Rebuilding Differential - Bluing, White Lead??

[Lembomw]

I am rebuilding the rear differential on my 30 Tudor following Les Andrews' book and instructions from Tom Endy. So far so good.

Everything is apart and cleaned up. Bearings and races have been replaced. I am up to the point where I need to work on the ring gear pattern and backlash.

Les says to use "bluing or white lead" to the ring gear to check gear tooth pattern. I looked on Synders and Bratton's websites and do not see either of these items.

Where can I get the bluing or white lead??

Thanks for your help, Mark

[Patrick L.]

I've always used grease..

[Keith True]

You can use a magic marker too.Wipe it off with laquer thinner after you read it,change your settings put some more on and read it again.

[Dana Barlow]

Most any boat store has white lithem grease,works fine for that,also the pruple grease works also,ideas is some thing that you can see the contact point of wipe with.

[Jim Mason]

prussian blue fine art oil paint...fwiw,jm

[Kurt in NJ]

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I have used spray paint many times ----I guess it depends if you want to use something you already have----or need an excuse to go out and buy something.

[Rowdy]

I use Dykem. It can be purchased at Fastenal or other industrial supply stores. Comes in Blue or Red. No need to wipe it off before final assembly. Rod

[Lembomw]

Thank you gentlemen. Looks like I do not have to go out any purchase anything since I have magic markers, white litheum grease and spray paint. I will see which one works the best and go from there.

Thanks again, Mark

[Tom Wesenberg]

I buy the blueing from the local auto parts store.

[Ca. Kid]

Use Permatex Prussian Blue. Napa Auto parts should have it.

[fordfixer]

I don't even think you can get white lead any more. We used to use at work all the time in the 70's. It was very toxic, and was outlaw by osha. It is quite dangerous if got in to a open cut or such. I use prussian blue, get it at the parts store in a small tube.

[Tom Endy]

You really don't need to be doing that to rebuild a Model A differential. You can feel the back lash by turning the drive shaft back and forth to feel how mutch movement there is between the teeth on the pinion hitting either side of the teeth on the ring gear. You can adjust the amount of space between the gears by shifting the banjo gaskets to either side of the banjo.

The carrier pre-load should have been set by determining the quantity and thickness of banjo gaskets required to establish the pre-load, a nominal 20 inch pounds read on a dial indicator torque wrench. By shifting banjo gaskets left and right you move the ring gear either closer or farther away from the pinion gear which is straight down the middle and cannot be moved side ways.

If you cannot achieve an acceptable back lash with the number of gaskets available you should add some shims under the carrier bearing and start over with the pre-load adjustment. This will required additional banjo gaskets and provide more latitude in shifting them right to left.

The only thing that can be accomplished by blueing is to determine if you need to move the pinion gear either fore or aft. You would do this by either putting shims under the aft pinion bearing or taking a cut on the pinion sleeve. None of this is really necessary as Henry designed the differential so that you are pretty much in the ball park without worring about it.

Tom Endy

[Jim Brierley]

Checking the pattern like that is more necessary on hypoid gears, Ford gears through 1948 are just bevel gears. Set the backlash and don't worry about it. You may not find this in books but the seals in the outer ends of the side housings face outwards, to keep grease from entering the center section when greasing the wheel bearings.

[Tom Endy]

The seal in the front end of the torque tube is the same part number as that used on the two axle shafts in the ends of the axle housing. All three are grease seals, not oil seals. The torque tube seal is to prevent grease from walking down the drive shaft instead of staying in the area of the roller bearing.

Many of the Borg Warner overdrive modifications use the Ford grease seal as an attempt to control oil from migrating out of the rear of the overdrive into the banjo. This is why many BW's fail due to loss of oil. The oil gets past the grease seal and ends up in the banjo. The owner is not aware because the oil has not dripped on the ground.

Tom Endy

[Ron in Quincy]

In October 1929 a change was made to the carrier bearing location in the axel housing; with the later axel housings you use .010 banjo gaskets. This change was to take care of backlash. At the same time Ford made .006 banjo housing gaskets for correcting backlash in the earlier axel housings.

I have rebuilt a number of rear ends over the years. I make sure I have a match set of axel housings so I know which banjo gaskets to use. I have never gone thru a blueing process and so far have never had any problems with the rear ends I have rebuilt.

I do not believe Ford went through each rear end build checking teeth mesh.

You can check out my thinking by refering to the Service Bulletins, Page 382 "Axel Housings Gaskets" . If you look at the Index it shows (Truck) for this change, this is a printing error as the change is for passenger car rear axel housings.

Ron

[Tom Endy]

I am of the opinion Ford changed the thickness of the banjo gaskets from .006 to .010 because they had a tendancy to leak oil. In order to accomodate the thicker gaskets he machined the race stops that much deeper in each axle housing so as to maintain the original pre-load and back lash requirements.

I am sure Ford did not go through the procedure we must go through today to set preload and backlash. Everything was machined properly then so that the assembler put a gasket on each side of the banjo and bolted it up and it came out the way Henry wanted it.

I have never been able to tell the difference in race seats in the axle housings as I don't know where you would take the measurement from. It makes no difference to me which they are as I go through a procedure to establish preload and backlash which takes all the variables into consideration including that most carrier bearing mounts are spun and I have to have them knurled and the stops cleaned up and then add some shims to compensate. If I end up with too few gaskets I add more shims, which requires more gaskets. When setting the backlash I do not want to end up with a single .006 gasket on one side as it will likely leak oil.

Tom Endy

[Jim Brierley]

Before final assembly I lay a 3/32" bead of black silicone on the inside of the gasket area. This doesn't affect bearing preload and helps seal off leaks.

[V4F]

i used "anti seize" . you can see it thru the to filler/drain holes . i didnt want to have to take it apart to remove anything i had put on the gears .........

[jimvette59]

I purchase a substitute for white lead from Speedway Motors on my 50s chevy. rears.

[CA Victoria]

Available at napa or your favorite auto parts: Permatex, Non-drying Prussian Blue PN 80038. 3-4 bucks. Never thought I'd ever use it again, but supprisingly enough I have had occasion to use it a few times now.....