MTFCA Forum

How much play should there be (endwise) on the large roller bearing just behind the pinion, on the drive shaft?
It appears to me that the thrust ball bearing sits about 1/4" away from the end face of the roller bearing, and that the roller bearing assembly can float in the spool, while the drive shaft and pinion are held in the proper position by the thrust ball bearing. If this is correct, then I am in good shape. If this is incorrect, then I need to know how to reduce the end play in the roller bearing.
Thanks for any clarification!

The end play is controlled by the thrust bearing at the pinion end and the universal joint at the ball end. You don't really know what end play you have until you install & pin the U-Joint. The bushing in the ball end of the torque tube has a thrust face. The flat end of the u-joint fits up against the thrust face of the bushing. It's kind of like the torque tube is captured between the ball thrust bearing on the pinion end and the u-joint thrust face.

With all that in place, end play of about .005" would be good. Don't worry about play between the roller bearing and the spool. The roller bearing has zero thrust loading capability and will just float in the space provided for it.

Thanks, that' what I needed to know. This car had only 30,000 miles on it, and the owners quit driving it because they had a problem with the magneto system on the flywheel. (I found some of the magnet screws sheared off, and the retaining square laying in the bottom of the sump. I guess when they found out it could cost them as much as $15 to fix, they decided to park the car. It is one of the best unrestored cars I have ever seen. The differential could be turned over with the fingers, using the drive shaft universal, and was absolutely smooth and quiet, and with no play at all. I am in the process of reassembly, and I was concerned about the spool roller bearing. But if it floats, it's no big deal.
I really appreciate the info!

Sounds like we need to see photo's of this T

You didn't mention the year of your car. If you have the earlier style cup and ball thrust bearing there is a spacer to install in front of the roller bearing so it does not chew up the snap ring on the rear side of the thrust bearing. This is sometimes absent.

This car is a 1926 Coupe.
It had never been apart until I touched it, and I documented everything very carefully. I was quite confident that I had everything, and in the correct assembly order. This was just something that I hadn't paid attention to, and now when I am reassembling it, the question arose, and I wanted to make sure I hadn't made a mistake.
The car belongs to my dentist, he got if from somewhere in Nebraska, I believe. He wanted to redo it for his wife. When the person who owned it quit driving it, it went into storage, in this case it must have been a very nice garage with no leaks. About the ONLY damage was some mouse nibbling on the upholstery. Also, it must have been hit from the rear, as one of the bumper brackets was fractured. There was no body damage, so it must not have been much of an impact. (Maybe the bracket was faulty, but that is hard to believe based on Ford's production standards. I have yet to see any workmanship issues on any original car.)
It still had the trunk key in the trunk lock, and the ignition key in the ignition lock.
I wish I had taken more pics of it as it came apart. It would have been good documentation in general. But that's water under the bridge.