MTFCA Forum

Quick but maybe stupid question.

I want to build/copy a speedster that my now deceased Grandpa built back in the "30s". The story goes that he flipped the rear end over side to side to get the spring perches on the bottom vs. the top. To his amazement, he shot backward when he depressed the clutch in low. He backed it into my Great Grandpa's new Studebaker. Also, this car was low enough to drive under the hitching rack outside Great Grandpa's blacksmith shop.

My questions, Can the internals also be swapped side to side to keep the wheels turning in the correct direction or do I need to did assemble the backing played from the axle tubes and flip those?

I want to rebuild the internals anyway.

Yes you can move the ring gear to the other side of the housing with no modifications.

Reversing the ring gear has probably been done for more than ONE "Greenhorn" Model T owner and they found out the hard and perhaps, costly, way how that effects a Model T's drivability !

You can easily reverse the internals within the Ford rear axle. Don’t ask how I know. However you cannot do it with a Ruckstell axle.

Thanks. I don't know if the "boss" would be as forgiving as my Great Grandpa if I backed into her new truck. Supposedly Great Grandpa asked " Well, did you learn anything? "

Just a little off thread, the VW crown wheel could go in both ways as well, it was reversed for the combi van that had reduction box's on the outer axles. Found out the hard way nearly 50 years ago, fastest combi at the time in reverse.

Oh yes,the ol 2 reverses 1 forward thing.Been there done that.
The great feeling was when I turned the engine the first time in my speedster project with the low pedal down and the wheels went the right way! What a releif!