Need advice

B

Bill Cal.

Senior Member
I'm thinking of rebuilding a model A transmission. Never done it before. Respond to books better than videos. Any advice would sure be appreciated.
Thanks.
 
I cant recomend any books as i wasshown in person but they arent too bad at all to rebuild. Just take your time and i highly recomend replacing the main shaft and reverse shaft with the ones with O rings on them. Prevents leaks yet cannot tell from the outside. Also you deffinately want the shifter ball to be a ball and not square. My advice is if a part looks worn replace it as its no fun to get to the trans in the car again. Having saidthat be aware a few years ago some of the new roller bearings were made junk. Ithink the problem has been solved but im not sure. There is also some disputes about using the shielded main bearings or not. Theres a few threads from the past discussing this.

Also if you arent sure if the gears are too worn or not post a pic here and we will help!
 
Don't be afraid of it. There is not much in there. I'm sure you wil do a good job. Be sure to let us know how you make out.
 
I would just watch out for the gyp needle bearings that were on the market they fail in short order.tom endy had an a post on this i believe.
 
Tom Endy's tutorial from the Santa Anita A's mentions a fix for a worn out input shaft where it rides inside of the flywheel pilot bearing, as follows:

"Jim’s Automotive Services in Costa Mesa, California has a repair where he machines the nose down and presses on a hardened drill bushing that will return the shaft to a serviceable condition."

Is this service still available and, if not, where might one have this done?
 
Bill Cal. said:
I'm thinking of rebuilding a model A transmission. Never done it before. Respond to books better than videos. Any advice would sure be appreciated.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Hey Bill,
Ever hear of ….Victor W. Page ?
He wrote:
Model A Ford
-Construction
-Operation
-Repair
for the RESTORER.
He wrote how to on trans… with pics.
I think you might find what you’re looking for !
Hardbound with over 500 pgs of info
 
Books are best found in the library. Sometimes found on ebay but they cost money there.
The V.W. Page book is good.
 
it is not a hard job inspect all the components closely.

there is differences in the transmissions that you need to be aware of.

28 has a case with brass spacers on the cluster gear. if you use a 1928 case that has brass spacers make sure you put them in and measure the endplay of the cluster. the cluster gears are the same, new to old, you just need to make sure the cluster doesn't move back and forth in the case.

the 28 has a reverse idler that is oiled through the pin while the newer transmission is oiled through the hole in the gear. just don't use a nondrilled pin in the idler gear that isn't drilled. if the idler is drilled you can use either pin.

another thing that happens is the main shaft has a spacer where it enters the roller bearing of the main drive, make sure that spacer ring is on there or the shaft will get wrecked.

there may be more changes but those two are very important to know.
someone may have had your transmission apart at some point check to make sure that at least those two items are correct, you never know what the previous owners have used for parts in there. and with what case they used.

the gears and cases are interchangeable with proper assembly.

ou
 

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I buy my bearings from a local bearing supply company. US made. I take myold ones in to show them what I need so they can match them. You might have such a supplier near you.
 
Only advice I will give is...
Don't be scared of it
Take your time
And finally, and I can't stress this enough, Don't pop that first beer until you are done working on it for the day

Let us know how it turns out
 
You can buy the pilot bearing in two different ID’s, so you can machine the input down to the smaller ID size. Talk to your local bearing supply house.
 
Bill, there is no finer sound then listening to the gearing when you leave a stop sign with a Model A. Your toughest decisions will be on how much to replace to get the transmission in the best new condition. The biggest item is the cluster gear. Try to compare your gear with a new one to see how worn your gear is. I would replace first and second gear because they get a lot of use/abuse! These gears are straight spur type and noisey to begin with. Good comments above about using the o-ring seals on the shafts, it is a must to prevent leaking.

Rebuilding the transmission is fun to do and not too difficult. It would be helpful to have snap ring pliers on hand. Get a diagram of how the transmission is assembled. Make sure you get the needle bearings for the main shaft in the right position, there is a short one and a longer bearing. Good luck, Ed
 
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