Did a couple searches about rebuilding 40-48 Ford Tranny and didn't find anything so hopefully this isn't a repeat thread. Took the tranny out of my 40 to replace synchronizer rings. Discovered the case had severe wear at the back of the cluster gear so found another good case, ordered bearings, seals, gaskets and a complete synchronizer assembly from Macs. While trying to reassemble the tranny we discovered the new synchro assembly is about 0.060 thicker than the stock one. So after much measuring we decide to turn the new hub down the 0.060. Now the Syncrho rings are to tight, shifts to 2nd but not to third. Any ideas? Help ? The two guys helping me are both old Ford guys with lots of experience but they are scratching their heads on this one !
Mac Van Pelt. FortyFordGuy here on the hamb. He's THE trans guy. Just did mine and he was a ton of help, great guy and good parts. Search his name on google and you'll find his info. He knows these things inside and out. There are 3 different synchro hubs, turning yours down was probably not good. I had same problem, Mac fixed it up for me. Another thing to check is that the 3 notches in the synchro rings are lined up properly in the hub. When the slider is positioned on the center of the hub you should be able to jiggle the rings a bit with your finger. Mac taught me that. But, there is a proper hub for your mainshaft, the hub shouldn't need to be turned down.
I have found that the repro rings are often too thick at the cutouts to work properly. Early ford component specialist, CharlieNY on fordbarn is local and he confirmed this, he mills the slots to .303 to work correctly. The repro ones I had were almost .350! Also, DO NOT use the repro stamped steel ball retainer inserts no matter who makes them... they are not up to the task. Find good originals that are cast blocks instead of folded sheet metal, I grenaded a freshly rebuilt '39 box due to those little bastards once... rookie mistake.
Thanks you guys for the help! Mac's Antique (Ecklers) is who i got the part from and as you can gues repro stuff is not correct and even though this is a head ache it sounds like I was headed for a grenade episode anyway. So I am headed of to get the original hub and to mill the slots in the rings and see if it gives us the correct amount of spacing in the synchro's. If all goes well I hope to have it together tomorow. Will let you know the outcome.
Go here: http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/trans-partsprices-pg1.htm for all your transmission parts and advice. Call him up (Mac VanPelt) and ask him any question you may have. He'll have the answer.
There is a significant quality gradient between Mac's and Mac VanPelt! I think you can guess which way it runs.
Well I ended up using the repro hub, with some NOS ford synchro rings and I used the stamped steel ball retainers, the ones that were in it were not cast, they were stamped as well and other than wear and tear held up. So its together and has about a hundered miles on it. It certainly is tighter but you can't hurry the shifting any, they have to be very deliberate. I don't know how much break into give it. I don't know what they are supposed to shift like but time will tell. Maybe I will have to contact fortyfordguy .
I rebuilt a '39 topshift with mostly NOS (and old aftermarket) gears inside, and used the wearable parts from Mac Vanpelt. It shifts really firm, and has about a thousand miles on it now. You can still hear the gears meshing in first, but I bet that's because the NOS gears were made by different manufacturers. Will probably take quite a while for first gear to break in.
Today I ran all the vacuum lines for the columbia overdrive rear, let it run on jacks for 5 minutes engaged and then went for a ride. I think with the 750 16s it will fast idle at about 60 mph. I need to find the speedo adapter for the columbia.
The saga continue's........after about 500 miles i decided i had enough of this ill shifting transmission. A freind of mine found a good used hub and I spoke with Mac Vanpelt. Mac pointed me in the right direction and I yanked the tranny out agian and spent extra time fitting the cluster and making sure the tolerance of 2nd gear was correct. I could tell on the bench it shifted way better. Just got back from the road test and I would say it is as close to new as I can tell ! no grinding and shifts tight. So though I didn't use Mac Van Pelt's parts I wouldnt hesitate to. Thanks Mac for the help !
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