So this question is a little out of the ordinary... I'm re-doing an old race car and trying to make it street-legal. The car is set-up for a Ford '39 trans hooked to a torque-tube and banjo rear. Sounds simple, but then things get complicated. Instead of the regular axles, it has full floating 3/4 ton axles. Today I pulled the rear-end and opened it to see how it was done, and I found a mini-spool had replaced the spider gears. I'd really like to keep the banjo and wide 5's that the car ran with, but I know a mini-spool isn't too good for street use. The car has 4.11's, and will have a '39 trans hooked to a 292 Chevy 6 cylinder. Might see a 1,000 or so miles a year, mostly backroads, and I doubt I'll get stuck in the rain much. So what would you guys do? Run the mini-spool, or try to convert it back to a stock axle? I'd prefer to keep the 3/4 ton axles, but I'm guessing that's not possible without the mini-spool. Thanks for any advice!
Are you running narrow tires bias plus? And also an open drive conversion ? If you do it should work ok. I have run one for a lot of years. Gary
Off the top of my head but you should be able to replace the mini spool with stock axle and spider gears..Joblot Automotive would be the first place I would look..
I ran a spool in my Fairlane on the street for ten years. It was only a little annoying but never did more than scuff one tire a little more than the other. I only put the posi in it because a friend made me a good deal on a complete third member.
I was planning on keeping the torque tube... I figure I already have it and it's the right length, so might as well use it. Haven't figured out what I'm going to do for rear tires yet, but nothing too big. Forgot to mention that it's going in a '54 Hudson Jet, I think it'll weigh around 2500lbs when done. The motor will be stock.
Ford banjos have the side gears connected to the axle so what you have is some kind of hi-bred , the spool was probably easier to connect the axles than make or find sidegears that worked also. I believe they used to use old merc semi floater axles back in the day and modify the spiders... Essentially like the hotrod works 9" axle to banjo kit is today
Snapped a picture of it I'm thinking that I might just run it and see what happens. It's not a real big deal to pull the rear-end if it doesn't work out, and it doesn't cost me anything to try it. I can't beleive I'd ever damage a 3/4 ton axle using it like I'm going to be, and a little tire wear doesn't bother me much.
That's a interesting piece , I was expecting a mini spool like a 9" , this makes more sense , I would think those bolts holding to the ring gear are probably weaker than the axle but it may be a toss up
I wasn't really sure what to call it, I guess mini-spool is the closest though? I was thinking the same about the bolts, but if I don't get too crazy they'll probably last
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