MTFCA Forum

I have a trailblazer tractor conversion on a 26 /27 frame,looks like it has been together for years .I got it minus driveshaft and engine.i installed a driveshaft and a pain so as to line everything up .this is where my problem starts,the driveshaft hits the bottom of the axle which the tractor wheels ride on not allowing it to come up enough so it ends up holding the rear of the pan down causing the front of pan to be 4 to 5 inches above the front mount.the t axle is in fixed brackets that have no adjustments ,the tractor axle has minimum adjustment but the drive cogs and tractor wheels are in alignment now and moving axle would throw that off.Hoping someone has seen this? Thanks in advance

Please post a picture.

I have a Tailblazer on a 27 chassis, Post some pics of yours, and I'll look at mine to see what is different.

Here are some pictures

I do not know your specific tractor conversion, but the tractor conversions I have seen do not use rear springs, the rear end is hard mounted to the conversion frame. Some tractor conversions put the rear axle on top, some underneath of the conversion frame. Some conversion frames are mounted above the chassis frame, some below. Hard to tell what yours should be, but something is throwing your geometry way off. The witness marks on your conversion frame make me think it is upside down.

This is a Sears conversion.

I think your correct Jeff there is no reason for spring to be there ,just because it appears to be old doesn't mean it was installed correctly.hopfully someone has one they can take pictures of for me .thanks for the responses everyone

Here are some links and pictures og the Montgomery Ward Trailblazer. The rear spring is in position.
viewtopic.php?t=16345
http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/25 ... 1345012209

Funny,all the pictures of the frame only kit are the one I am working on .after looking again though the spring is the only thing that holds kit to rear of frame

also interesting how none of the other examples have driveshafts in them ! looks like the one in the advertisement doesn't use the sub frame and is attached to the car frame.. I've been looking at all kinds of kits and some have the bull gear axle behind the axle. makes me wonder if somethings missing but i cant seem to find that exact kit in an advertisement.

This is how mine is attached. The channel iron bolts directly to the frame. The cross piece would go over the top of the frame.
Sorry about the picture quality. It's buried in the shed now. I can get you more pictures if you want.
Mike

Looking closer at the trailblazer ad the tractor shown in it was manufactured by the Shaw company of Galesburg Kansas.
I'll post a couple of pictures later.
Mike

Thanks Mike ,On mine the ford axle is behind the tractor axle,,it's a head scratcher.everything looks like it has been in place for a long time .

Maybe that kit is specific for a Model TT rear? The worm drive might put the drive shaft above the wheel shaft ? Just a guess….

I had a little time today to look at my conversion. I took some photos but it will be tomorrow before I can post them. My conversion is like yours. The rear end is currently out of my tractor so I can not tell how close the drive shaft was to the rear wheel axle shaft. It was very close to the best of my memory. The Montgomery Ward conversions do use the rear spring as an attachment point.
There are four distinct models.
1. In 1929 Shaw made the conversions for Wards. It had small rear wheels with a solid cast steel pinion gear on the internal tooth bull gear
2. Then sometime during 1930 the Shaw was replaced by a very similar conversion made by the Peru wagon wheel co. It also had small wheels and an internal tooth bull gear, but the pinion gear was changed to a "roller pinion" gear and the rear wheels only had bushings where they ran on the axle shaft.
3 The next version was like version number 2 except it now had Timken roller bearings instead of bushings. This version was probably late 1930 and 1931 It was still made by Peru wagon wheel co.
4 The last version still made by Peru wagon wheel co. came out about 1932 and used taller rear wheels. The larger wheels were because they changed the bull gear to an external tooth gear to replace the poor design of an internal tooth bull gear. An internal tooth bull gear will trap dirt,rocks,sticks ect in the bull gear and carry it into the pinion gear. An external tooth bull gear tends to "shed" or dump any dirt or other items before they make it to the pinion gear. Just a lot better design. This version still used the "roller pinion" gear. From what I have been able to find out this version was available from Wards till the start of WW2.
The photo above of the conversion with the wood bed and sitting on concrete blocks is my tractor conversion about the time I first got it. I had a couple discussion threads of my tractor conversion when I first got it. I'll try to find them and post a link to them when I can.
One question, Do you have your "roller pinion" gears. I had to make mine as they do not exist in the wild any more. I was lucky that another conversion owner took excellent photos and acurate measurements of his "roller pinion" gears for me. I still have the measurements if needed.
This is swap meet time for me as well as camping vacation time so please bear with me if I'm a little slow to post

Thanks Donnie for all the info,my wheels have bearings so I guess 30-31 style.i have 1 good pinion gear minus the bolts and rollers.the other is very egged out,I am trying to find a shop that can weld up holes and redrill using good one as a guide.i do need to find what to use for bolts and rollers though also not sure if any type of seal was used to keep inner bearing of tractor wheel clean and dry? Thanks again and I bet your pictures will shed some light

Here are some photos of my tractor conversion mounting points. It looks like some of mine may be mounted a little different than yours. Hard for me to tell from your photos. Maybe some different parts or how a different farmer did it ????? My drive shaft and rear axle assembly is out because I rebuilt my rear axle and have not put it back in yet. I did hold a torque tube in position and sight it to the centerline of the axle housing mounting clamp holes and it looks like I have about 1 inch of clearance between the torque tube and the tractor rear wheels axle. I had never looked real close at how the conversion bolted to the frame. It appears that the rear spring and torque tube is all that keeps the assembly from being ripped out of the tractor by the plow hooked to the draw bar. ?? The front of the conversion is only held in place by a "pinch plate" clamping it to the frame rail. When you look at my photos let me know if you see any major differences.

Thank you very much for taking time to get me these pictures I really appreciate it. I am working on it at a different location and will be back there monday.will let you know what I find

My front mounting points seem different I think this may be where problem is will keep you informed thanks for help

How about an update on how the project is going?

It seems that if I use a mounting setup like in Donnie's pictures everything will clear .so I have had some steel plate bent up .what has derailed me for a while is that one of my small drive gears was in very bad shape.a local iron works shop was able to repair but it took a long time.once I return from Hershey I hope to get back to it and will post pictures .thanks for asking

Ken, When I made my roller pinion gears I used 7/16 grade 8 bolts with square nuts on the inside and lock washers on the outside under the head of the bolts. The square nuts fit against a shoulder on the inner plate so they will not turn,, and the lock washer keeps the bolt in place.. For the rollers I used model T piston wrist pins . One pin will make 2 rollers. The outside diameter of the wrist pin is the same as the original rollers and the inside diameter fits the 7/16 bolt perfectly. The original bolts were 1/2 inch and the original rollers ID fit the 1/2 inch bolts. The wrist pins are very hard and should hold up well and the 7/16 bolt I used instead of the 1/2 inch should be plenty good for the way we will use the tractor today.