Bob Drake Fuel Sending Unit?

It's funny you should ask. A couple week ago my neighbor installed a brand new Bob Drake sending unit in his restored '40 Ford Covertible and the gas gauge read empty when he was done. He asked me to look at it for him. I grounded the wire at the sending unit and the gauge came up to full, so I removed the new sending unit for inspection. What I found was the floating arm was so tight at the pivot point that it would stay in what ever position I put it in. Even with a full tank of gas it stayed in the empty position. I tried working it back and forth to loosen it up and it did not get any better. It was not damaged in anyway during the installation. I don't think it was a fluke, I bet there are a whole batch of them made this way. I would not order one unless they take it out of the box and check to see that the arm flops around under its own weight like it is supposed to.

Jerry
 
Flathead Fever said:
It's funny you should ask. A couple week ago my neighbor installed a brand new Bob Drake sending unit in his restored '40 Ford Covertible and the gas gauge read empty when he was done. He asked me to look at it for him. I grounded the wire at the sending unit and the gauge came up to full, so I removed the new sending unit for inspection. What I found was the floating arm was so tight at the pivot point that it would stay in what ever position I put it in. Even with a full tank of gas it stayed in the empty position. I tried working it back and forth to loosen it up and it did not get any better. It was not damaged in anyway during the installation. I don't think it was a fluke, I bet there are a whole batch of them made this way. I would not order one unless they take it out of the box and check to see that the arm flops around under its own weight like it is supposed to.

Jerry
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Jerry, Tell your neighbor, i have the brother to his sending unit, mine has the exact same problem as his........Ed
 
Bought a Drake sending unit from Early Ford. Couldn't beleive how cheap it looked. I sent it back!!! Got one from Sacremento Ford it was made in Mexico and the quality was much better Used it in my 47 with no problems. Make sure it is properly grounded for it to work right. Ken
 
I got one from Mack and It work for a month and now nogood. I gor one in my 39 and it works very good. I have to lift the bed on my pickup.
 

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Have any of the folks contacted Drake or Mac's?? This should be the frirst step for defective parts.
 
oldford2 said:
Have any of the folks contacted Drake or Mac's?? This should be the frirst step for defective parts.
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I just bought mine this week, from C&G early ford parts. I will not have a problem getting my money back, from them. With that being said, if i were at the parts counter in person, and saw what this sending unit looked like, i would not have bought it. It sure was packaged in a nice fancy box though, had the words Bob Drake Quility, and under his name Made in China. I'am now looking for an NOS sender, or a good used original part....Ed
 
The sales manager at Drake is VERY much aware of this problem. My float was made of brass and put together with solder. It was so full of gas within 9 months that gauge always showed empty. Drake sent me free of charge a one piece plastic float. I see Carpenter and MAC's ell a one pi=ece float as a seperate part number. I think Drake stocks them as too many people have had the same problem. Problem is, we are the ones frustrated with bad parts and have to install the new ones over again.
 
I did not have any problems with my BD float but the sending unit was sticking, fortunatly for me the '34 has a door in the bed to get at the sending unit.
I looseded the screw going thru the plastic that held the two arms together and now it works perfectly.
on another note, I know it is a pain when you get something shipped to you and it dosent work, but I have never had any trouble returning something to BD even when it was the right part but just decided to go with something else.
rich
 
Is the tank sender part #99A-9275. If it is I ordered one a while ago and it's still in the box. I have had good dealings w/BOB DRAKE in the past. Would like to know if this sender is one of the problem ones. Thanks!!
 
39portlander said:
Is the tank sender part #99A-9275. If it is I ordered one a while ago and it's still in the box. I have had good dealings w/BOB DRAKE in the past. Would like to know if this sender is one of the problem ones. Thanks!!
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I don't know if what you have is one of the problem ones, or not, but that is the same part number that i ordered, Good Luck.....Ed
 
Listening to you guys, now I don't know what to buy. Doing a ground up on my 35. The old tank was shot and so was the sending unit. I was thinking about going with an electronic sending unit, but it sounds like they are all junk. Should I stay original and put in hydrostatic? Also, if I want to go with a steel tank original size, should I go with a BD tank or is there better?

TX,
Peder
 
Peder-

If you are planning to drive the car go with electric. I have had a '36 tank with the electric sender in my '35 for the last 40 years with no problem. When I had the original hydrostatic set-up I never really knew exactly how much gas I had. I also found the system was a a high maintenance item to keep it working properly. Others may have had better luck than I did.

As for finding an original electric sender, it is not an impossible task. They are around and pop-up frequently on epay.

The Bob Drake tank ('36) is not exactly the same as an original tank. To get it to work on a '35-'36 you will need to grind part of the right-hand lip of the tank and also the right -hand lip of the frame. Things will still be tight but the tank can be juggled into place. Once in you will find that the tailpipe will be a lot closer to the tank than it previously was (about an inch away). This observation has also been reported by others when dealing with the Drake tank and the '35-'36 models. It seems that the Drake repo is more bulbous on the bottom half of the tank than Ford's original tank hence the closer tailpipe fit.

Where does that leave you? I don't think I would abandon the '36 tank in a '35 Ford if you plan on driving the car but, I would try to seek out an original '36 tank and '36-'55 sender. The stuff still can be found at reasonable prices. (MHO)

Hope this helps.

Tom
 
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