Differential#3

[rer_239]

I started over. Setting carrier preload. Now have carrier assembled rt axle housing w/no gaskets. L housing on & torqued w/2 thicker gaskets. Ring gear spins so looks like i_ll have to add shims under bearings. Or should I have 1 of the gaskets on each side and recheck ring gear spin before I add any shims

[Jim Brierley]

Use thinner gaskets, measure their total thickness when you have the pre-load you want. Then install the pinion and carrier and check back-lash with 1 gasket on each side. If back-lash is good, you are in luck. Do not use any sealer until ready for final assy. If not, get back on this site and ask.

[100IH]

Are the axles out of the carrier, they should be. Did you get the pinion gear out of the way, it should be. If so, then put one thicker gasket on the right hand side and tighten it up. Now the left side, add gaskets until you get pre load, then measure the total thickness of all gaskets. That would be a good start. The whole process is covered in the recommended articles. Read, follow the procedure, don't invent a new one.

[Tom Endy]

Your first effort should be to establish the pre-load on the carrier bearings. This should be accomplished with the carrier halves bolted together with only the yoke for the three spider gears installed inside and the ring gear attached. No axles installed, no pinion assembly installed. Bolt the right axle housing to the banjo with no gasket and torque the bolts to 35 ft. lbs. Next bolt the left axle housing to the left side of the banjo with no gaskets. As you pull the bolts down toward the torque value the carrier bearing should start to lock, in that you are not able to turn the ring gear reaching in through the pinion gear hole. If it does not lock you need to put shims under the carrier bearings. Once you have achieved the lock start adding gaskets to the left side only. Start with two .010 thick. This is the least you want to end up with. You may have to add more so that the ring gear turns with a nominal 20 in. lb. of torque. This can be accomplished by feel. If it is too easy to turn it is tool loose. If it is very hard to turn it is too tight. In the middle is what you want. A toque value of between 14 and 22 will work just fine.

If you are not able to achieve pre-load with the two .010 gaskets you will have to add more shims under the carrier bearings. You only need to add and subtract gaskets from the left side. Once you have achieved the proper pre-load take the two axle housing off and set the total number of banjo gaskets aside. You will install them on the left and right sides of the banjo when you do the backlash adjustment.

This is the first thing you need to accomplish before you proceed to the next two tasks: The pre-load of the pinion gear bearings and the setting of the backlash.

Forget about the bluing business, it does nothing for you except add confusion. The only adjustment you could make to change anything is to make a lathe cut on the bearing stop of the pinion gear sleeve or place a shim under the aft pinion bearing. What this would do is move the pinion gear fore or aft, which is not necessary. When you set the backlash you will add and subtract the previously selected number of gaskets right and left. What this does is move the ring gear in or out from the pinion gear that is in a fixed position down the center line of the car. You can easily do this by feel.

before you proceed past the carrier bearing pre-load exercise you should carefully read the tutorial that has been referenced above. The one you really need is the one that is 2014 revision. The other two are only pictorial supplements to it. The 2014 document should take you through to a successful completion of the project.

Good luck with your project.
Tom Endy

[Ron in Quincy]

In October 1929 a change was made to the location of the carrier bearing races, the seat for the bearing race was 1.370 on the old housings, the new housings the seat for the bearing race is 1.365. this change was made to take care of axel end play and back lash. You use a .010 gasket on each side of housings.

At the same time Ford came out with a .005 gasket for use on the earlier housings to accomplish the same results.

You will find this information on Page 382 of the Service Bulletins. If you look at the Index there is a printing error, it shows for (truck) but the article is for passenger cars.

I suggest you check your axel housings to be sure you have a matched pair of housings and not a mixture of old and late housings.

I have rebuilt a number of rear ends, 3 of which are under 3 of my A's. I made sure I had matched housings. I used the correct housing gaskets and did not worry about back lash. All I did was make sure I had the pre-load correct on the Pinion Bearings.

Ron

[rer_239]

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I'm following the instructions no spider gears no axles no gaskets on r 2 gaskets on left Mr Endy's instructions say to add shims behind bearings which will shift ring gear closer to pinion ( when I put the pinion in). Won't 1 gasket on each side also move ring gear closer to the right? Before I started over I had an issue w/gear teeth clicking because they were apparently too far apart.

[Jim Brierley]

Do as Endy says, being careful to NOT TIGHTEN the side housings when setting pre-load, gently snug is fine. Reason? the housings are easily distorted which will result in oil leaks.

[Tom Endy]

Originally Posted by Ron in Quincy

In October 1929 a change was made to the location of the carrier bearing races, the seat for the bearing race was 1.370 on the old housings, the new housings the seat for the bearing race is 1.365. this change was made to take care of axel end play and back lash. You use a .010 gasket on each side of housings.

At the same time Ford came out with a .005 gasket for use on the earlier housings to accomplish the same results.

You will find this information on Page 382 of the Service Bulletins. If you look at the Index there is a printing error, it shows for (truck) but the article is for passenger cars.

I suggest you check your axel housings to be sure you have a matched pair of housings and not a mixture of old and late housings.

I have rebuilt a number of rear ends, 3 of which are under 3 of my A's. I made sure I had matched housings. I used the correct housing gaskets and did not worry about back lash. All I did was make sure I had the pre-load correct on the Pinion Bearings.

Ron

I was aware of this change when I wrote the tutorial. The technique in the tutorial takes into consideration that there could be a mismatch of axle housings. Over the past 90 years people have swapped parts on these cars. Quite often a job comes into the shop with mismatched axle housings. People have also machined the carrier hubs when the bearings have spun. This is the reason why there is so much tedious trial and error required to get the pre-loads and backlash correct.

When the Model A was produced I am sure Henry would never have put up with such a time consuming procedure. The manufacture and calculation of the various part required only a simple install of a single gasket on each side of the banjo. Ninety years later it is a different story.

Tom Endy

[Jim Brierley]

Gasket thickness, side to side, does move the ring gear, as does machining or shimming the bearings.