VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 1931 Differential Gear Wear

I'm working on overhaul of my 1931 Phaeton's rear end. Alarming situation when opened: Broken teeth on ring gear, handful of metal sludge in bottom of case, oil dipper demolished, side bearings rough, and pinion bearings shot. All of this is fixable and I've found all the parts I need, but I'm a bit perplexed about one part of it: The differential gears inside the case are so badly worn that they have about 0.050" of backlash, probably enough to allow an inch or more at the outer edge of the tires when rocked back and forth. Further, the case hardening is pretty badly pitted and failing on the gears. That said, with no replacement gears (NOS or NORS) available, and no '30-'32 donor rear end at hand, I need to do something to tighten this up.

While the parts book shows no shims in the initial assembly, my idea is to use ring-type shims between the gears and the differential case to reduce the play in the gears, dress up the gears as needed, and reassemble. The alternative is to simply clean it all up and reassemble with the excessive backlash left as it is.

Any thoughts?

All the Best, Chip

Any reason that you can not wait until you find a better rear axle assembly? You can probably tighten it up a bit but I would not want to drive it very far. I think it would be a shame to put in all the new bearings and then have a failure that might require replacing them again.

I agree. I would wait until you found better differential gears instead of going to all of the work to properly restore your rear axle assembly and then use inferior differential gears. But of course, that's a Seaman giving a Captain advice.

1931 ring and pinion on ebay


I would try and check the part number , but cant as i am at work.

2nd set on ebay
1931 ring and pinion

I dont ever remember seeing 1931 differential side gears for sale on ebay, (or anywhere else) , but maybe try ChevyB Bruce Buguy)

31 rear ends are fairly common "out there". Just begin the hunt for one. That is much better than the non-standard jury-rig that you're thinking about. No need to do that.

Can you get parts from the Spring Carlisle Swap Meet hauled to you??

(Note : You're talking about a couple of heavy parts... not un-shippable, just a pita to ship.

Bill B

Thanks Guys..... All good advice. I do have a new ring & pinion set that I had in stock. I'll keep looking for the differential gears and for a complete '31 rear end and will see what develops. I have time to deal with this.

Bill: As you said, these are fairly plentiful since the rodders tend to take them out and sell. I'll keep looking. I just sold a '29 rear end that I'd had for years. I doubt that cross-country shipping makes sense.

Skip: Your advice is always on the money!

Any thoughts from anyone else?



All the Best, Chip

Chip
Sent you a PM

Rod

There is a 29 rear on Ebay located in Pa. item# 182330291834.

Thanks Steve, but the '29 rear end shares very few parts with the '30, '31, and '32 units, so I don't think that will help me much. Sure do appreciate your helping, though!

All the Best, Chiop