Hot Rods Ford Torque Tube shudder in reverse and migrating oil

2 part question.

1. My little roadster has a shudder in reverse and is progressively getting worse.

The car run down:
265 SBC with 39 Ford Tranny, 32 torque tube and banjo rear end. I am usually an open drive guy, so this is new to me. School me on the possible culprits. The second gear cluster is gone, so the tranny is coming out for a freshen up this next winter. (If it lasts that long) I skip 2nd now and go straight to 3rd.

2. I am not sure how the torque tube lubrication works. What prevents the oil from migrating up the tube and leaving the rear gears dry? Does anyone make a flapper or some sort of gate for cars with rake?

 

Vern tardel makes an oil baffle as i think seabright hot rods do probably others also. I am presuming you have a 4” dropped axle along with rubber rake . This is generally what causes the oil to migrate from rear axle to transmission. As a band aid once we put a catch can on the transmission filler plug with a reed switch connected to a small pump to send the oil back where it belonged.

 

This looks like the fix for the migration.
https://www.verntardel.com/store/p344/Torque_Tube_Baffle.html

Now to the shudder issue.

 

I bought mine from Bruces Rod Shop in Texas. The shudder issue may be no anti chatter rods or oil on clutch disc.

 

“Soft” mounts can allow the torque tube to move the entire driveline on clutch release, causing shudder (chatter) in the clutch engagement. Ford used anti-chatter rods to prevent said movement. Might be worth prying around on motor and transmission mounts and looking for movement.

 

If the car has no anti chatter rods add some, the rear end pushes and pulls on the whole driveline while the clutch linkage is anchored to the frame via the pedals, the resulting chatter is especially prevalent in reverse due to the direction of pull on the driveline.

 

Where are said anti chatter rods attached generally? This car is a survivor car built in 56'. I will have to get it up on the lift and do some investigation.

 

Here's an interesting torque tube oil / banjo leak thread.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/lowering-a-stock-39-ford.1105631/#post-12546601

 

Just installed a Bruces rod shop torque tube seal. Solved my gear oil migrating problem.

 

Thanks guys. These are good links. I have a lot to learn about closed drive lines.

 

no picture of the car? first thing monday morning i get cheated.

 

Yeah, I need to post some pics of it.

 

Yes. You do....

 

OK, here's a teaser.

 

Neat!

 

I posted a thread about it finally.

 

Cool , 2+2 = cool now we can tie both threads together The STL roadster. Super awesome story to go with an awesome car.

 

Root I see by your other post you have had the car for 18 months, is this a new problem or has it been been on going. reason I ask is years ago I had the same problem in a chev 53 with a 265 and stock trans with closed tube rear end. turned out to be a bad bushing in tailshaft of trans, just food for thought.
on another note how in the hell did you find that car, I look at stl/cl at least once a week if I would have seen it we would have been bidding. Neat car and went to the right person Tom

 

They bolt to either side of the bell housing and run straight back and attach to X-member/center section of frame .

 

The flathead v8's had a boss with a hole cast through them on each side of the engine near the rear, that the anti-chatter rods slid through to bolt on. The model "B" 4 cylinders had bolt on brackets on each side of the engine. Then the back end of the long rods were bolted onto the center "K" member. The length allowed them to twist as the engine rocked, but also allowed the engine to pull the chassis forward as the torque tube bell pushed
on the sphere coupling on the back of the transmission. The engine mounts weren't intended to push / pull the chassis. you'll have to build brackets off the back of your SBC ( maybe use a couple of bell housing bolts) to mimic this same function.