hope to make Ontario by nightfall.
Slotblog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2014, 10:00 PM   #36
Wm J.
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 29
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

If yo need waterpump packing let me know.

Wm J. Bend Oregon
Wm J. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2014, 10:53 PM   #37
Slotblog
Senior Member
 
Slotblog's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Norcross, GA
Posts: 242
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Thank you, sir!

I'll know fairly early in the morning if tightening the gland nut does the trick.
Slotblog is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-27-2014, 08:33 AM   #38
Tom Wesenberg
Senior Member
 
Tom Wesenberg's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Mpls, MN
Posts: 27,582
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Don't use graphite string for the packing. That is for slow turning shafts, like the water faucet. You want the lead packing rings with a coat of grease on them. For the trip home you can just unscrew the packing nut and push some grease in there and resnug the nut. This should keep the pump from leaking for the trip home.
Tom Wesenberg is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-27-2014, 06:34 PM   #39
Synchro909
Senior Member
 
Synchro909's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 7,472
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

I've just returned from a 9,000 mile trip around the country towing a camper trailer in my '29 Phaeton. If your car is prepared well, you will have no trouble (other idiots on the road excluded).
Enjoy the drive and the sound of the vintage machinery underneath you.
Synchro909 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-27-2014, 08:46 PM   #40
Slotblog
Senior Member
 
Slotblog's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Norcross, GA
Posts: 242
Default Re: Oregon to Georgia in a 1930 Standard Tudor

Tom,

Need to give you some feedback on your kind suggestion. Since I had not heard back from "Wm J" this morning, I tried the grease trick and it simply didn't work. I think I know why: the packing in the car had crumbled into bits when I finally removed it.

I had PM'd "Wm J", who offered a seal to me earlier in this thread, through Ford Barn but he must not have seen it, as by about 10 AM I had not heard from him so we could connect. I called Ted Duke, a MAFCA member who had messaged me here to say he would keep his roster at hand for a month(!) and provided his cell number so I could contact him for local member info wherever I might be broken down. Ted found a number of MAFCA members in Bend and gave me four names and phone numbers. The first one was Bill Barlow and as luck would have it, he was "Wm J"!

My A ended up in a bank parking lot and it was great that Bill's home was just two miles away. We GPS'd over to his address and knew immediately we were in the right place when we spotted the double stacked pallet of Model A engine blocks next to a storage shed at the end of his driveway. The garage holding his Model A collection has a further 23 blocks lined up along a wall.

Turns out Bill was a MAFCA Technical Director in 2002-03 and is a machinist who re-babbits Model A (and T, I think) rods and main caps. He had 160 sets of Model A rods on the shelf awaiting orders! I saw examples of his work and it is pure jewelry.

Bill had several new packages of water pump packings as well as a small drawer of loose new packings. He gave me two new packages and refused to let me pay him or replace them, as he said he now uses the modern seal pumps on his six Models As so he didn't use the lead packings any more.

As an aside, Bill and his lovely bride Annie (IIRC) drove one of their As from Bend, OR, to Nova Scotia and back a few years ago, without a chase car! He said the only problem they experienced was with the distributor and he had a spare unit to plug in.

Took me about 30 mins to get the new packings seated in the gland nut and to get the nut started on the threads and away went went towards Burns, OR. The water pump was leaking when we arrived at our hotel about an hour ago, but about 3/4 of a turn of the gland nut and she sealed up again. Of course, I'll be keeping an eye on it the rest of the trip.

Onward to Ontario, OR, tomorrow...

PS: If you need a set of rebabbited rods or a rebabitted main cap, do yourself a favor and give Bill a call at 541-389-2694. The man knows his stuff and can help you get your A engine down the road to a full rebuild. And a nicer Model A guy you will never meet!

Last edited by Slotblog; 10-27-2014 at 10:06 PM.
Slotblog is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:04 PM.