Columbia rear

B

buddridge

Member
I have the opportunity to get a Columbia rear out of a 47 Ford sedan. My question is will I have any difficulty installing this in my 37 coupe. Would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.
 
Its not a direct replacement but the columbia unit can be used on your existing 37 rear axle. You will need to come up with the correct columbia housing for the 37,the 47 is too wide and dont have the correct spring hanger for the 37. You can achieve this by finding a housing or take your right side housing and the 47 columbia housing and make one. This is done by cutting the two of then and grafting the 37 housing to the columbia end bell. Johnny Stooksbury in Knoxville TN can do this, he cuts them in a lathe and has the jigs to index them correctly and holds everthing true when welding them together. You will also need to use the 37 axle shafts also.
 
It will work if you use a 37-40 torque tube and drive shaft with a middle bearing. You may have to get a drive shaft adapter as the 47 splines on your pinion may be different than the earlier shorter driveshafts. Spring hangers are in the right place just a different distance apart and I do not remember the difference. You can swap some springs around to get something that will work. I had a late columbia under a 40 and rolled the eyes on a spring to get one that worked out. The late rear end is something like 1 1/2" wider than the 37 and should not be a problem unless you are running fat 15" rubber. You can also rig a mount for the late sway bar and use it as the late rear end has a stud for the swaybar. Or as Ken suggests you can get Johnny to take the late housing and convert it to an early housing.
With either solution you should consider what gear you are going to use. Around hill country the 4:11 is fine. A 3:78 is a little tall for a stock engine when you shift her to high range.
 
I had the later Columbia housing modified for my 36 ,made my own control,found a speedometer change gear,from a 52 truck ford( not sure about this ) ,had to reverse the gears to make it work using a 3.78 gear in rear ratio and works great with a stock engine.
 
The question (s) about using a '42-48 Columbia rear end in a '36-41 keep coming up with generally the same answers. i.e. the '42-48 Columbia is to wide for the early cars, therefore the axles/housings must be cut down because the later model differential is two inches wider.
In a word, Nonsense.. modifying a '42-48 Columbia to fit under a '36-41 car, is a lot of work to accomplish nothing.
The '42-48 Columbia assembly will bolt onto the earlier banjo center section, thereby retaining the original drive line. A '42 and later rear spring will have to be used, either the original shocks or the '47-48 tube shocks can be used. An added benefit is the sway bar that the '47-48 rear ends have..
I removed the original Columbia from my '36 in 1955, replacing it with a '47-48 unit using all Ford parts of various years to bolt the whole assembly together.
 
I would keep looking for a 37 to 41 unit. There is likely a few still out there. Many of the internal and center section parts are interchangeable from the later units but the bell housings are longer with wider spring mounts and longer axle shafts as was mentioned. The later ones are all 6-spline too. The 37 would have been 10-spline with different spider gears than the 39/48.
 
buddridge said:
I have the opportunity to get a Columbia rear out of a 47 Ford sedan. My question is will I have any difficulty installing this in my 37 coupe. Would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Do not turn a wrench or buy anything else until you speak with John. He duh MAN on Columbia's. Just passing on some great advice that I received here on this forum. Contact info: http://www.columbiatwospeedparts.com/Pages/default.aspx
Keep us informed of your solution.
Phil
 
The 46 to 48 Columbia has the best internal parts by far. As stated above you do have to change the axles to the year car you have and cut the 46 to 48 Columbia axle housing off and use the passenger side axle housing that came off your car. You also use the drivers side axle housing off your car. This is only done if you don't want the added with of the 46 to 48. Not a problem if you have a Hi Boy.
 
Folks seem to like to make it sound so easy to lop off the Columbia right side housing and just weld the housing back up in a shorter state. If John performs this modification, he may may make it easy with proper jigging but it seems to me to be a bit more difficult than folks might realize. I think most of the mods that John does are more for adding strength to the original design than to alter the design. It would be interesting to find out if he has modified them in this manner though. I think a person would have to machine a size reducer fitting due to the taper in the housing on some models. I'm not saying it can't be done but if it was, it would be best done by someone with prior experience. As far as I know Mr Stooksbury in Knoxville is the guy who will modify the late 42/48 Columbia housing to fit the early V8 right side axle housings since they have a taper size that will work and he has a jig.

I'd rather have one that is a little wider than one that might break when a person is a long way from home. If you do choose to have one modified, consult with an experienced rebuilder of these units like Johny Stooksbury or John Connelly.
 
Last edited:
I'll stand by my earlier comments, i.e. cutting down axle housings, modifying springs etc., is pure nonsense when the only gain is a difference of less than 2" between the '36-41, compared to the '42-48.. I would defy anyone that would look at my car, without looking under it, and make note that the rear tires are further out in the fender well. Keep in mind were only talking about less than an inch on each side.
When I was planning on putting a 2" dropped axle under the front end I opted for a later axle in lieu of a '36. I did this because as a general rule the average dropped axle is narrow compared to stock. Of course I had had to use a later model spring..
 
Tom Walker said:
Bill can you briefly outline any difficulties matching a early Columbia to a stock '32 rear?
Thanks Tom.
Click to expand...

It's been a long time since I had the opportunity, or need to upgrade a '32 differential to a later style, i.e. '33 and later, therefore, I'm at a loss to tell you what modifications would be needed.
I helped a friend of mine put a '34 rear end into his '32 Vicky in about 1952. The only part I can recall is that nothing wanted to fit. Of course we were kids building cars in the back yard, in the shade of a tree. We were lucky if we had an Oxy torch and a decent set of end wrenches, a machine shop was something they talked about in the flashy car magazines.
 
This is one of the reasons I suggested the Mitchael. It's a modern unit that has proven reliability, and might be cheaper in the long run.
 
You are correct about being cheaper. I got a Columbia for 1500 then took it to John in Tenn. Then I got the controls from Calif. Had to take the Columbia back it was noisy. Cost in travel plus other cost $5,000. It works very nice but Mitchell is a bit cheaper. It all what ever one wants. Would I do it again ? I don't know. :confused:
 
redneck said:
you are correct about being cheaper. I got a columbia for 1500 then took it to john in tenn. Then i got the controls from calif. Had to take the columbia back it was noisy. Cost in travel plus other cost $5,000. It works very nice but mitchell is a bit cheaper. It all what ever one wants. Would i do it again ? I don't know. :confused:
Click to expand...

Sure you would. G.M.
 
A Laycock overdrive out of a Volvo makes a nice overdrive. I believe there is someone that will install one in the middle of the torque tube for you. Perhaps someone will give his name and contact info.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top