Hi Everyone! navigating this gigantic forum on a smartphone may cause me to post this in the wrong place, apologies in advance… we’ve started builing a bellytank in september 2020. Besides a centerline tank from an F16 jet, we’re trying to keep it ad traditional as we can. Keeping in mind obtainabilty and affordability . If anyone is interested i’d love to include some pics later, when surfing on my laptop… for now there’s questions to be asked, hoping the massive experience gathered here can shed some light on the matter; Allthough we started with a 1949 mercury rear end, we are now switching to a banjo axle. We basically bought the first one we found in belgium. They are pretty scarce and expensive, but this one looked good and complete! Ill ad photos but it has the hydraulics brakes; we’ve found that means post 1939. But the spring mounts seem not early ford-ish? What have we bought? thanks in advance! Frank and Arnd Belgium
Stamping on the housing goes as follows F482FX1128X9X39 I noticed i uploaded a snap of my kids, i’ll try to remove it later
Parallel spring perches and open yoke denotes later model truck. Good luck with your tank project and keep us posted
my thoughts were truck too; possibly french? (like our flathead) or english perhaps? we would like to know so we can get the right replacement parts if needed, or to find out the gearing... if you like, follow the build on our socials; WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/LEGENDRACING74 www.instagram.com/legendracing74
Frank & Arnd, You guys might be to young to know but about 40 years ago the Belgian Army dumped all their German built Ford V8 ambulances on the public. Maybe the axle is from there as most of those trucks have since been dismantled by wreckers for the Flathead V8 . Some became campers but to slow on the modern Euro freeways. Now you see the last survivors as wasted projects or foodtrucks. They were known as BB trucks ( Burger Bescherming ) These are 1950s trucks.
Hey guys; If we look at the axle on that ford ambulance, Its seems different at the center hubs? we’ve tried getting these off; included red hot heat from the blow torch along with a puller, but no luck… we searched banjo tutorials on the YouTubes and they all come off when slightly heated and pulled? Has anyone seen these centers on their axle? We wonder that the center might be threaded and that the four flanges require a special tool to un screw them? or do we take em to a mechanic shop to put it under the press? any advice or thoughts are welcome!
Its off! Used a heavy duty snap on puller at mechanics shop in town… What a bang when it released now… who knows what inch fraction these nuts are? (See pic) i have a 2 inch wrench but it seems a bit to large… any tips here? the bearings are shot so we need to get in there… thx!
Didn you even manage to ID the source of the axle ? I bought a couple of axle bells recently that for all intent and purpose looked pretty much like 40 rear bells with parallel leaf spring mounts . When they arrived I noticed on close inspection that the back plates were not 40 style but a smaller diameter albeit hydraulic but not 40 style cylinders . Despite this the bearing surface was the same as the 40 ford . When I tried to offer up a set of 40 backplates the flange on the axle end turned out to be far to small to accommodate the backplates .. I then offered the bell up to a 40 centre section and the although the fit was perfect the bolt pattern was off , If the spring mounts were flat the pinion was a mile off .. It was all a bit strange . I put them to one side and sourced another pair in the end .. I never did find out where their origin lay ..
do i manually count the teeth? or are there stampings to look for? here's a pic from the insides; all cleaned up (except for the center section) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmXn_XooPjR/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
So we got pinion out on a hydraulic press (took 5tons of pressure) Its a 9tooth pinion and a 39tooth ring gear. That makes it a 4.33 ratio? So what axle do we have here? We need to order bearings to rebuild it properly… Also; is a little rust on the gears bad? Will we regret not putting in a new set of gears? Just minding the budget, buy still leaning towards doing the right thing…
One end of the axle had a dent. We got an extra cone for that. Replacing these to dry dey fit the axle on our chassis i noticed some stampings; I will add pics here; if anyone could share what these mean to them it might help us order the right replacement bearings? Of anyone has bought some please share where you found em!
Surfin' the googles tonight, I found two interesting hits regarding the axle; 1) That lincoln drum is looking very similar 2) That axle once for sale on the FordBarn is VERY MUCH looking like what we have; They're talking about early Simca (Meaning the Models 5, 6 or 8 I suppose...) Gonna keep looking in that direction! A better update on the progress, like fitting the steering rods through our belly's nose can be found on the insta page; http://www.intagram.com/legendracing74
Don,t waste to much time searching those Simca models, 5 and 6 are the same as Topolino and 8 is just a little larger.
Certainly not like what you have. You could just about put two Simca 5/Topo bodies next to each other on that rear axle.
Hey Guys! Time for an update; hopelfully it may help someone in the future! Eventually after measuring and contacting several dealers, and finding some to devote their time to our cause, We ended up ordering the following from C.W. Moss ( https://cwmoss.com/ ) Pinion Grease Seal • 1942-47 Ford Pickup & Commercial × 1 Axle & U-Joint Gasket Set (Rear) • 1932-48 Ford Passenger & 1932-47 Pickup × 1 Pinion Front Bearing • 1935-48 Ford Passenger & 1935-47 Pickup × 2 Pinion Rear Bearing • 1932-48 Ford Passenger & 1932-47 Pickup × 1 Differential Bearing • 1937-48 Ford Passenger & 1937-47 Pickup × 2 AND! Last night we threw the axles in the freezer and the bearing in the oven. I borowed a table top 10ton shop press from a buddy. And we got them all installed; so I can say they fit the mysterious banjo we found! few pics over here; https://www.instagram.com/p/CsCgMFvoLvE/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Greetings!!
The 1946 truck axle is banjo style, parallel spring, hyd. brakes, 5 on 5.5 bolt circle , without torque tube, but rather open drive. Probably what you have
That sums up the axle pretty good; so you’re probably absolutely right! Putting it back together next week so we can put our chassis on its wheels again and reinstall the mounts for our engine. We trade the “long” three-speed automatic for a “short” manual top loader! This should give us plenty of leg (and belly) room up front! I’ll try to keep the thread up to date
From the posed photo, the parallel perches go below the leaves. Check. The center has the pinion flange pointed straight up. This would suggest that the engine would mount vertically, above the rear axle! Please tell me someone merely rotated the banjo 90 degrees. Then tell me why?
It's not unusual for parallel leaf springs to mount below the axle on '40s-'50s light and medium trucks. It's very unusual for the pinion to be positioned vertically or horizontally. ;>) Where do the springs sit on those trucks you showed us? jack vines
My guess is someone once slapped it back together real quick to store or sell it? Also plausible is that the axle was once used for agricultural purposes… i’ve seen contraptions that had blades attached to the pinion so it would cut grass when the acle was pulled behind a tractor, thuss not needing some kind of PTO? right now we’ve mounted them below; because it was easier to measure out the fitment of out welded flanges… Its a fixed axle so no springs will be mounted… at the moment we’re reinstalling everything with fresh bearings… does anyone know the proper torq on the internal ringgear bolts? (Pic)
Finally, the axle is back on the chassis! Thanks to everyone woho replied or cared!! (btw; we used about 40Nm to torque the cones to the housing!) GRTS!