I have a 35 Ford trans apart. I have slight pitting on a few teeth of all the major gears. I have glass beaded the parts. The surfaces are smooth. Any thoughts on reusing the gears? I'm trying not to spend a ton of money on this trans. I am replacing all the bearings. It'll only be behind a model A banger engine. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
"I have slight pitting" and "the surfaces are smooth" are mutually exclusive statements. We would need pictures to tell you anything, but you knew that.
True. I retract my "the surfaces are smooth" statement. Lol! I have no pics as of now. Have you run gears in a trans as I have described? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
If you think the gears are in good shape, no broken teeth or cracked gears then the surface rust will have a minimal affect. Tons of guys on here reuse gears. Take 'em out, inspect them, clean them up. replace any bearings if needed. The tolerances on those old ford transmissions weren't as tight as they are today. If you are running it behind a stock banger motor, you'll be fine. Most it will cost you is your time. Fryguy
no I have not... I have been running the same set of 39 gears behind a mild flatty in a 28 roadster for over 20 years.... build it right, build it tight, use the best gears you can find, treat it like a lady and it will last a long time. this is the way I've done it with good success ymmv
Put it back together and run it. Look out for thinner than original snap rings on modern bearings. Somewhere down the line you may stumble upon a better trans or gearset, and you can stash em away in case of a problem. It may be that you never need them. Or it could blow up two miles down the road. There is no proper answer, just do what you feel happy with, and weigh up the risks yourself. Mart.
Hi Mart I have a 39 trans that has been rebuilt for my model a and there seems to be too much play between the snap ring and the gearbox mount, I did get nervous Bob to look it over (he didn't rebuild it it was done in the states) and he measured the snap ring on a new bearing he had and it was the same, do you know how thick the ring should be ?, any help would be great. Thanks Graham
Graham, the front and rear ball bearings (32-48) used snap rings that were .075" thick. They tend to wear in the ID and the resulting fit for end play is the equivalent of a snap ring of maybe .065-070". Today's bearing mfrs either do not supply a snap ring....or the ring supplied is maybe .062 to .066" thick. This is enough to allow the trans to pop out of gear. We finally decided to have a ring mfr do a run of both rings (front and rear) in .075" thick. Problem solved. Part number for the front is B-7026B. The rear is 51A-7070B. The B suffix is our addition to denote this thickness.
The one thing I want to add to this thread is to SCRUB those gears in hot soapy water, then rinse and dry. Bead blasting impregnates metal surfaces with all sorts of SHIT that doesn't belong in a transmission. I will no longer use one on ANY MECHANICAL PART TO BE USED IN AN OIL LUBRICATED MECHANISM. The bead blaster is the worst thing you could use to clean up a mechanical part to be used in an oil bath environment. Fine to clean stuff before painting, but a short cut full of grief for internals.
Thanks very much for the great info Mac, I will have a measure up at the weekend and see how it looks, I will probably need to order some of these, I bet alot of people get caught out with them. Regards Graham
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