Wooden Transmission Bands

[Tmodelt]

Anyone have any experiences to share concerning wooden transmission band linings? Good or Bad, Ease of installation, performance, what have you. Thanks in advance

[jiminbartow]

One word. Fantastic! More words. I installed a set of Guinn’s wood bands in my ‘26 Coupe in 2010 and they are still going strong: www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/118802/152825.html.
Jim Patrick

[DickC]

Installed wood bands in my 12 hack 4 years ago. Several tours and many trips to the ice cream shop and only had one adjustment after the first 100 miles. If I had not put Kevlar bands in my 16, I would use wood also.

[SurfCityGene]

Long time user of Jim Guinn's Cottonwood bands and I really like them. I've driven them a lot of miles on some pretty long tours. They do not require much adjustment but of course that may depend on driving habits. Many guys believe that the Kevlar will damage your drums because of overheating but poor driving habits is the real cause. One thing I and others believe is that Kevlar are not forgiving where the wood are much more so. Maybe one point against the wood is that they may be more difficult to install especially on an early car without removing the HH. I would certainly choose them again.

[ThreePedalTapDancer]

I use wood bands as well, no issues and they were installed many years ago. There is a difference in pedal feel compared to cotton or Kevlar, such as a firmer pedal. You have to have experience driving with the softer linings to understand the comparison, not a negative, just different.

[Tmodelt]

A big THANK YOU to all. The thread above answered a lot of questions. The testimonials were of great service. The band lining set that I found were made by Jim Guinn. Again, THANK YOU!

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

Can they be installed through the hogshead opening, or must the hogshead be removed? (I'm talking a later T.)

[Norman Kling]

I have a 26 Roadster in which I installed an engine and transmission which was rebuilt by Lee Pierce. He rebuilt it about 1994 and I bought it at a swap meet. It has wood bands and I have been on many week long tours including a "Canyonlands Tour" which lasted a week and in which we drove from Kanab to Brice, and from Kanab to Cedar Breaks, and also to Zion and the north rim Grand Canyon. Also drove it on a Death Valley tour and on a California Dreamin tour as well as to Yosemite and Arizona Shootout. Maybe others too. Same wood bands are in the car today. The reverse does chatter, but it might be something else than the bands causing. The low and brake work smoothly.
Norm

[RajoRacer]

Quite difficult to keep the "round" Jerry whilst attempting to pull them around - I've seen guys try it & cracked the rivet hole out after several attempts !

[Jerry VanOoteghem]

Something I'll consider for my '21 Runabout.

As an aside, I had Guinn make a special band for my Model N low speed drum. Works perfectly!

[Thorlick]

>Can they be installed through the hogshead opening, or must the hogshead be removed? (I'm talking a later T.)

Jerry,

Yes they can, but I prefer to do it with the transmission cover off. Pushing them into place can be done with much effort. If you get the cracking sound you have broken the band or pulled a rivet through... and created firewood. So attempting to push a band trough the access cover is not without risk.

For those folks who worry about bending a band out of round when pushing it through the access door, yes that will happen. But who cares? Certainly not the car or the band... wooden linings work just fine with an out of round band. The only bands for which a perfectly round band is a necessity is Kevlar... with them out of round often causes drum breakage.

I've used wooden bands for over 20 years. I don't even use band springs... that's not needed as the wood liner springs the band open.

I usually just do the band change when I have the engine out of the car, that is the easiest way. I have my engine out right now but the bands are under 100 miles old so no change needed this time whilst I renew the clutch.

TH

[Stephen_heatherly]

Wood works great on low and reverse but personally I would rather have kevlar or cotton on the brake band. I have had two wooden brake bands suddenly stop working when descending a long hill. I use the brakes as little as possible and always pump the pedal to keep oil on the linings and yet I lost the brake twice. I've never had that issue with either cotton or kevlar. If you have some form of outside brakes wood should be just fine for the transmission brake though. I only have stock brakes on my cars.

Stephen

[T Cruiser]

Kim, I have driven a model t coast to coast 4 times ,and more tours than I can remember.I used old style Scandinavia once with only 1 adjustment o the way.I drove twice with wood bands,and once with Kevlar. The wood bands need to be adjusted up little tighter than the others or the can chatter. The trip I Kevlar I cracked a drum and will never use it again. I will use wood as long as Jim is making it. This is just my opinion,hope it helps. Ted

[DHort]

T cruiser. If you have driven your T coast to coast four times, have you ever had a chance to tell the rest of us how your trips went and what occurred on those trips. Please tell us. Thank you.

[Scott_Conger]

Stephen

you are not the first to report such an occurence and it is good to bring the experience to the fore for the sake of completeness in deciding band choices.