chatter bars

coolcoupe

Well-known member
Does any one know if 47 cars had chatter rods or needed them? I would like to try a set and see if it makes a different on chatter.thanks for now Moe
 
Their real job is to keep the engine and transmission from moving when the rear end articulates …… torque tubes have no slip yoke.

Yes you need them
 
FoMoCo discontinued the use of the drive train radius rods just before the war started. I've seen kits made to hold the push of the drive train on the 42 through 48 models but I'm not sure who made them. If you replace worn front & rear motor mount support cushions, it will stabilize the motor until they get soft again. When the open drive commercial vehicles were introduced, FoMoCo used an improved design rear mount so they discontinued the support rods as unecessary.
 
Here's a photo of the aftermarket kits that were available. These are installed on my 40 with an 8BA engine.You could make one without too much trouble. If you do a Fordbarn search you may find plans on how to make a set. I saw them posted a long while ago.
 

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P.S. they are called "anti-chatter rods". You can find information in the "Ford Barn Search" under (anti-chatter rods).

Ford Motor Co. called them ("Rod engine radius") 40 6044, 46 6044, 48 6044 & 811W 6044 on page 226 of the Ford Chassis Parts and Accessories Catalogue (Green Bible)

Mark
 

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If your front cross member has the holes for them (I believe 41-48 is the same cross member), then the 1941 rods will simply bolt up. The hole is probably 7/16", and just inside from the motor mount hole. The rod goes from the bell housing forward, and the end sits right under the water pump
 
The rods were no longer felt necessary when, in 1940, Ford went to the twist clutch release system. Previously pushing in the clutch pushed the lclutch lever and the engine/trans forward as the clutch was disengaged. With the conversion of linear forward motion to rotation motion on the frame, the engine trans would not be subject to linear motion from clutch action. Now under acceleration you still have some forward movement from the rear end. The revised rear mount in good condition should prevent this movement. So it should not be needed if the mounts are in good shape.
 
They were dropped for 1942 because the rear trans mount was changed to a type that did not allow fore&aft motion...until the rubber came unglued from the steel parts. The biscuit type mounts used before '42 supported the engine/trans but left location to the rods.
Probably all of the original mounts are dead by now, and the repro ones are not very good.
The aftermarket one shown above is very simple and originals of it are fairly common...they were an easy way to avoid changing that mount. Ford of Canada actually had a kit written up in its service bulletins and shop manuals to add factory type rods to the '42 based vehicles they built for war service, I think based on 1941 parts.
 
NO, only 42 thru 48 closed drive didn't have them here in the USA. Open drive pickups from 42 on, don't need them. If you have them, keep them. They are there for a good reason. If you don't have them in an earlier car, you might try to find them somewhere & install them.
 
Not all fingers are adjustable. The pressure plate I just got from VanPelt was not but the one it replaced was.
 
True, but they can be bent to match if done carefully. Hang a box end wrench around the finger and use another wrench as a cheater bar and you can bend them slightly. That is usually all they need is slight bend.
 
True, but they can be bent to match if done carefully. Hang a box end wrench around the finger and use another wrench as a cheater bar and you can bend them slightly. That is usually all they need is slight bend.

Anyone so-inclined as to try this at home...do yourself a HUGE favor...DON'T! DD
 
True, but they can be bent to match if done carefully. Hang a box end wrench around the finger and use another wrench as a cheater bar and you can bend them slightly. That is usually all they need is slight bend.
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So are you saying that to adjust the VanPelt pressure plate, one would
have to bend the PP fingers.

OR, is coopman correct with his reply.











.
 
don't know about Mac Van Pelts pressure plates,, but all fingers should touch at the same time. If not they can be bent slightly where all touch at once. That's what "my guy" did to mine and no more chatter either forward or backward.
 
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