Governed speed

D

Dale Fairfax

Senior Member
Is there anybody out there who has shop manuals for earlier (pre '54) Ford trucks and Ford Industrial engines? I'm trying to find out what the factory limited R.P.M. to for continuous duty. We have a lot of inconclusive dialogue as to what is safe for our old Fords and most people start to wet their pants at anything over 2400. I'm inclined to believe 3000 is more like what the engineers believed to be acceptable for continuous duty (think: irrigation pumps and over the road trucks).
 
Flatheads in decent condition are safe at RPM's well past stock breathing ability...This was viewed as an inspiration by many people, including Duntov!
 
My 39 ford had 4.44 gears and 3000rpms was about 55 mph 3200rpms at 60 mph.
You would have to try it and see what you think.I run mine at 3k for about 100 miles and thought it preety good engine.
I now run 2k at 55mph and like it much better with 2.78 gears.
no sweat at 70 mph. 2500 rpm.
 
"Kit - key type 2000 to 3500 R.P.M. - use with OBA-9600-D air cleaner 8RCS 18204 D" ...... two different types listed, key type or sealed type, for various applications 49 -54 in the Ford Canada chassis catalog. ..B.
 
So that's saying Ford (of Canada) offered a governor which could be set to allow 3500 r.p.m.? I guess that still begs the question: what were the engines actually governed to? Did truckers (who were known for defeating governors) routinely twist their 239s into the threes for long distances? If all they wanted to do was "move the load" they wouldn't need to exceed the torque peak but if they wanted to make any kind of time they would have needed to move up on the H.P. curve..


QUOTE=Barlea;462792]"Kit - key type 2000 to 3500 R.P.M. - use with OBA-9600-D air cleaner 8RCS 18204 D" ...... two different types listed, key type or sealed type, for various applications 49 -54 in the Ford Canada chassis catalog. ..B.[/QUOTE]
 
I don,t believe they turned more rpms.
What they did going down hills was put it in nerual so engine wouldn,t slow you down.
Are you going to put a governed on something.
 
Looks like they are describing a governor that could be set at whatever the boss wanted and then locked with a key that the boss's wife kept on a chain around her neck. Or sealed with a wire and lead seal to avoid tampering. But making your trucks slower than the competition's trucks could cut into the profits.... ..B.
 
My Page book which seems to cover up to 1940 states the standard governor 40-6850B1 was factory set at 2500, but could be turned up to 2750rpm, and down as far as 2250. The other options were set lower (1500-2500).

Not sure if that is of any help.

My 99 motor was from a fire pump and still had the wire/lead seal intact. Didn't know any of that info above until I looked for it now.
 
That's exactly the kind of information I was looking for. (Hate to admit that I have the Page book but didn't look very hard.) Now what I'd like to see is similar specs from a later period, i.e. '46-'53.





nathanmac said:
My Page book which seems to cover up to 1940 states the standard governor 40-6850B1 was factory set at 2500, but could be turned up to 2750rpm, and down as far as 2250. The other options were set lower (1500-2500).

Not sure if that is of any help.

My 99 motor was from a fire pump and still had the wire/lead seal intact. Didn't know any of that info above until I looked for it now.
Click to expand...
 
Later governors were set up to apply stops for vacuum demand (pulling power) but we are talking later Y-block overhead valve engines. The flatheads from 48 to 53 are nearly all the same. EAB heads & cams came in in 52 but the horspower wasn't the only consideration. There likely wasn't a lot of difference in governors in the 8BA time frame other than different carbs might allow. Really big trucks (F7 & F8) used OHV engines after 1951.

Where I'm originally from in Kansas, the water table has always required something bigger than a flat head for field irrigation. Welders & electric generator sets would just use the engine in the best power for the job bracket but usually not run at too high an RPM. They wouldn't have matched the 239 at much more than 30K on a gen set. A throttle stop is as good a governor as a guy needs for one of these old mills unless the operator is inexperienced. "Stock" flatheads always sound like they are comming unglued at anything above 3500 rpm.
 
Dale Fairfax ........................
I do not have any technical information on the Ford governors, but I can supply some photos of one. I have another NOS one, in the box, but I can't put my hands on it right now.
Notice the wired seal.
My son, who drag-races, asked, "Why would anybody want to put a governor on a flathead ?".
MIKE :)
CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE - Twice
 

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That appears to be vacuum operated like the later ones were. The only way you could adjust them was by varying the manifold pressure bleed jets.
 
I've put the book away I was reading from, but if that's the 'Handy' type they were the type set at the lower speeds.

I haven't eyeballed my one for a few weeks, but it looks quite different to the one in your photos.

FL&WVMIKE said:
Dale Fairfax ........................
I do not have any technical information on the Ford governors, but I can supply some photos of one. I have another NOS one, in the box, but I can't put my hands on it right now.
Notice the wired seal.
My son, who drag-races, asked, "Why would anybody want to put a governor on a flathead ?".
MIKE :)
CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE - Twice
Click to expand...
 
George/Maine said:
I don,t believe they turned more rpms.
What they did going down hills was put it in nerual so engine wouldn,t slow you down.
Are you going to put a governed on something.
Click to expand...

"Put it in neutral going downhill"??? I don't think so! (Unless a very shallow downgrade). For one thing, most old trucks had vacuum boosted brakes that needed a lot of vacuum, more than you got at idle. You needed that engine wound up and the throttle closed to pull enough vacuum to do some good. Besides, if you were in neutral, using the brakes to keep the truck from running away (and crashing into the feed store in downtown Pagosa Springs) would soon overheat them. Brakes were not a strong point on old Ford trucks, nor any truck back then, for that matter. That's why most states had laws aginst coasting in neutral.
 
Wolf Creek pass is taxing on any vehicle. I can remember sweating it back in the 60s.
Governors were more to protect the engine that to keep a person from going faster. FoMoCo was and still is conscious of warranty concerns. You can suggest an operator not pull too much power but that suggestion falls on deaf ears much of the time. Owners of trucking firms wanted there equipment to last as long as it could too.
 
If I can conclude any kind of consensus out of all this, it would be that Flathead V-8s were generally governed at about 2500 R.P.M. and occasionally up to 2750. There is one guy over on the Ford Truck Enthusiast's site who has some real world experience with a 1950 F-6 which (he claims) is governed to 3000 but as soon as it gets there it falls back to 2800. So maybe my original thought as to what is considered a safe continuous speed was optimistic-I thought you could get away with 3000 for long stretches but maybe 2800 is more like it. My math says 60 m.p.h. with a 3.78 gear and 29" tires is about 2632 R.P.M. Even with a 28" tire, it's only 2722.
 
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